ECs

Applying to College
1

<p>1) How do colleges know that you actually participated in a certain club and held a certain position? Whether it's in school or out of school.</p>

<p>2) Will colleges care if not your ECs are school related? For example, I'm a sophmore this year and I've found several clubs (in school) that I'm really enjoying right now. But last year, as one of the new freshman students at a school that runs from 7-12 grade, I was trying to settle in and didn't really get too much of a chance to join any in school clubs except for crew in the spring. But during that year, I still did community service at two different schools (as a teachers assistant), was in two ensembles, and a martial arts team. Will colleges still view those as ECs even though they weren't school related?</p>

<p>3) If I decided to start my own club during Junior year, would I seem like one of the "Jam a whole bunch of ECs in last minute" kind of people? Even though I'm starting a club and not just joining one? </p>

<p>I know that some of these questions may sound stupid, but I just want to be prepared when time comes to college applications. Anyone's help or advice is appreciated. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>1) They dont</p>

<p>2) No</p>

<p>3) Depends</p>

3

<p>1) Some schools randomly check applications, especially for major accomplishments. It’s also likely that there would be incongruities between recs and an application if the applicant was seriously lying. But in general, pch is right: they don’t.</p>

<p>2) No</p>

<p>3) Starting a club requires knowledge and experience that you likely didn’t have as a freshman or a sophomore. If it relates to interests you already had, it makes perfect sense you’d start it junior year. And if it helps, I joined (not started) several clubs/publications my junior (and even senior) year of high school; in fact, only one of my activities was a 4-year commitment. But I put enough effort into them that it came through in my recs and awards that it wasn’t resume padding.</p>