<p>How important are ECs in the application process? I don't work, haven't done anything and I'm looking for some ideas.</p>
<p>So what DID you do?</p>
<p>It depends on your GPA. If you have a 3.5, a strong record of ECs might push you over. If you have a 3.9, they’re kind of irrelevant.</p>
<p>GPA and completion of pre-requisite courses are the main factor in deciding who gets in. Everything else is just icing on the cake.</p>
<p>If you’re in my situation (4.0 with only a few ECs), and you’re planning on grad school of some sort, you can’t develop tunnel vision. You need to think about what happens AFTER you get in. You’re only at the school you transfer to for one year before you’re applying to grad schools (if you plan on immediately pursuing grad school after graduation), so you need to strengthen your resume NOW.</p>
<p>In short, go do some volunteer work that interests you for your future, and, most of all, because it feels good. Look into some internships you feel you might have a shot at as well. Don’t wait til you’re at UC whatever to get serious.</p>
<p>Write about why you’re so lazy in your personal statement.</p>
<p>^ You should write about how you’re such a smarta**.</p>
<p>ECs don’t matter much at all. I agree, they might help a little if your GPA is on the lower side, but other than that, it shouldn’t affect you negatively. But working is not the only form of ECs. There’s volunteering, things like working or being active in some sort of community (like church or a youth/college group), and even things like tutoring your siblings. Don’t stress too much about ECs. If anything, join one or two clubs at school this year.</p>
<p>I know it makes me come off as such an ass but I just get instantly annoyed by people that don’t work. </p>
<p>I will try to be helpful as well.<br>
I put the sports I played in hs on my application. Also try to think if you’ve done some work like odd jobs for friends parents, or seasonal stuff that you could put on. One more suggestion if you get really desperate go to the local police station and ask if there’s anything you could do in order to get some community service hours for college, hopefully they will be nice. A friend of mine washed cop cars at the station and I washed windows at city hall, suggest those if they can’t think of anything. Or just kill it this semester and eliminate the need for good EC’s.</p>
<p>EC stands for excusable conduct. EC is just a term to describe a bunch of useless activities u did to excuse you from ur pathetic performance in the classroom. it is just an excuse people use to explain why they have bad grades :)</p>
<p>So you’re saying that as a Political Science major it’s more important to have gotten an A in your current events class than it is that you worked with your city mayor/council/court/etc various times a year for no reason other than a personal learning experience?? I don’t see why you think schools should reward you more for being a hermit than a productive member of society.</p>
<p>^^ bit of an exaggeration? how many people really have relevant ECs to their major like that? for the most part loading up your application with a bunch of random clubs and things like that really won’t give you much of an edge… there were tons of us here that got accepted to all the UCs with no ECs, and there were just as many with a bunch that didn’t get into the top ones. GPAs and majors were the common factors between the people in the two groups.</p>