<p>Obviously, showing involvement outside of the classroom is essential to college admittance and a great way to build character in general. However, I feel as if many selective schools (i.e. Northwestern, NYU, UC schools, etc) are more apt to accept extra curricular kings and queens: editor in chief all four years, going on mission trips overseas, leading and founding rotary clubs, president of NHS and yada yada yada. Will colleges even consider students whose extracurriculars don't even touch that level? For example, with a student with a 3.9, a 2050 SAT score, and excellent essays be tossed aside if their biggest leadership role was stage managing school shows- something many students would argue that it doesn't even touch the level of the Rotary president? What caliber do ec's really need to be at?</p>
<p>ECs are only considered at the most select schools. For instance UCR doesn’t even consider ECs. Look at the common data set (section C7) for each school to see how much weight each element has in admissions.</p>
<p>And don’t overestimate the value of ‘typical’ ECs - there are 30,000 high schools in the US all of them have an editor (sometimes more than one) of the paper, captain of the math team, president of the honor society…These don’t stand out particularly. It’s hard work and leadership, but it’s also not especially interesting. A student with genuine interests that they pursue with intelligence, diligence and creativity - showing some extra initiative along the way - will get much further, even without the words ‘president of’ next to the activity.</p>
<p>The first thing colleges check are your grades and test scores. As long as they are up to par or better for whatever school, you will be a contender.</p>
<p>Maybe it’d help for me to tell you that I got into both Northwestern and NYU without those high and mighty extra curricular activities you’re talking about. I was a member of the varsity tennis team, did some television work, some honor societies and maybe some one or two minor stuff. The question remains with your grades:
Is 3.9 weighted or unweighted?
I don’t think 2050 SAT is high enough for Northwestern.</p>
<p>Then again I got into NU when the admission rate was 23%, not 15% so things are definitely getting harder especially for regular admits like me.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for all of this insight. I have racked my brain with this issue, and never received a concrete answer when I vented.
So essentially: dedication, initiative, leadership, and impact are what truly matters. Yes?</p>
<p>Yes. And some breadth, along with that depth. Too many kids already think “leadership” is just about “titles.” You have to try to get an idea of what comes across when a kid, in your example, is stage manager, which suggests a range of responsibilities and skills- versus heading a club that meets and often socializes. Or founding a club adcoms can guess doesn’t do much. There are so many ways to take on responsibilities and have an impact. Btw, this is a nice description for NU: [Applying</a> to Northwestern: Office of Undergraduate Admission - Northwestern University](<a href=“http://ugadm.northwestern.edu/apply/index.html]Applying”>Apply: Undergraduate Admissions - Northwestern University) 2050 is’t too low, if what you do present in the CA matters to them.</p>