EC for a Junior in highschool with a 3.9 uw and 4.2 w gpa

Applying to College
21

yeah, she turned 16 earlier this month, so she will graduate at 17 and be a freshman in college at 17 until after 1 semester.

@collegemom3717

And i saw a lot of helpful advice, thank you. I will pass it on.

Only now are they realizing maybe they should have put their daughter in something that lasted more than a changing of the seasons. My sister is the same age and will also be a young freshman, but my sister has colleges knocking at her door to play on their sports team. She has similar transcripts and scores so you see the sudden rush to figure something out.

22

My post was not meant as a personal attack. It was also not sugar coated. You were asking if your “friend” should volunteer at a camp for children with disabilities to impress colleges. My response was to say that nobody should volunteer to work at a camp for children with disabilities with the hope of getting anything from it. They should be driven to do it regardless or they should not do it. Nobody should volunteer with the goal of gaining from it beyond the privilege of being able to spend time with the kids. If someone would not volunteer if they could not write it on their application or resume, they should not volunteer at all. I think negatively about people who Volunteer for the sake of gaining from it. You asked and that is my opinion.

23

Totally agree with @lostaccount.

Your friend appears to have done more than what you originally stated. You weren’t telling the whole picture: she has babysitting, lifeguarding, tutoring, sports, clubs, etc. Her guidance counselor can find other activities that your “friend” has participated in, since you didn’t know what EC’s are/were and that your friend has/had EC’s. You are in no position to guide her; that’s for her parents and the GC.

And I’m gonna be harsh: if she’s your friend, why are you ragging on her to do Olympian feats? You’re saying:

She’ll land in whatever school wants her. You really need to give her some space. Quit telling her to volunteer in a camp and then, to write about it. It’s the GC’s job to make suggestions. If your friend wants to do that, it’s on her; you don’t need to tell her what, when and how to do things. She’s almost an adult and can probably figure out what she wants to do.

24

OP, you’re using your own situation, things you’ve heard, making assumptions, and putting a very limited spotlight on this. (And, it seems, before your results are in.) Being recruited may be a tip for you, but it’s a narrow slice, not the whole of what colleges look for. Leadership isn’t all about winning at a sport, having some high school club title or an award to hang on the wall. It can be small efforts that add up.

Maybe she wants to join CC and give her own perspective on what she’s done and why, show her own thinking and how her own choices add up.

25

It wasn’t an attack on my friend, she can get into just about any school. She however doesn’t want to and wants to go to similar schools as my sister and I. Her original goal in highschool was to get into UT Austin, now she realizes she wants smaller class sizes and is struggling because her application isn’t as good as the other students applying to the better lacs.

She does have ec’s but as anyone can have them they aren’t the most amazing ones. She hasn’t shown commitment to something more than 3 years and I was very blunt with my original post. I see now that there isn’t much help here beyond write down a summer job and member of 2 clubs as well as a jv sport. Did any of the posters here actually apply to college in the last 3-4 years? It seems like an older generation answering these, or moms who are quite bitter about helping. This thread was quite useless as all I received as feedback was abrasive and did not answer the question of if it would be a big ec to have.

I was wondering if anyone could help with a defining ec in volunteering. I thought this was a good opportunity to get her to the next level in terms of application prestige, as most kids do not volunteer in such a way.

@lostaccount you keep putting “friend”, are you implying it is me, or that it is not my friend. I’ll say it again, I am already applied and everything left is an acceptance letter for me. She is one of my closest friends and was trying to help her after seeing what kind of people get rejected from these schools(since joining here). If your post wasn’t an attack how can you justify the aggressive language.

@lookingforward I know I am getting into 5/6 schools, the only one I am unsure about is Kenyon as I am a reach for it. I have 4 other top 60 lacs that I applied to and 1 safety school near home. I have no doubt I will attend one of the better schools in the country.

@“aunt bea” you’ve been very helpful, and I just want to point out she is my best friend, I was asking because I want her to have a good future. I am in no way telling her what to do; I was simply doing research and trying to help because she asked for it. I was not ragging on her, but she really wasn’t much of an athlete or accomplished any recognition outside of NHS and honor roll. If you really look at it, every applicant has these honors.

For everyone who is abrasive and negative, she asked me for help because she is a panicked junior. She has not shown the commitment or done anything that separates her from the pack in her eyes and from what I have read on here what is shown. Yes she is a jv runner, she didn’t place or medal in races. Instead she did it to stay in shape. Admissions is highly competitive and she is scared for the spring to come and not be accepted into the schools she has now set her view towards.

I am glad I came on here for her instead as many of you have only been negative and I’m sure it would have been worse for her to read the comments.

Mods, please close this thread, there was no help beyond writing what she already has.

26

If your friend came on this board we would be very supportive of HER. Have we not pointed out that she has more ECs than you thought and that a JV sport shows commitment? Have we not pointed out that she could still be accepted? You are coming off as condemning her by your own statements.

If EVERY student was “amazing” NO ONE would be amazing. You are being way too judgmental of your friend.

She is who is she is. Not everyone can be a varsity athlete so quit bemoaning the fact that she isn’t. Quit pointing out to her that she is less impressive than you see yourself as being.

Why can’t she volunteer at the rehab during the school year and do the camp during the summer?

Do not think she has to be as impressive as you. Recruited athletes can and do get rejected. There are far more applicants that are as qualified or more impressive than you are than each school can admit unless your parents give huge donations there are no guaranteed admissions at private schools.

27

She doesn’t have to have “the most amazing” ECs. That’s the same limited high school (and some CC) thinking that makes kids think they have to cure cancer.

And good for her, showing 3 years of commitment, which is as long as she’s been in high school. 3 years out of 3.

“I see now that there isn’t much help here beyond write down a summer job and member of 2 clubs as well as a jv sport.” I said to get her out in the local community now.

Nor are we bitter. In fact, you could post this on the high school forum and get lots of youthful advice from other kids waiting for their own results to come in. If you think they know, go for it. But as an example, you think she needs a “defining EC.” And maybe she doesn’t. Adcoms will look for the actual choices and consistency. Not some one-time camp you, as a senior, think is rare and unusual, a gem in the crown. She could go work with kids or the needy or some program tomorrow, be able to show a year of that next December. But no, you think she needs a one-time camp counselor experience, next summer.

You cannot compare yourself as some example. You seem to be a recruited athlete. Entirely different.

If you want to help her, get her to read up on these target colleges, not ask her to go with hearsay, yours or anyone else’s (eg, the comment about D3 that you “heard.”) Let her see what they look for, how she matches. Learn what it IS that adcoms want to see in the essay.

Nice to be a friend, but be the right sort.

28

@SeniorStruggling, I think you are still missing something about the admissions process: LACs aren’t looking for a specific list of ‘wow’ things. They take all kinds of students- extroverts and introverts, athletes and bookworms.

In your eyes, my D2’s EC’s look no more ‘wow’ than your friend’s ECs (no NHS and only 2 years of jv xc for a start!). But her overall package, including essays and recs, got her admitted to colleges such as W&M, Oberlin, Kenyon, Vassar and more (with some nice merit packages/named scholarships).

It is not necessarily what your friend has done, but what she has done with those things. Was xc a struggle for somebody who had never competed? did she make it on to the jv team by dint of determination despite (x limitation)? Has she learned something about herself through babysitting?

There are different paths- you took one that worked for you- great! but your friend has to find her own one. Her best shot is to look into herself. She is a junior, she has decided that she wants something different than she thought she did. Her timing is great: she has this spring and summer to focus on what is important to her for her college experience, to look at what she has done and what she hasn’t done and what she wants to do about it. Her stats are strong and her interests are beginning to form.

Truly: it won’t be one ‘wow’ activity that gets her where she wants to go. It will be the maturing she does on the way, and what she pulls out of herself and puts forward as a whole package that will matter.

29

@collegemom3717 I was on here asking for her. I understand my post was blunt, and I was not judging her. But the quality of the applications from here have made it out to seem that way.

Yes she has some ec, I know she needs to find her own, and she loves helping people.

She is scared about admissions because she knows that there are equally impressive applicants and more impressive applicants.

Your post here has been more helpful, a lot of the other posts can be taken as aggressive and berating.

Also disclaimer, I am not forcing her or ordering her around, she will do what she does. I was simply looking for some ideas that would help. She is going to do the camp, but was wondering if other help related volunteering hours would look better and if she could do something along her line of interest that would help. She is not doing this stuff for an application but is rather seeing which of her interests would be better to pursue.

30

I think if she’s interested in the camp she should do it. If she were just doing it “to look good” or make up for “lack of ec’s” then no. But it sounds like it’s something she’s interested in and in line with who she is (someone who likes to help people). As for the commitment aspect. Even though it’s several ec’s and not one for a length of time I think her ec’s show a consistent passion for helping others and this camp would be a continuation of that.

Not everyone has “amazing” EC’s. I wouldn’t say my kids had amazing EC’s (no major awards, incredible internships or research) and they are at excellent schools. They did what they loved and their passion and personality showed through those activities as well as their essays and interviews.

As for the feedback you’ve received I think you might have saved yourself some heartache had you started with this :

instead of

31

Thank you, this was very helpful. I realize my op was brash and came across in a way other than what was intended. The camp is 7 weeks long and each week is 99 hours. I wanted to know is that was a good option or if something else was.

You’re answer is very appreciated.

32

Both. Something volunteer now and something in summer.