Hi, another question. =) To colleges, what are considered to be good ECs? Like is it necessary to win awards on a state/national level? Also, how much do colleges value consistency (such as playing the same sport for all four years, taking the same foreign language for four years, etc.)?
Thanks in advance!
<p>although state/national level awards certainly look good, they are necessary for your EC's to be considered good. Many cc'ers are high schoolers, meaning that they don't really know about admission processes themselves (including myself, of course lol). What I have realized though, is that many of them think that in order to get into a top college, you need near perfect SAT scores and extreme amount of EC's and so on, but it really isn't as tough as they say. If you have various EC's in many different areas and show dedication to them, it should be fine.</p>
<p>Every college guide ever written uses the word "passion". You really get sick of the word "passion" and look for other words, but there are none. Adcoms want to see "passion" and long-term commitment in one or two area rather than a long list of activities with little involvement in any of them. Stellar EC's include national recognition or at least regional/state recognition. However, not everyone admitted has that. Mainly you just need something to make you stand out from the crowd. </p>
<p>The most important thing is difficulty of curriculum, then gpa/rank and then standardized test scores. After you hit a certain level of academic measures, they won't split hairs between SAT scores of 1550/1600 and 1600/1600. Instead, they want to pick the unique applicants that stand out from the crowd. This is why EC's, essays, and recs are important. (Large state schools are more numbers driven.) </p>
<p>For the most difficult colleges in the country, and as a non-URM, non-legacy, non-athlete, non-anything-else, you need SAT's of at least 1500/1600, three SAT II in the mid 700's, and very strong everything else in order to be a reasonable candidate. Even then, there are four/five almost identical applicants for every open slot. You can apply to the school with less, but it is a reach.</p>
<p>The competition drops off sharply after you get out of the top 10-15 brand-name schools. Then you certainly don't need national recognition. You can gauge best by using the 50% SAT ranges. For a non-URM, non-etc applicant, a school is a match school if you are around the 75% SAT mark and a reach school if you are around the 50% SAT mark.</p>