<ol>
<li><p>Have well-rounded ECs, try a bit of everything.</p></li>
<li><p>Be extremely good at 1 thing. It's suspicious if I do everything; it looks like I did stuff I don't like just to put it on my application. Universities want to see that I chose something and was passionate about it.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I did do a lot of ECs that I didn't like for various reasons. I tried stuff like dancing, acting, visual arts, and sports. Ultimately, I didn't like any of them so I stopped and went back to maths/sciences. Should I put these on my application? If I do, it does look like I tried dancing just to impress the admissions officers.</p>
<p>I know so many kids think that if they fill in all ten of the EC boxes, it will look better. This simply isn’t always true. If you fill the boxes with random clubs where all you did was participate for a single year, I would not include those. List the ones that are IMPORTANT to you. Meaning if you go on an interview, and the person picks one and asks you about it, can you have an intelligent conversation about the EC and its impact on you for more than 30 seconds? I also think that too many random ECs can detract from your major ones. The other option is to create a “resume” which DOES list all of the random clubs, and you can upload it when a college allows and mail it to any others. </p>
<p>However, I also disagree with the #2 comment “Be extremely good at one thing.” There are many kids who simply haven’t found that one thing yet. So they have tried lots of different things.</p>
<p>In the end, whatever you choose, OWN IT. If you have dabbled in lots of things because you haven’t yet found something to be passionate about, write about it. Admit it. Own it. Don’t try to be something you aren’t.</p>
<p>And the opposite end, if you love a single thing and that consumes all of your time, then own that too. What colleges want to see is the real you.</p>
<p>I agree with Momof2back2back. With ECs, it is the quality of your involvement, not quantity that matters - so if you know what you like, put your efforts there. (You don’t have to be a star - just invested enough to talk intelligently about what you do and why it matters to you.) But part of high school is supposed to be about exploring (as is college), so trying lots of stuff is fine too. It’s perfectly okay to do something for a while and decide its not ‘you.’ What you don’t want to do is suffer through years of something you don’t care about because you’re afraid it will look inconsistent or that you won’t look ‘well-rounded.’ Schools build classes that are ‘well-rounded’ but they don’t expect each student to be that way. Be who you are as hard as you can be - not just to get into college but to live life well.</p>