EC's: length v. depth?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm really involved with newspaper and Youth in Government at school. I'm editor of a very good school newspaper and journalism has taken up a LOT of my time. I've done a few other EC's, but haven't spent a significant amount of time with them...should I still include them on my apps? </p>

<p>I really don't want to seem like a resume builder, because I'm not...I committed myself to a few things and did them well. Will it hurt me to add the ones I did freshman year when I was still figuring out what I wanted to commit myself to? I went to all the meetings, but I only spent a couple of years in the clubs.</p>

<p>Also: will a very low rank (50/650) hurt, if the only reason I have such a bad rank is because Adv. journalism wasn't weighted? Newspaper's my passion; I wasn't taking it to slack off. </p>

<p>GPA: 3.97 UW</p>

<p>Schools: Swarthmore, Vassar, UPenn and Pomona </p>

<p>thanks</p>

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<p>As long as you or a teacher can stress in the essays how dedicated you have been to your ECs, then depth is much, much better than length. That being said, definitely include all your ECs on your app; they can't hurt, and everybody puts down organizations that they have 0 committment to. As for your ranking, it's really not a problem since you're in the top 10% of your class. Sure it could be better, but colleges aren't too picky as long as you stay in that top decile (so they don't look bad in "top colleges" books).</p>

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<p>Thanks so much :)</p>