I know I’m going to sound paranoid but here’s the situation:
I applied RD to some top schools but looking back at my Common App I think I really screwed up with the Activities section. Everything is so vague and I didn’t have any numbers or anything to actually describe my activities.
I realize that by this time most deferred people are sending in letters/updates of their awards so would it be even slightly beneficial if I sent in a couple of VERY brief updates and clarifications about my activities? I have legitimate updates and past impact with my activities and I really feel that my chances are nearly zero with the ambiguity of my Common App right now.
I know I’m going to get a lot of “Don’t annoy the adcoms” but doesn’t this outweigh that risk?
You’re mistaken. Colleges don’t want resumes and find the CA app section is sufficient. They simply don’t want nor have time to pore over details of applicants’ activities.
It’s simply inconsequential. HS students are engulfed in the myth that every EC and minute they contribute is essential to their evaluation. This simply isn’t the case. Someone writes that she’s the NHS president and oversaw project A, B and C. Sorry but every college file reader has seen it 1000s of times and her adding detail won’t do anything.
If ONE or TWO items are truly unique, send an update letter highlighting those one or two new situations. To now plaster your poor readers with paragraphs upon paragraphs of your HS ECs is at best, wasting everyone’s time – at worst, annoying.
It’s hard to realize that you’re not unique – but 99.999% likely, your app looks like many others.
I’m not challenging you on this, but I’m just wondering: If adcoms aren’t able/won’t scrutinize your EC involvement/activities, how are they able to make such minute distinctions between 30,000+ applicants? I mean at the Ivy level where pretty much every applicant has high end academics. Wouldn’t this mean that in terms of the subjective materials in an application, the personal essays outweigh EC’s by quite a bit?