What are example of special EC’s and activities that Ivy Leagues pursue?
What are you interested in and passionate about? And which specific school are you interested in applying to?
Sometimes a school will need specific slots filled; certain musical instruments, positions on a sports team, good actors for theatre, newspaper editor, etc. But you can’t know what these are in a given year and they change every year. Best thing for you is to do activities that you are interested in and good at.
Check out “How to be a High School Superstar” by Cal Newport.
“The basic message of the book is this: Don’t wear yourself out taking as many classes as you can and being involved in every club and sport. Instead, leave yourself enough free time to explore your interests. Cultivate one interest and make it into something special that will make you stand out among the other applicants and get you into the toughest schools, even if your grades and scores aren’t stellar. Newport calls this the “relaxed superstar approach,” and he shows you how to really do this, breaking the process down into three principles, explained and illustrated with real life examples of students who got into top schools: (1) underscheduling—making sure you have copious amounts of free time to pursue interesting things, (2) focusing on one or two pursuits instead of trying to be a “jack of all trades,” and (3) innovation—developing an interesting and important activity or project in your area of interest. This fruit yielded by this strategy, an interesting life and real, meaningful achievements, is sure to help not only with college admissions, but getting a job, starting a business, or whatever your goals.”
http://www.examiner.com/review/be-a-relaxed-high-school-superstar
USAMO
All-American hockey goalies
Concord Review
TASP
Siemens winners
Make a speech at the UN
Build a hospital in Somalia
Speak 17 languages
There are more!
@snarlatron I’m really interested in law and journalism, and I would like to attend Georgetown or Northwestern
Then find ECs (note: no apostrophe – apostrophes are used for possessives or contractions, not plurals) that involve serving and community outreach. Also ones that enhance your ability to read/write/analyze – maybe Debate or Forensics or MUN or DECA.
I actually met a girl who came from a low income family and spoke 12 languages. She got into about 5 Ivies. It seems amazing to me
It’s nowhere near as hierarchical as many believe. You don’t have to make a speech at the UN. Some sincere, ongoing- and challenging- community service can do the same. Rather than “build” a hospital, why not vol with health or kids programs in your community? Jobs, sports, band or orchestra, etc, can show both commitment and meeting the expectations set. School leadership can be good, depending on what it is. If you have an interest in a possible major, pursue it, see if you can do something outside school. I skipped going after titles/any titles, because too many kids think it’s the title, not the responsibilities, that matters.
And it’s depth and breadth. Stretch a little, try something different.
Anyone interested in law and journalism has the perfect opportunity right now to vol with a campaign, get into the context, do something. As we often say on CC, journalism requires some subject knowledge and experience.
Correct.
(that said, the kid I knew who did make a speech at the UN graduated from Yale a couple years ago…)
And I didn’t mean ‘kids programs’ as in babysitting. Show some energy. Have something in there outside your usual comfort zone.
If there was one magic formula for any aspect of college admission, ECs included, then everyone would be doing it. The trick is to find things YOU care about and pursue those things with passion and leadership.
Hear, hear.
I am also interested in the schools you mentioned. Getting a job can also be considered an extracurricular (although it may be a little late in the summer for that). I’m 16 and work at Starbucks as a barista. I think that this will show a lot about me and my personality in college admissions.
thank you to everyone, and I do participate in mun as a vice president, am editor in chief of a journalism club and do varsity debate! Best of luck to those applying 