<p>After looking over the transcripts of a bunch of kids today, I've seen a lot of said kids get bashed for having no rhyme or reason to their ECs. Obviously this scares me, considering I don't have much structure either. I worked on a congressional campaign over the summer for 500 hours (the guy got lambasted, not sure if that matters), and I'm going to Tibet this summer with a volunteer group to do some service work. After that, I have some clubs and whatnot, but here's the kicker: I want to be a neurosurgeon.</p>
<p>it dosen't matter, most people on CC are too worried about not doing enough EC's</p>
<p>as long as you demonstrate that you have a deep interest in something and are passionate/committed about a club or activity, no matter how impressive, that's all that matters</p>
<p>Service work in Tibet sounds awesome! Even if you "want" to be a neurosurgeon, that does not mean something like that will not help. In fact, if you can incorporate it somehow when you interview at a school it can help a bunch. Talk about how in America we are lucky to have great hospitals, although some can argue our HC system is messed up, but in Tibet people are not so lucky, etc.</p>
<p>Adcoms say that they love "consistency" but I don't see how someone who has volunteered at the same organization for 4 straight years straight makes him a better applicant than someone who volunteered at 6 different organization for 2 years, then spent 2 more years just focusing on sports. </p>
<p>In fact, the people whom I've seen get into Harvard tend to have about 2-3 strong ECs reflecting their various interests. </p>
<p>It's a CC myth that admissions officers want students ECs to be very consistent.</p>
<p>What admission officers aren't impressed by are students who have very little involvement in a wide variety of activities, such as having lots of club memberships and random community service. Doing this indicates the student is just dibbling and dabbing in an attempt to dress up their resume.</p>
<p>Admissions officers also don't expect students to keep doing the same ECs for all 4 years. They know that h.s. is a time of exploration. They would, though, expect that while the ECs may change over the years, a student would eventually have deep interest in some ECs that the student has gone on to attain leadership in and to make an impact in.</p>
<p>the penn and dartmouth admissions officers specifically told me that they were looking for consistency, "something that you have done all 4 years in high school."</p>
<p>It doesn't mean you need to have done everything for 4 years. It is expected that students will drop and add interests as they learn more about themselves and opportunities and as their activities take up more time as their involvement deepens.</p>
<p>One can, for instance, demonstrate a consistent interest in music without being in the same performance group for 4 years.</p>
<p>"the penn and dartmouth admissions officers specifically told me that they were looking for consistency, "something that you have done all 4 years in high school."</p>
<p>I trust them more than you, no offense."</p>
<p>Another thing - if someone develops an exceptional passion in something later than freshman year, I would guarantee that it'd be taken into account. The admissions officers are giving you a strong idea that they prefer in depth commitment to flaky EC-hopping. Doesn't mean you take their words at face value, because as they themselves surely acknowledge, admissions is an art more than a science.</p>
<p>I don't understand how some students could have consistent ECs for freshman through senior year. It seems to me that I am a very different individual when I started high school at 14 and now as a senior (18 years old). Only one activity was consistent for me, and it wasn't too specific (quiz bowl). I have grown and learned immensely about myself during these four years, changing activities and discovering new intellectual interests. Hey, it worked out for me in the end college admissions wise. ;)</p>
<p>"I don't understand how some students could have consistent ECs for freshman through senior year. It seems to me that I am a very different individual when I started high school at 14 and now as a senior (18 years old)."</p>
<p>I understand this very well. People, I entered high school being a B+ student in English and composition from middle school. Exited it being one of the only people to ace all of AP English with A's, even when only 1 or 2 A's were offered in a semester. I entered having no real liking for math. Exited it having done enough math to put me well ahead of a student taking AP Calculus BC as his last high school course.</p>
<p>Entered wanting to do high school debate. Exited having quit it by soph. year. </p>
<p>I mean seriously, do what your heart is in...it isn't worth playing the admissions game. The schools who value EC's often are so unpredictable about admissions that you're wasting your time if you do random things to try to impress them. Get good at something...it will really make you feel like a somebody, and help shape your identity, which is important...in college, many have identity crises because they feel they were just the same ol' well scoring students, nothing special anymore in college.</p>
<p>"the most important thing is ur grades and scores.</p>
<p>the rest is just a bonus unless u managed to cure cancer on your free time."</p>
<p>Maybe for public schools. Not quite true for private schools. If the rest were just icing on the cake, I think the profiles of students admitted to HYPS would be different, I think. They take the rest of your profile very seriously. Apparently there are several books on admissions telling about how your application is viewed holistically by the Ivies, and the readers are trained to identify certain things. Certainly wouldn't be so intricate if they had to go "Oh! Highest scores? Put it in this <em>likely</em> pile, and let's see if there's a little icing on the cake."</p>