Hi! I’m a rising sophomore and am exploring EC’s and Community Service opportunities this summer to be set for life. I am Indian (Asian) and have been exploring some unique activities I do that make me stand out and break stereotypes.
One activity I find quite enjoyable and have been told I am good at is cooking, specifically Indian cuisine. I like food, and like creating things. My mom is a wonderful cook and knows how to make many delicious Indian dishes.
This is something that is unique for all males, and I think Indian cuisine can REALLY make me stand out. My question is, how do I expand on this? I am considering joining a food club at my high school next year. Is there anything else I could do? I don’t know if doing catering with my mom’s help would be looked at with a positive light. I could also make videos for youtube, but I really have no idea what specific things I need to do.
Imo, all of your ideas are great! Another one I could add is making food and distributing it to the homeless, but your ideas are interesting on their own.
What do you mean, you’re exploring activities to be “set for life”? Do things because you enjoy doing them, not so you can add a line to your resume.
Cooking isn’t unique for all males. A lot of American men cook. I’m not sure adcoms will see that as unusual, even if it is where you live, because it’s fairly common here.
If you’re in the US, you can’t just make food and sell it or hand it out to the homeless. There are health regulations that have to be followed. Opening a business is a lot of work. Is your mom interested in doing that? Are you, or do you want to do it because you think it will look good on your college apps?
Creating videos and joining a food club at your school are great ideas. But no matter what you decide to do, you need to have a realistic idea of the part ECs play in college admissions. I think, in most cases, they open a window into your life so adcoms have a better picture of who you are, but they won’t get most students into a specific college or particular tier of colleges. Focus on the things you enjoy and do them well.
I think your cooking is a great EC. You can be quite concrete with it in your activities section. You can list how much time per week you devote to cooking to show that it is more of a hobby than a chore. Or, if you cook for the family because it’s needed, as in, working parents, younger siblings who can’t do it, etc…, that can also be noted. But I think any cooking at home needs to be shown in terms of you devoting time and effort to it, not just heating up stuff. Are you creative with your food, or is it the same thing all the time? You could provide original recipes as a supplement to your application. Yes, why not work with your mom’s “help” in catering? Would this be a paid job, or a volunteer thing? If so, list that as a separate activity.
Agree with the above, you can’t just hand out food to homeless people as photo geek suggested. But can you volunteer in a soup kitchen? That’s a great EC in terms of volunteering. Adcoms like to see kids painting a consistent picture of themselves, and if your love of cooking spills into several areas of your life, that’s a good thing. And I am not totally convinced that austinshari above is right. Sure plenty of men love to cook, but I can’t imagine that many applicants of either sex have cooking playing a prominent roll in their app.
@austinmshauri I see what you’re saying but I think you misinterpreted why I posted this. It’s not as much about college as it is about doing something meaningful and possibly helping people with it. I have a life, I have other hobbies, but this is something that, where I am from, seems to be unique and potentially impactful.
I’ll be glad if this counts as community service and if not I might not even mention it to colleges. If colleges see my passion and it helps me, that is an unintended consequence that I would gladly accept
Yes, cooking in my family is more than reheating naan. Every meal, especially lunch, my mom uses a different combination of spices, dal (lentils), tadka (I don’t really know how to explain this because it doesn’t exist in American cuisine), water to dal ratio, consistencies, colors, smells, textures, even different brands of salt are used to make the food taste different.
tl;dr
So as you can see Indian cooking requires creativity and skill that can’t be taught in a day. My mom is willing to teach me intensely so that I can apply for cooking competitions. I love cooking and want to take it to the next level, making it more than “just a hobby”. I have hobbies too that I can’t or am not willing to expand on but cooking is one that I want to develop. If colleges think it’s unique, yippee, but if not I still have other reasons to cook.
Catering was another option. My mom has lots of connections in the catering field even though she herself is a software developer. I think I would like to volunteer, my mom and I don’t like taking money from people.
A soup kitchen sounds interesting. I hope it fits in my schedule. What’s the ideal number of hours of community service? I know it’s quality over quantity but I don’t know if I’m simply not doing enough. I have to study too you know
Cooking is fine as an EC but perhaps no as unique as you might think. If you do something positive with it (ex. working in a concrete job with your mom, starting a club at school, volunteering in a soup kitchen etc.) that is all the better. But don’t get carried away with how much any EC will help – no EC (other than I guess being a recruited athlete) will get you into a school you are not otherwise academically qualified to attend.
@happy1 thanks for your reply. I would argue that cooking is unique at the level I do it at. Indian cooking isn’t making mac and cheese in the microwave. It’s throwing around spices and takes a lot of skill.
Also, I realize ECs are just a part of it but I am confident my grades will be good enough for most schools.
I didn’t mean to comment on your cooking skills, but only wanted to note that it is not all that unusual for students to belong to food/cooking clubs in HS, work in restaurants, volunteer to cook for the elderly/homeless etc. But certainly show your passion for cooking in your application – and good luck as you move forward.
I don’t think cooking is a unique hobby/EC. For some, it is not even a hobby, it is something that some young people have to do because their single parent or parents are so busy working they have to step up and get dinner on the table every night.
Believe me, many Americans, including teenagers, are not resorting to mac and cheese in the microwave.
My teen son makes gnocchi, sushi, chinese dumplings, tajines, fresh pasta, etc. etc. all from scratch. He’s also been involved in the process of growing vegetables, raising and butchering animals, curing meats, and so forth. I’m sure if he was raised in an Indian household, he’d have mastered a lot of Indian cooking as well.
Males who cook are not unusual in the USA and many parts of the globe. Poke your head into any professional kitchen and you’ll find most of them dominated by males.
So, there’s nothing wrong with including your culinary endeavors on your application but I would not consider it unique nor would I expect it to garner any extra consideration of your candidacy for college.
But could it potentially make me unique as an Asian, I like computer science and have computer science related ECs and Community Service but so do the 10k+ other asians that are applying to the top universities. I don’t expect the stereotypical Asian to do cooking.
Re volunteer hours, there isn’t a set amount, but as it’s now summer, I suggest you get involved with something right away. As an example, my kid volunteered six hours a week through the whole summer. Do you live in the US? There are lots of food pantries, soup kitchens, churches that are involved in midnight runs, and other ways to be involved in some aspect of distributing food to the needy. Maybe you could approach local grocery stores and ask if they donate their nearly expired food to such places, and get involved that way. Good luck!
First of all, it’s awesome your son is able to cook such a wide variety of foods! Also, I appreciate your feedback but are you sure it is common for asians to be passionate about cooking AND computers? I feel like the stereotypical Asian applicant doesn’t do much that isn’t related to his field. Does this make me unique? If not what would make me unique?
I think one of your real strengths here is that you have a topic that lends itself to great storytelling full of sensory details as well as family and cultural connections. And although you are a little focused in this thread on how your interest could be used for your application, you also seem genuinely passionate about cooking. Cooking’s links between skill-building and creativity make it a great metaphor for learning anything.
@Lindagaf
Well I’m going to India next month for vacation and to visit my family. I’m going to be teaching kids who are poor and have to go to NGO’s about computers. I might raise some money for computers. I don’t think this counts as community service I’m just doing it to help people.
I know plenty of Asians who are not stereotypical.
I think you are thinking about the college process the wrong way. Spend less time worrying about what makes you “unique”. Spend your time pursuing YOUR interests and passions, whatever they may be, as well as doing well in school. Life is short. There are many, many great colleges out there.
For your first reply, many people tell me that I’m to much of an average Asian and i shoukd build on my unique hobbies. I guess you’re right though, but I don’t think being on a computer 12 hours a day is good for me
Secondly, it is service but not community service because it’s not in my community. My guidance counselor said it’s iffy.
I don’t think cooking is that unusual for a hs student. Several of my daughter’s friends worked in their parent’s restaurants for many years. These were generally the kids of Asian immigrants whose parents had opened a restaurant. I know one completed a culinary program in hs as well and did some catering work. I know another student who wrote a food column for a paper.
