<p>Judging by the response on these forums, it seems ECs are THE most important factors. Hell, you don't even need school! Just do ECs and you're guaranteed admission. I'm kind of disturbed by this, because my upbringing has been stressing academics above all else, and now I find out my hard work is worth jack squat in the US because I've been self-studying a language and doing supplementary stuff rather than clubs which have never appealed to my interests. </p>
<p>they're not as important as g.p.a. and sat's, but ec's are considered important. colleges may reject you by your lack of ec's despite your stellar stats.</p>
<p>I have to agree w/ kjoodles....Although you probably have worked your ass off Ray192, many other applicants also have all a's and a full AP courseload and therefore look just like you on a transcript...so many top tier colleges turn to ecs to differentiate between all the kids w/ 4.0's...at lower level (state colleges) ec's typically take a backseat to your gpa and courses.</p>
<p>Don't buy into the common theory of what counts as an EC. Self-teaching a language is clearly extracurricular, and it can be really impressive. Imagine if you were an adcom and you had just read 15 applications that each tried to spin 'I cleaned up trash on the side of the road' in 15 different ways. Then, they come across your application: 'I read Voltaire in the original French, which, by the way, I taught myself because I'm so in love with the language.'</p>
<p>To my mind, yours is the far more interesting file.</p>
<p>Yeah, I agree, self studying a language is definately a plus. But it wouldn't hurt to do more. Remember, you DONT have to do clubs. I agree, lots of schools have crappy clubs. But there are other EC's. EC's is basically anything you do that is not schoolwork related. Running a business, writing an independant research paper, getting published, attending seminars, starting a small group of friends with a similar interest and meeting regularly, etc.</p>
<p>Btw, @Nash, I was looking at your college profile chances you posted your link to... those were all your Awards and EC's, and you got accepted to Harvard and Yale? Or are you not showing everything? I'm really curious. :)</p>
<p>Ray, your self-study language is an accomplishment too, but it really depends on the college. Look at their Common Data Profile to see how high they rank it. For example, Cornell has it has Very Important, which GPA, SAT, and Volunteering are all ranked under.</p>
<p>Yeah, nash, you're going to Yale and were rejected by Haverford?? Was your essay super good?? I mean the stats are good too, but some kids here have like 2300s, 800s, rank 1, a bajillion ECs, and still get rejected =</p>
<p>I wouldnt put as much weight on self study as an EC. An EC is how they judge your service to society, not to yourself. Also it shows how you work among people, influence / lead others. Sorry self-study some philosphy course or foreign language is hardly an EC in my book. Now if you say you self-study Sengalese in preparation to a mission there, that's different. But you have to back it to have actually gone there.</p>
<p>Well yourworld does bring up a good point. But if you can possibly write in your foreign language and even write some essays or something, or help people translate, whatever, then that would definately be a strong EC, especially since you taught yourself the language.</p>
<p>ECs are not the same as community service. They're about being active in any way outside of school. Self-teaching a language is an excellent example.</p>
<p>Academics DO come first. The reason you see so much agitation over ECs is because academics can no longer function by themselves at the top-tier. That is, you can't get into Harvard if you got a 4.0 UW but did nothing outside of school.</p>
<p>My d and I were at an information session at Cornell and the father in the family sitting behind us kept asking - "if you have a 4.0 GPA and 1600 SAT, of course you will get in?"
He must have said it 4 different times during the question and answer part.
The presenter said, "No, it is not just grades" and explained how they were looking for a well rounded class and would even accept some kids with imperfect grades while declining other perfect ones... And the dad kept shaking his head. At the end he rushed up to have a word with her and I bet I know what he wanted to discuss.</p>
<p>it seems like there are a lot of people on these boards who have lower gpas and lower test scores, hear about that ONE person who got into harvard with a 1200, and are convinced they can do it too if they have good extra curriculars.</p>
<p>i think if you have good grades and test scores, you will be fine. having good ecs will only help.</p>
<p>but if you have poor grades and test scores, your ecs may or may not be enough to "save you", but they certainly wont help enough to make up for good grades.</p>
<p>I wasn't even really more active in "typical" (read: the ones you would usually put on college apps) ECs than the average public school student and I got into Brown. If you can make the case that you are either a) really smart, or b) aren't boring despite a lack of traditional ECs they don't care that much.</p>