<p>@bjdkin</p>
<p>I lied, in a sense.</p>
<p>paul2752 has an exceptional EC portfolio in sheer breadth; that is unquestionable. Breadth is important to many admissions counselors; breadth indicates a student’s willingness to participate in activities that may be out of his/her comfort zone and a student’s wide array of interests. When a college admissions officer sees that a student is involved in A LOT of activities, he/she sees that a student would be A. active on campus B. engage in community building activities and C. build a greater personal connection with the university. This knowledge is great, because it indicates that the student has a high probability of being retained by the university. </p>
<p>On the other hand, paul2752 does not show much outstanding commitment to any individual (or very few) extracurricular activity; he lacks depth. He only sticks with National Honor Society and Junior Statesmen of America for his sophomore year, indicating a willingness to try something new, but not indicating a profound talent or interest to the admissions committee. </p>
<p>Such interests and talents are important to admissions officers, because these skills indicate a student’s ability to bring something to the university, definite desire to partake in an activity, possible happiness, and probability to become emotionally connected to the school (increasing retention). Further, such interests indicate that a student has a profound work ethic and desire to succeed in a certain area. At Grinnell, I could see this as a very important factor, considering Grinnell allow students to pursue subjects that THEY want to - a student who works his/her butt off in a club he/she loves may very well take that work ethic into the classroom, when he/she is faced with a class that he/she got to pick, and he/she loves. </p>
<p>Anyway, paul2752 has almost no EC commitment in his freshman year. Many admissions committees may disregard Paul’s lack of EC commitment, because freshman year is generally viewed as a transitional year. Some schools, like the University of California system, only calculate 10th and 11th grade GPA, because they understand that 9th grade may have been a struggle for some students. Remember, colleges care about your potential as a student; they will disregard information that they view as non-essential in measuring that potential. </p>
<p>Beginning in his sophomore year, he starts to show commitment to EC activities that he will eventually develop depth in. Re-reading paul’s post, I underestimated his depth, a little. He shows depth in three activities. 1. Band 2. Debate and 3. Math. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>paul2752 is an all state band member (Sophomore year), member of the wind ensemble (Since sophomore year), and volunteered doing musical activities for 152 hrs. All of this is great, his depth is pretty decent in band. If Paul wanted to add more depth to show a true passion for music, he may participate in local ensembles, symphonies, and bands and/or attend music workshops. Many students that I know participate in 2-3 independent music associations on top of being all state musicians, playing recitals, participating in music workshops, taking private lessons, etc… If anything, Paul’s music commitment would show one that he has a talent, but not a true passion. He fails to qualify, or try out, for all state his Junior and Senior year; the years that most students make all state. This either signifies that he has a decreased interest in band, was not willing to put in the hours to achieve the same distinction and/or moved to a harder state to qualify in. Being a member of wind ensemble is pretty standard, his membership does not show any excessive commitment. Lastly, his volunteer hours indicate that he is willing to help out in the community through an interesting medium that he happens to be good at. In the end, one can conclude that he is good at his instrument and participates in a few events, but he does not show any TRUE passion. </p></li>
<li><p>Paul’s participation in debate (since Junior year) is a little late to the boat, but is still noticeable, because he achieves the recognition of 2nd in state and 1st in his district(LIEBIELL). Unfortunately, the event is an indication that Paul is most likely not part of the National Forensic League (NFL), the biggest and oldest debate league in the nation. Depending on the league, admissions officers may be impressed or not impressed. I know many students who are in “debate.” They attend one conference a year, the state conference, and always place very well - their league only hosts this one conference. In contrast, the NFL has hundreds, if not thousands, of tournaments across the country, every year - many tournaments draw thousands of participants. My local high school hosts a VERY small tournament and pulls in 200 participants. All in all, an admissions officer will recognize Paul’s distinguished debate awards, but they will stop at that. The league he participates in is most likely a detracting factor, and he shows only a short commitment to the activity. He attended no summer camps (90%+ of the top debaters in the country do) and does not indicate that he received any private coaching or commits time outside of school to debate. Further, the fact that his event is for non-native speakers indicates that the competition pool is not very large. Getting 2nd out of three is much easier than getting 2nd out of three hundred. He simply lacks true depth. </p></li>
<li><p>Founding a club, Paul shows initiative; that is good. He sticks with the club for four years; that shows his dedication to his club. Unfortunately, the initiative and dedication only indicates a little depth. For the most part, Paul does not list any local, regional, or national math awards; he does list Honorable mention in USA Mathematical Talent Search as an award, but admissions officers would note that Paul only received an honorable mention. Also, he attended no mathematics summer camps. I know a student at Harvard who attended a mathematical summer camp and worked on solving an equation that no mathematician has every solved - he failed of course - but he showed an interest in pursuing mathematics beyond the classroom and beyond the 180 day school year. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Paul’s EC activities are “top notch” in breadth; he has a lot of them. Unfortunately, Paul’s EC participation only indicates minor depth; he earns very few awards, participates in very few activities in the same topic area, attends no summer camps, and indicates no interest in the subject area beyond the classroom. </p>
<p>I’m sure Paul’s application will be well received by MANY colleges; I’m sure that he will also be accepted by MANY schools, but receiving the best merit scholarships and gaining admittance to the uppermost echelon of private/public universities may be a different story. Those universities, specifically, desire the depth that I discuss in my post.</p>
<p>I hope I answered all of your questions. If you have any more clarification questions or questions in general, feel free to ask.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Neutrality</p>