EC's..how crucial are they?

Transfer Students
1

<p>How important are the EC's on a transfer application? Broad question I know, and one that's been answered many times, but what about for somebody whose GPA at the time of application will be 3.85 after 37 college credits and their essay is (hopefully) solid? One school I'm applying to is Northeastern, and it seems EC's matter a lot there, so its worrisome that I'm lacking in them. I just feel as though my community college doesn't offer much. The main problem is I take all of my classes, aside from the ones that are strictly online, at a satellite campus. The main campus is almost an hour away, so I haven't seriously considered it. I don't think I'd enjoy volunteering at a hospital or something like a soup kitchen either. </p>

<p>Any insight? Or perhaps even some suggestions on how to approach EC's?</p>

2

<p>This topic has been discussed multiple times on this section of the forum. </p>

<p>You need to have a unique range of ECs that will stand out to the quality of your personality and application rather than mentioning a quantity of them.</p>

3

<p>Jobs, internships, and volunteering count as ECs too.</p>

4

<p>Well, I do have a job, and I have done an internship. Eh, guess its something.</p>

5

<p>you have a high GPA, should be good enough to cover for a lack of ec’s at NE</p>

6

<p>EC’s are the only thing separating humans from robots.</p>

7

<p>Fair point.</p>

<p>Mainly what I’m asking is- do any of you think a lack of EC’s can be the difference in an application with a high GPA and solid essay? I’m under the impression they help somebody get in with stats that are either average or lower than average relative to the school. Of course, I’m not talking Ivies here.</p>

8

<p>

For TOP schools (competitive ones), if you don’t have good ECs, you will not get in. For schools like Northeastern (where about half the transfer applicants are accepted), if you have a few ECs and a high GPA, you have a good chance of getting in. In other words, extracurriculars are very important in determining what schools you would be competitive for. Solely having a high GPA can get you into some good schools. Having great ECs and a solid essay as well will get you into better ones. ECs are very important, basically, next to a solid essay, GPA, etc.</p>

<p>(Of course I don’t know how competitive Northeastern really is. I’m just assuming. But in, say, top 70 schools–>very subjective, if you have no ECs, you will not be competitive.)</p>

9

<p>SAT factors into the admission process too, don’t forget.</p>

10

<p>The highest ranked school I’m applying to is NEU. SAT’s won’t matter for me.</p>

11

<p>Essays, recs, ecs and gpa are really all that matter in the transfer admissions process. High school stats mean little.</p>