Comment on my ECs please

Applying to College
1

Guys Im very worried about my ECs, Im applying to USC WashU Uni.ofVirginia Tulane Wake Forest Vanderbilt please tell me how good/bad my ECs are thank you
Extracurriculars:

-Student Council (9,11,12) - President (9,11,12)
-Eco-committee (9,10,11,12) - Co-founder (9), President (11,12) - this a committee that works on environmental issues in the school and local community, I’ve started multiple projects withing the school
-Community service club (10,11,12) - Co-founder (10), President (12) - set up an official fundraiser and fundraising system for the school, organize multiple book drives, clothes drive, fund raising events within school for local orphanages etc
-Mentoring (11,12) - mentor 2 students in Maths and Economics during grade 11 and I’m setting up a whole school mentoring system that gets a senior year student to mentor a younger year student in grade 12
-Chairperson of “Three Poles Talk project” - this is a project where I co-operate with my school and a PR firm in bringing a Hong Kong environmentalist to Vietnam to deliver 3 sessions of speeches for 4 days at my school and 2 other campuses of my school, and event with businesses
-Piano (10 years) - taking Yamah course (it’s a japanese piano program and I’m grade 5 ), performed at local shows and took part in a drama with the student at my piano school every year
-Swimming (6 years) - train with personal coach at local swimming pool every weekend, was on the school swim team (grade 11)

Job/Work Experience: unpaid internship at national magazine during summer before grade 11 and grade 12 (i write and translate articles and do a lot of office tasks)

Volunteer/Community service:

  • Volunteer at local orphanages with school community club
  • I form an English tutor group (I’m head of the tutor group) of 5 mentors and travel to a pagoda in a province in Vietnam and teach English for 50 kids every summer
    -Estimated volunteer hours: estimated 150 hours

Summer Activities:
-Internship at national magazine
-English teaching for kids at the pagoda
-summer camp (this camp trains young people with academic, life skills, NLP, goal setting, etc) I was a camp leader when I joined it in summer before grade 11 and return as a camp mentor (I was Team leader of the mentor group) in summer before grade 12. I’m also in a coaching program with the professor who is also the lead mentor of the camp

2

I don’t think you need to be worried about your ECs. I see a person who cares about the environment and helping others. I suspect what you’re really worried about is getting admitted to the schools you mentioned. I can’t help you there except to say be sure you have a school or two you know you’ll get admitted to, apply where you wish and enjoy discovering where what you’ve done and learned takes you. You’ve accomplished a lot in 17 years or so and you can accomplish a lot more regardless of where you end up.

3

thank you so much :slight_smile: I will take your words for this

4

don’t worry, your ECs and leadership experience are above and beyond those of many of your peers. in any case, you can’t change them now. don’t worry and just do your best. good luck!

5

those are great ECs

6

Thank you so much

7

Those are very competitive schools. I also saw that you want to apply to Stanford, Cornell, Berkeley, and the like.
Since you are international applicant and from Asia, just keep in mind that no matter how good you think your ECs are, you will have a lot of fierce competition. There will be Asian international applicant with international olympiad medals and the like. If you apply for fin aid, chances diminish even more for those particular schools. In addition, you say you are middle class, but unsure if you will apply for financial aid. If your family is middle-class in Vietnam, I’m not sure how you will be able to afford these schools. I do not know your background, but I feel like you would place a lot of stress of your family without applying for any financial aid.

8

well apparently my parents said they agree not to apply for aid

9

i’m sorry i’m really just looking for comments on my ECs, ofc I’m well aware how competitive these schools are and how lots of asian applicants have international awards. i just want to know if these ECs are good enough for schools like USC UVA Tulane etc. Stanford Brown Cornell Berkeley is ofc my high reach/ dream school

10

Yes, they’re great ECs, certainly capable of being good enough for the schools you listed.

11

Thank you