<p>With the notorious "your EC's are weak", "no passion", and "EC's all over the place" saturating the forums, how do you think my EC's compare to those of students applying to lower ivies and places like UChi, Northwestern, and Duke ED especially =]. I included anything I saw as possibly helping so if you think that something is superfluos or detrimental let me know. So, how do i stack up?</p>
<p>2 Yr. FFA Member
1 Yr. Basketball Manager/Statistician (Freshman)
2 Yr Recreational Basketball Participant (Jr. and Sr.)
FBLA Treasurer (Jr.) and President (Sr.)
2 Yr. NHS (Jr. and Senior)
Natl Society of High School Scholars
Baseball- JV 2 Years
JV Captain as Sophomore
JV Defensive Player of Year Award as Sophomore
Baseball- 2 yrs Starting Varsity/Letter (Jr. and Senior)
Varsity Baseball Conference Sportsman of Year Award (Jr)
Probable Varsity Captain- Senior Year
Jr. American Legion Baseball (Summer League)- 3 years
Jr. American Legion Captain- 3rd year
Volunteered 11th summer and 12th at Thrift Shop/Food Bank outlet currently participating in project to help rasie money for it; not sure of exact funds that will be raised
Many Awards (7 or so) from School recognizing excellence in particular areas of study if that helps at all</p>
<p>*Finally, i play a LOT of golf and practice on my game a lot and am fairly decent. I don't play for the school because its during baseball season and thats basically the EC i care most about. I spend about 10 hrs a week working on my game in the summer. I would usually have NEVER considered putting this leisure activity on my app but have seen people inquire about snowboarding and weightlifting in spare time (with positive feedback), so am wondering if it would be worthwhile to include?</p>
<p>So....Competitive? Void of passion? No identity? So-so average EC's? Good?</p>
<p>Thanks for anyone who offers an honest opinion. I was just curious and am aware that these opinions will not affect my decision so i will take them lightly! Thanks again for trudging through the long post!</p>
<p>Fix your attitude, and get off CC for a while.
There are no "lower ivies." It seems that you are not content with schools that you are applying too. If you can't stand UChi, NU, Duke and "lower ivies", perhaps you should apply to the "higher" ivies then. </p>
<p>Schools don't like students who apply to them out of necessity. You will feel regretful and miserable.</p>
<p>^Don't listen to above poster. I read his first, so I was expecting sass in your post and found none.</p>
<p>"Lower Ivies" is a common term. It feels like you are holding this guy personally responsible for it. All Ivies aren't the same. HYP are far more selective than the others (by like 8-10 percent). I don't know how on earth you are getting that the OP has contempt for non-HYP schools, but whatever.</p>
<p>Your ECs look fine. Grades and SATs come first though.</p>
<p>Thanks Baelor, and yes I am by no means demeaning those schools^. They are all great institutions that I would love to be a part of. I obviously wouldnt be applying ED binding to Duke (as i mentioned in first post) if i wasnt pleased with it. In all honesty, I personally would choose Duke over HYPSM because its my dream school and I have grown up in NC, 30 minutes from campus. I've been working all summer on my Why Duke? essay, trying to fit all my "passion" about the school into 250 words.</p>
<p>I simply used "lower ivies" because i have seen it used many times here and thought it was a common term. I just wanted to let people know i wasnt entering the crazi crapshoot pool at Harvard and the like. My apologies for misleading you with the term "lower ivy". I am not even applying to the higher ivies because they simply dont interest me.</p>
<p>But back to my original question about the competitiveness of my ECs, thanks to Baelor for the encouragement, and any other opinions are welcome!</p>
<p>It IS a common term. Don't worry about it! And I agree, your love of Duke shows through your ED application.</p>
<p>Okay, more specifically, you will definitely need to find out how to group your ECs. NHS and school awards are very common and not very distinguishing (especially if you have no office). I would suggest not making those the focus of the EC part of your application. Just add them on to the end, if at all.</p>
<p>Also figure out how you want to present all your sports. It is clear that you are passionate about them, so pick one sport but make sure that your love of each sport comes through somehow. That would be my advice.</p>
<p>yea man, you have pretty solid EC's, focus on the sports....
two questions:</p>
<p>Are you going to mark baseball for 12th grade in your application?</p>
<p>At my school it's pretty obvious who is going to make the team, but baseball doesn't formally begin until way after ED/EA deadlines...
just wanted a second opinion from a baseball player</p>
<p>second.. what do you think about the Nat’l Society of High School Scholars?
like i'm in it, but just because i responded to the thing in the mail. i dont think im gonna list it as one of my top EC's because i havent really done anything with it (common app asks for primary EC's and only gives 7 spots)</p>
<p>thanks for the advice and to respond to your questions.</p>
<p>1) yes i will list it for 12th grade. I think this is acceptable because I have been part of the JV/Varsity program at my school every year and it is clear who will be on the team. Also, we begin pre-season conditioning at the end of october/start of november so i will probably be able to indicate senior captain status. As all of our returning seniors captain the team every year and we have 2 returning. So, assuming you are part of the program, definitely mark it in my opinion. I just wouldnt mark it if you decided you wanted to give it a try your senior year.</p>
<ol>
<li>I definitely would NOT put the National Society of High School Scholars as an EC. (I wont put it) I was planning on listing it under awards/recognition along with NHS. Keep in mind though that I will list NHS club under ECs because I have done actual activities with the organization. </li>
</ol>
<p>Really, NSHS means nothing? Even for academic awards/recognition? I don't have that many other awards/recognition other than NHS and school awards for highest avg in AP gov, Honors US Hist, etc....u know, like many awards for best grade in a certain class. Will this be a severe detriment to my application, given my ECs being somewhat solid based on other opinions?</p>