Are my EC Good Enough?

Applying to College
1

Hello! On most chance threads and others of the sort all I see is countless people with thousands of hours of volunteering and researching and a bunch of leadership positions. I only have Math team (9th - current) Robotics (9th - current) SPARC Volunteer (10th - current) Mock Trial (10th) and Environmental Activism Club (11th - current).

Im currently a junior and hold leadership in math team and robotics and it sucks I couldnt do SPARC volunteer from 9th since I transferred schools mid year and my previous school didnt offer it and it was already started so I couldnt join. I couldnt pursue Mock trial since we didnt have a high enough budget to keep the club running. Have participated in a few math competitions and robotics competitions. Oh I also started doing Church volunteering for the food pantry to donate food to those in need but thats something I just got into. Does the church volunteering and other clubs that I didnt pursue from 9th-current make it seem like Im just padding my resume? I know alot of the upper tier schools like Ivies notice that and Im not sure if thats what it appears like in my case because Im obviously passionate to continue them but colleges might think otherwise. I also come from a lower income family where Im not being pushed and encouraged to do 10000 hours of service and research. Not sure if thats what richer parents are like.

2

It’s quality, not quantity of your EC involvement that matters. Thousands of hours at the food pantry filling boxes is not nearly as impressive and 200 hours where you take a leadership position in organizing and managing the work crews or do something creative to recruit new volunteers. If you want further advice, take a look at Cal Newport’s Study Hacks web site and resources.

3

The question about impressive EC’s comes up regularly on the forum. There is a thread with several posts by Northstarmom, a Ivy alum interviewer, about what constitutes impressive ECs from the point of view of the most selective colleges. The post is at [“Those ECs are weak…”- So what’s good?]("Those ECs are weak...."- So what's good? - #3 by Northstarmom - Chance Me / Match Me! - College Confidential Forums)

As you will see from that link, at the most selective colleges they are looking for depth more than just participation. Stanford, for example, says

2 very interesting articles about ECs that stand out and how to get them by Cal Newport (also recommended in the previous post) are at [How to Be Impressive](The Art of Activity Innovation: How to Be Impressive Without an Impressive Amount of Work - Cal Newport) and [Save This Grind?](Case Study: How Could We Save This Ridiculously Overloaded Grind? - Cal Newport) I don’t buy into his underlying explanation of why they are impressive, but take a look at these 2 articles and I think you’ll get some original ideas.

Ask yourself… If you knew, absolutely, that these would have no effect on your college admissions would you still do them? And if not, you are betting the adcoms at the most selective schools can’t figure that out.

4

@mikemac I’d still do them if it had no effect on college admissions but the thing is college adcoms can’t look into my head and figure out if I would or wouldnt. Wouldn’t they assume I’m only doing it for college admissions if Im doing it from junior year rather than freshman?

5

I think you can try to convey genuineness in an activity through your essays.