<p>So as I've been reading some of the chance threads on here, I can't help but feel a slight bit of inferiority when examining some of the EC lists on here. Im not talking the laundry list type often seen (member of 20 different clubs). Its like they won 1st place in this and that national or state competition, along with their 1,000 hours of community service along with being captain of sports teams and such. Of course this isn't the typical list seen on here, but I've seen it quite a few times and it really makes me wonder how these people managed to do all this. My question is: does it look comparable, or even just as good, to have even just one standout EC where a lot was accomplished and you were passionate about? Of course, I don't only have one EC to put down, but I'd say that one certainly stands head and shoulders above the rest. I've been on my school's scholastic bowl team for all 3 years of high school, as a starter and key contributor in all those years as well. In my junior year, I became team captain, and we managed to bring home our school's first district championship in its history. I love the "sport" with a passion as well, and hopefully that comes through in my essay. Originally I took a pretty great pride in having this, but then seeing all these people who have 5 or 6 accomplishments similar to or even greater than this one kinda makes it seem less. Anyone kinda know how I feel, and if so do you think that schools will hold highly the fact that I was pretty committed to just one activity, possibly making up for my lack of membership/achievement in multiple areas? Hahahah sorry for the lengthy post, I just feel that if anything's gonna screw me over at the competitive places I'd like to apply to, it would definitely be the fact that so many applicants have a wide spectrum of involvement.</p>
<p>well you are in a very similar position of an alumni that primarily focused on science bowl throughout his high school career. he may have been a bit more extreme than you since he really gave up EVERYTHING for it. He’s at brown now. he got into cornell, ucla, berkeley but he could have been accepted to more prestigious universities had he been a bit more involved. Nevertheless, besides focusing on science bowl, he got 800’s on his subject test, a 2360, top 5 in his class, and was a really good artist and writer. Just write a really well organized and thoughtful essay which shows some kind of maturity or understanding because of your scholastic team. If your gpa and numbers are high, that would also significantly help your chances as well. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1170620-chance-me-these-colleges-i-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1170620-chance-me-these-colleges-i-will-chance-back.html</a></p>
<p>The question about impressive ECs comes up regularly on the forum. There is a thread with comments by Northstarmom, a Ivy alum interviewer, about what constitutes impressive ECs from the point of view of the most selective colleges. The post is at <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/210497-those-ecs-weak-so-what-s-good.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/210497-those-ecs-weak-so-what-s-good.html</a></p>
<p>2 very interesting articles about ECs that stand out and how to get them (same author, different examples) are at [How</a> to Be Impressive](<a href=“http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/05/28/the-art-of-activity-innovation-how-to-be-impressive-without-an-impressive-amount-of-work/]How”>The Art of Activity Innovation: How to Be Impressive Without an Impressive Amount of Work - Cal Newport) and [Save</a> This Grind?](<a href=“http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/09/12/case-study-how-could-we-save-this-ridiculously-overloaded-grind/]Save”>Case Study: How Could We Save This Ridiculously Overloaded Grind? - Cal Newport) While I don’t agree with everything in them, take a look at these 2 articles and I think you’ll get some original ideas.</p>
<p>@ljohnl well at least thats reassuring to hear, i mean i dont know how much time this mentioned alumni put in, but I can say that during the 5-month season I definitely put a lot of extra time beyond what was required in mandatory team practices by doing extra research, examining practice questions, etc. Like I said, if this is conveyed in the essay then hopefully this shows that I’m not just someone who didnt stay involved in anything. Brown and Cornell are slightly more prestigious than the places I’m planning on applying, and I have pretty similar stats to the case you mentioned…so let’s hope it all works out come fall!</p>
<p>@mikemac I did read that being captain of a varstity team counts as a pretty good ec on the post you linked. Since the league governing high school sports does classify scholastic bowl as a sport (you can actually letter in it), do you think it would hold pretty similar prestige to being captain of maybe tennis team, track team, etc?</p>
<p>and now that i look deeper, i realize that ljohnl was talking about himself about the alumnus at brown. congrats man, thats a great place! only thing is, you still had all that research experience to boot with the involvement in science bowl, which i literally had no idea even existed for high school students. seriously, my high school does a really crappy job of informing students of stuff like this, it took looking on CC and seeing all these people with research experience to realize that in fact you can do it. oh well, i recently talked to my friend about it and he said that his dad runs one in the fall, so hopefully i can get into that. and about that, another question - if I’m in the progress of that opportunity at the time of applying (in the midst of it, not finished though), should I still put it down on an app?</p>