Are ECs less impressive in the eyes of admissions officers if they are unrelated to your major than if they are related?
Would it be better to focus on just one or two subject areas when it comes to ECs?
I suspect that your ECs are weighed according to your level of achievement, innovation, creativity, and leadership, whether they’re related to your intended major or not. If you’re an Olympic skater, no matter what your academic plans, that EC will be very impressive. If you’re planning to major in history, and have hundreds of hours of volunteer work at the library, but nothing innovative, creative, nothing that showed tremendous leadership, then no matter how many hours you volunteered at the library to shelve books, it won’t be impressive, even if you’re planning on being an English Lit major.
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No. You really aren’t looking to “impress” the AO’s by your EC’s. You are supposed to present yourself as to what your passions say about you.
What I mean is that who you are is what you have done for yourself. That’s what the AO’s hope to gleam from your applications-a passion that shows what’s important to you.
Let’s say that you are going into CS or engineering. Additionally, let’s say you’ve been involved in volunteering at your local food bank for the past 3 years and have continued to work at the food bank. Volunteering at the food bank for 3 years shows your dedication to a cause that helps others and that you’ve continued to do it. It has nothing to do with your major, but it shows what you value.
Thank you for your response. This makes a lot of sense. Colleges accept people, and your activities show the kind of person you are.
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Some colleges don’t admit by major, many students change their major, and some students have no idea what they want to major in.
I know many longtime posters advocate for job shadowing, research, etc but I just don’t see it, honestly. D20 was considering majoring in Poli Sci when she was a junior. It was suggested she spend time volunteering locally for a political party or politician. She didn’t do it and was accepted to her top choice anyway. She had decided to be an Econ major by the time her acceptance arrived and, within the first semester, she moved on to something else. She was able to show a long history of volunteering and participating in activities that meant something to her, totally independent of any academic major.
I think your EC’s sometimes indicate what you may contribute on campus in extracurriculars there. For instance, a French horn player may not major in music but will contribute to orchestra and ensembles (but it also helps even if the applicant doesn’t play at college, since there is no need to make that commitment…)
EC’s show interests (but colleges know those can change), work ethic, values, character, abiilty to work with others, and talents- all that good stuff.
A few ECs where you can show high levels of commitment and achievement would likely be better to most college admission readers than many ECs where you are just a joiner.
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