ECs-How to best present them?

Parents Forum
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<p>I promise, this is not another thread on what type of EC looks "best". My son has quite a few ECs and I am looking for advice on how to help him work with what he has to make the most impact on applications. He is only a junior, but I figure that getting a template started will take some of the pressure off next fall.</p>

<p>I am wondering if some experienced parents would be willing to post (or pm) some examples of how their kids presented their ECs, leadership, honors, ect.? Or even some hypotheticals? Also if anyone feels particularly knowledgeable (and generous) I could pm my son's information for you to look over. Thanks!</p>

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<p>My younger son thought about this a lot, but did not go and make a separate resume of EC like some suggest. </p>

<p>Music
His EC, two orchestras for four years, concertmaster of the freshman orchestra
Played violin at the senior center in solo concerts one summer
Music camp summer after freshman year</p>

<p>School Clubs
Science Olympiad - four years, co president senior year, won medals at various levels
Literary Magazine - just on the staff, submitted art work
Mu Alpha Theta - math honors society</p>

<p>Other
Taught himself to make origami earrings and sold them at a local gallery
Taught an origami class at the senior center</p>

<p>Community Service
one summer at the senior center (bussed lunch tables in addition to more fun activities)
helped archive neighborhood association papers
math tutoring (Mu Alpha Theta)</p>

<p>He didn’t write about music at all. He likes music, but he’s no virtuoso. He figured the accomplishments made him sound better than he is. He had the same feeling about Science Olympiad - he loved it, he got medals despite not actually being a real science guy. (His major is international relations)</p>

<p>Instead he wrote his essays about the two ECs he thought most needed explaining, but that also explained him. So he wrote one about what he learned from origami. It was pretty good and I thought quite funny. He really got his voice down pat.</p>

<p>The second essay was a question on the Common App to elaborate on your “favorite EC”. He wrote about archiving the neighborhood association papers. There had been a big fight in the 1960s trying to keep open classrooms at the local school, and another one about whether or not the school playground should stay open after hours. He talked about what he learned and how it made him feel like a real historian to be given these fascinating stories from primary sources, but how the stories were incomplete, or just still ongoing. One school also had an optional essay where you could write an alternative history of the USA if the British had won at Lexington.</p>

<p>Anyway, he felt he had presented himself in as good a light as possible in his essays and there was little more interesting to say about the ECs, beyond the boxes in the Common App. So he decided to spare the Admissions Officers from more paper.</p>

<p>Older son was Mr. Computer guy. He only had two school ECs, Science Olympiad and Academic Team. He also didn’t write extra essays (which he would have hated). He put the Science Olympiad awards on multiple lines as they wouldn’t fit on one. Most of his spare time was spent doing all sorts of stuff on the computer. His essay was about computer programming. To show the depth of his EC involvement he included two recommendation letters. One was from a med school professor for whom he wrote a program to help analyze proteins that is still being used and cited. The other was from the boss of a software company for whom he worked two summers and part-time during the school year.</p>

<p>There’s no one right way to present ECs. I think it’s a good idea to think about who you are and where the best stories are and then figure out how to communicate that to the admissions officers. Older son’s story was basically, I’m a computer nerd and I’m really, really good at what I do. Younger son’s story was I’m a bright well-rounded kid with an artistic bent and I can really think like a historian. Both kids shaped their applications to show who they were.</p>

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<p>mathmom-</p>

<p>Thank you for sharing in depth information about your sons. The origami really jumped out at me, and probably to adcoms too. I suppose that no matter how solid the ECs are (orchestra, Science Olympiad) they do see those same ECs over and over again and when they see something unusual, It is likely to have more impact.</p>

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<p>There won’t be room on the application (or the individual supplements) to list all the ECs, so urge him to list the ones that he enjoyed the most and spent the most time on, even if they are common ones, such as band or soccer. Ditto for the awards. Just have him pare down his list to the things he values most.</p>

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<p>D. listed as many as she could fit in…and left behind some very important ones, like 3 foreign languages. Oh, well!! Did it hurt her? Seems not, and the languages look like progressively more important in what she is currently doing. Well, maybe she would have gotten into some exceptional places…but she had no plans to apply there and mentioned many times over that she went to college that matched her the best. So far so good…
I would say, let you kid do whatever, it is our kid’s thing, not ours.</p>

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<p>Massmom-
Regarding the number of ECs, that is one of the things I am trying to figure out. I took a look at the Common App and see the are spaces for 10. So then if a kid is involved in music is it best to try to consolidate all music related activities into one line? That is the kind of thing I am trying to understand.</p>

<p>MiamiDAP
Yes, I know it is his thing, but he doesn’t have the help of a knowledgeable GC and our hs specializes in trying to get kids to actually graduate, not grooming them for selective colleges so I am a pioneer Mom out on the frontier…</p>

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<p>I think my kids made a list of all EC’s, then figured out how to combine some and which ones to leave out. I remember that the space was limited but there were other opportunities to explain true “passions” (as they say). In fact, some of the most dedicated and talented kids will have fewer, but deeper, EC’s anyway I think :)</p>

<p>There is also an arts supplement so if your son is very involved or talented that is always a possibility.</p>

<p>Essays can sometimes be helpful in rounding out the picture, but not necessarily with any more info on EC’s.</p>

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<p>I second (or third) the recommendation to use an essay to flesh out an applicants passion for and transformative experiences related to the EC to which he or she has invested the most time and energy.</p>

9

<p>Working with the Common App boxes can be a bit of a juggling act. My recollection was that we called some things volunteer jobs instead of ECs. Nothing important got left out - at least not intentionally!</p>

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<p>My daughter did go with the extra resume (or brag sheet) in the common app (I assume they still allow you to add one). She had some unusual volunteer stuff which would not fit into any common app category and which she felt she could only do justice to by having a resume where she could explain what she did.</p>

<p>She did pick and choose carefully how to list her ECs in the common app - combining or leaving out some as others have suggested.</p>

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<p>D was in a bajillion ECs. We created a spreadsheet with grade/yr across top and the categories that the ECs fell under on the left column (eg theater productions, sports, awards, musical instruments etc) and put down everything we could think of so that we had everything including the summers. It makes her remember other ECs along the way.</p>

<p>Then pick out his favorite ECs. Do you see some theme connecting them? Let’s say that 7 were his fave or he identifies with. Then pick out the remaining 3 from his spreadsheet to round out his theme so that it is clear.</p>

<p>And yes, I agree that more unusual ECs have more of an impact.</p>

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<p>While the common app is alittle awkward when you list activities there is enough room for most kids. I agree that if there is something unusual or some activity that is the most important/consumes much time and energy it can be explored in the supplemental spaces. There are only so many hours the kids aren’t in class, sleeping or studying so you can always pick and choose activities and lose the “thin” ones. You can combine activities as someone said e.g. band, marching band, jazz band…those kinds of things. I and summarize the hours. I think one of my kids combines “in-school activities/clubs” - those things that are an hour or two every couple weeks </p>

<p>In my opinion the question is there just for admissions to see what kinds of things the kids get involved with - what are the primary interests.</p>

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<p>There is a section in the common app called Additional Information which allows for 650 words. This is a good place to describe unusual activities. It’s not necessary to use that space to describe “usual” activities (like music or debate) even though the student has spent a lot of time in different tournaments and events and held a number of positions, earned a variety of awards. There is room in the Activities section to list these concisely with years of involvement, leadership positions and maybe the 3 highest awards, leaving off all the rest. Adcoms will realize that to earn those top awards and leadership positions a student must also have had other successes along the way. </p>

<p>The unusual out of school activities with which adcoms are not familiar can either be explained in a school supplement activity essay (for those schools that have one) or in the Additional Information section.</p>

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<p>What are the current common app EC headings/sections?</p>

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<p>We went by percentage of free time spent on the activity. For example, if music occupies 30% of your time, then use 3 of your 10 lines to describe it, grouping like with like. I think passion and level of commitment count for a lot more than breadth of activities.</p>

<p>Oh, and do an arts supplement, if that is your thing. My daughter’s one regret is that she didn’t do this.</p>

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<p>OHMom…the heading is activities and it also is used for work experience. The drop down covers all the usual high school activities/sports/work categories to choose from: Academics, Art, Athletics, Volunteer, Computer/Tech, Cultural, Dance, Debate, Environmental, Family Responsibilities, Foreign exchange or Language, Journalism, Junior ROTC, LGBT, Instrumental Music, Vocal Music, Religious, School Spirit, Science/Math, School politics, Theater/Drama, Work.</p>

<p>You just choose, the category, put the time in and there’s room for a brief description. You can choose whether it’s during the school year or during breaks, the hours spent per week and the weeks spend per year. Pretty straightforward, nothing too complex.</p>

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<p>"Yes, I know it is his thing, but he doesn’t have the help of a knowledgeable GC "
-I would not trust anybody, I would not trust GC. They cannot be possible as knowledgeable about your kid’s specifics and the places that he is applying. We went only to mandatory meetings. We did not use the lst of colleges, we did not use any advice. D’s GC was probably very knowledgeable and he had only 33 kids to take care of (D’s HS class had 33), he also most likely had more resources being at the most expensive private HS in our area.
The fact is if the list does not fit, then it does not fit, period. It has happened over and over, applying for college, then Med. School. They should decide, frankly, I would stay away from the process. You will not be there to direct your kid in college where decision making will be even more important and many times they have to decide on a spot or opportunity will be gone, and that might be a tragedy of greater significance than not listing few ECs on your college application.</p>

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<p>Thanks momof3. So hours per week for a seasonal activity like a sport…you’d put something like 15 hours a week for 12 weeks, and add in any lessons/club/extra?</p>

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<p>^^Really, admissions just wants to see the kids involved in something - work, family, church, school - in their free time. Sure something different will perhaps catch someone’s eye, but so will a too long list (given the limited time available) or the absence of anything would equally catch the eye. So my advice is not to anguish about it, just tell your kids to fill it out. They know what they do and how much time they spend “doing it.” The only time you might need a guidance counselor is if there is something highly unusual that could use a GC’s corroboration or context.</p>

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<p>MiamiDAP I think that even when the kids are doing these applications independently, something like this can throw them and they tend to ask parents, if not for help, for corroboration. And two out of three of my kids talked to me about course choices, internships and other decisions, not for my direction but using me as a sounding board. </p>

<p>So I think it is appropriate for this poster to try to understand the common app even if the son is doing it, and the reassurance you and others provide that it is not something to stress about is probably really helpful to the son as well as the mom.</p>