<p>I emailed a the admissions committee for a college and I asked:
"what would be better in terms of ec's? Doing the traditional community service at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen? or something that has to do with computer science?"</p>
<p>The response i got was "My suggestion is to do what you are most passionate about and do it to a high level. It is up to the individual not the university."</p>
<p>So i think the answer to this is to do something relating to CS because that is what i'm passionate about; not feeding the homeless or helping out at a hospital.</p>
<p>Now I need your guys' help on figuring out some ec's that will show my passion for this.
I've only taken an introductory course in java and one course in C++. Starting on Jan 29 I will be taking my C++ 2 course and in september I will be taking data structures. So this should give you a good idea of my knowledge of programming thus far.</p>
<p>I just don't know what to do. I don't have all the knowlege i need to make an amazing app or game that will show my passion. After I complete my c++ 2 should i try to get an internship at a small company if possible?</p>
<p>This suggestion might be totally off based because I am not a programmer and have no idea how your classes translate to web design, but if you have learned anything that links into the web here goes. Check out your local area charitable websites: 10K run, soccor club, girl scouts, boy scouts, churches whatever and find one that is weak. Ask them what their dream website would look like if they didn’t have to pay a professional programer to do it for them… Maybe it would be something as simple as a button on a church website to get a notice to sign your kid up for VBS when the date is set next year. Collect e-mail addresses for the year. Send out an interactive sign-up 1-2 months before the event. Nobody has to retype anything. Class lists can be generated automatically based on the age of the kid and printed out for the teachers in the form of attendance lists or emegency contact info sheet. The kitchen can get an allergy list. Nobody has to read anybody’s aweful handwriting. I bet if you go hunting around you will find a group that could use your help.</p>
<p>Wow that sounds like a good idea. And web design is not included in computer science but I am learning how to make websites on my own time by reading books on html and css. But I’m still a novice at that. </p>
<p>What worries me though is, let’s say I did make a website for an organization, I don’t want the admissions to say “If he’s so passionate about computer science, why is he doing web design? he can go to a web design school for that”</p>
<p>I think that admissions officers are getting pretty tired of applicants having EC’s solely to make them appear more attractive. Work in a soup kitchen; check the box on the application; then once admitted to college never have anything to do with soup kitchens or other charitable organizations. It’s a farce. When asked, the college suggested you do something you are passionate about. It really doesn’t matter whether the activity is related to CS, a sport or anything else. Do one or two things, other than your regular classes, and do them in-depth. For example, don’t just be a member of a club be an officer. The assumption, rightly or wrongly, is that an officer is more involved in the club activities. </p>
<p>BTW - they aren’t going to say “why is he doing web design”. Since many colleges do not require any previous CS experience it really is not necessary to demonstrate passion for CS.</p>
<p>There are lots of things you could do to show a passion for CS and help people. Why don’t you start free introductory programming lessons or lead a programming study group for disadvantaged kids (or adults, or anybody who wants to learn)? Maybe you could find a public library, local business, church, community college, etc. that will let you use some computers during off-hours. Sharing programming with people is a great feeling.</p>
<p>Get involved in open source development. Find some projects where you can make a contribution… even if it’s just reading code and proofreading documentation at first, you can begin to make a name for yourself, feel like you’re accomplishing something, and gain valuable experience working with code in the wild.</p>
<p>Begin reading about some of the research professors at your target school are doing. Read the papers, join discussion groups, ask (and answer) questions on the StackExchange sites, learn about what you’re interested in that’s more academically interesting. If you can tell the admissions people that you are somewhat familiar with the work of professors X and Y, or that you have interacted with them in some way, or would like to learn more from them about some specific topic, that would make a pretty strong impression (moreso than saying you are graduating from high school and want to go to college, and why not this one?).</p>
<p>I heard something about certificates of accomplishment you could get from MIT (through MITx) and Stanford… but don’t know whether any of that is happening yet, or soon. Either way, several schools have put course materials online… MIT’s OCW is a good example. Try to go through some of the more complete, lower-level courses that interest you. Learn as much as you can. A demonstrated desire to actually learn something might be the most impressive thing these people ever see!</p>
<p>Oh I forgot to mention that I am at a community college right now and I declared my major as Computer Science.</p>
<p>Chris: I know it’s not necessary to demonstrate passion for cs. But I actually enjoy CS and I am trying to find ways to show that. And the reason I said that maybe web design projects isn’t a good idea is because I would be applying as a CS transfer. Dong web design wouldn’t really correlate with my major. </p>
<p>And looking at the MIT lower level courses isn’t a bad idea to learn more.</p>
<p>There is A LOT you can do with web design if you’re a CS major because they teach you how to program. A lot of “web designers” today use templates or programs like Dreamweaver or another engine to do the programming for them while they just create the graphics. If you know programming, you can create very interesting things on the web. When I say “programming”, I’m NOT talking about HTML and CSS. Those languages are very easy and can be learned in a day. I’m talking about procedural programming like C, Perl, Java, Javascript, PHP, etc. where you can include libraries and interact with a mySQL database to create dynamic webpages and have the freedom to build your own unique website. Or you can learn Actionscript and make flash sites.</p>
<p>I guess I’m leaning toward “web programming” rather than “web designing”, but you get the idea.</p>
<p>You can also create Android/iPhone apps since those are very popular right now.</p>
<p>aegrisomnia: honestly I’m not doing it just to look good. I legit like programming and cs. But I just want advice on the best way of showing it. Now I was wondering if an internship counts as an ec or is it under its own category?</p>
<p>skbryan: eventually i do plan to move on beyond html and css but I’m just starting with that for now. And how do I contribute to an open source?</p>
<p>Check to see if your community college participates in any college-level programming competitions. If not, do they have a CS club? If not, start one. Then, have the club participate in meaningful activities. For example, programming competitions, or sponsor computer education classes at the local community center, offer to create websites for local non-profits etc.</p>
<p>Ok I’m back and I’ve got an idea. This one has nothing to do with computer science but I think that if i pulled it off it would be impressive.</p>
<p>My cc doesn’t have a wrestling team. I think it would be cool to start a wrestling club where people can meet up like twice a week at the school’s gym and wrestle. I know that there are a lot of ex-wrestlers at my college but the problem is that we don’t have mats.</p>
<p>One wrestling mat is over $1000 dollars so to buy 3 to 4 mats would be pretty expensive. I need help finding donators/sponsors. Anyone have any ideas? who should I reach out to?</p>
<p>(By the way I wrestled for 4 years in high school and I love it)</p>