<p>im only a junior but i was looking at the common application EC section today.</p>
<p>what exactly counts as an EC?</p>
<p>I am part of my school orchestra, and we have 3-hr class rehersals during the week (total hours), and sometimes like 2 hours every other week and also concerts not during school..</p>
<p>so can i put that as an EC-even though its a school class? also for the total hours per week part, do i just put the non-school hours or all the hours total? and my orchestra isnt that some blow off class, our symphony orch. were state champs last year</p>
<p>and what about this?</p>
<p>i go to a non-credit, non-paid (so i dont pay) math competitions class outside of school (which includes national competitions such as arml-we have to be in the class to be on the team, and we do tons of aime/math olympiad problems). its like more than 2 hours every week, and i like this class way more than some of the clubs that im in.</p>
<p>is this activity better for me to put down than something like science olympiad club, in which i have no awards in and do not really like/participate many hours in. would this even be considered an EC anyways?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>anybody with experience in filling this out?
have any inputs?</p>
<p>because i have a lot of things like this, they are school classes but you can also consider them ECs (like newspaper, orchestra...), can i still fill them out as ECs/how will the hours be (for all or just nonschool)</p>
<p>I don't consider school classes of any kind to be ECs. </p>
<p>If you were in a community orchestra or had, for instance, started a chamber group as a formal school club or something that you regularly did with friends, those would be ECs.</p>
<p>Saying this as someone who did take orchestra in h.s. I also did music-related activities that were ECs: was in a student-formed chamber orchestra, a community orchestra, and was an officer in a regional student music organization.</p>
<p>oh but what if you are like school newspaper editor (im not), but from what you are saying, our school editor cannot put that on his application? because its a school class.</p>
<p>also, our orchestra is a litle different. i also have after-school practices and we are going to NY to play later this year at either carnegie or lincoln center, forgot which one...so for that, should i mention it. Or is there a way to indicate the school hours/non-school hours so the colleges dont get confused. </p>
<p>thanks.</p>
<p>ECs are activities that are not part of the school curriculum. I'm in the chamber orchestra @ my school, but the chamber orchestra itself isn't part of my music class - that's an EC. If the school newspaper runs like a club, with work done outside of school, then it's an EC.</p>
<p>Of course a school newspaper editor can include that on their app even if it's a class. Similarly, the concertmaster or section leader could include that info. Where you put it isn't what's important. Just find a way to include it. Those type of positions reflect leadership.</p>