Do my EC's need work?

Applying to College
1

hey everyone,

So as I approach junior year, Im really starting to think about college more. Specifically for me, im looking at Ivy-league caliber schools like Duke, Columbia, Brown, UPenn, UVA etc. I’m worried about two things: AP scores and ec’s but ap scores are a whole different story. Anyway, for my ec’s i feel like i havent won enough awards or really gone far in any of them.

Currently, I am doing Model UN, Debate, Orchestra, Tennis, and im volunteering at a hospital over the summer. im probably gonna do some honor societies next year as well. In Model UN next year, I am going to hold an officer position of “conference organizer” and ive won a few awards in that… In debate, i havent won anything yet (mainly cause our debate program sucks!). IN Orchestra, im going to be in the top orchestra next year, im part of the regional and district orchestra, and am probably going to be in all state orchestra my senior year. For tennis, I am number 1 on the team and I am a captain. I have won numerous awards for tennis (I am hoping to play tennis for one of those schools). I am an on and off member of the amnesty club so that probably doesnt count. I’m doing a prestigious internship this summer but idk if that qualifies as an ec.

I am going to volunteer at the hospital during the school year as well. But are my ec’s lacking anything in particular? I’ve looked at a lot of similar posts like mine and I see stuff like “started non profit organization to give books to kids in africa”, “won North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad Medal”, “published various short stories” and similar stuff… It’s just intimidating to see stuff like that and then look back at my ec’s… So do my ec’s need a lot of work? What can I do my senior year to make them really good?

Thanks!

2

I wish people would not compare themselves to other posters on CC. CC probably represents less than 10% of the entire student population, it’s just that like >40% of these kids are gods who seem to have more than 24 hours in their day. It’s a toxic thing, comparing yourself to others who seem better than you. People who don’t start foundations to help children in Africa or wrote 3 books or whatever still get into great colleges. Trust me. People at my school do it all the time. That being said, your ECs look great, not stellar, but still very solid. I say keep doing what you’re doing, don’t start anything new unless you ABSOLUTELY want to (quality>>>quantity!). By the end of you junior year, if your are D1 recruitable for tennis, start contacting coaches of schools you are interested in playing for.

3

your ecs look great . i agree keep doing what your doing!

4

The internship does count as an EC. Your Ecs are great, but they may not stand out in the applicant pool at the schools you’ve mentioned. For an unusual approach to correcting this, try reading Cal Newport’s “How to Be a High School Superstar."