<p>I'm interested in recommendations about a preferred format for the high school activities sheet/resume.. I've been told to follow the common app format, but would welcome the sage advice of others.</p>
<p>I used the format suggested in "Acing the College Application" by Michelle Hernandez, and I got lots of positive comments on it from adcoms. I really think that was the best way to go, as it looks very organized and allows the student to offer adequate explanations of his or her activities. If you are interestid in seeing my EC list as an example, feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>Sorry to ask, I know you wouldn't want to post a whole long thing out, but I'm kind of interested too and I'm wondering if you could post just a short sample type format of it? Thanks!</p>
<p>Ditto Shadow, and I'm not going to use that author's ideas freely on a forum his book is under 10 bucks, probably like 3-5 used on amazon</p>
<p>I recommend Cohen's Rock Hard Apps purely for the Before and After Activity Sheets for a couple of her "advisees". She really did clean up what was a sort of rambly EC effort and showed the version after editing that was more effective.
I think it is very hard for students to know how to present their ECs in ways that are readable and convey who they are rapidly without being bogged down in club memberships and things that are of little consequence. </p>
<p>All self help college books we used were bought used on Ebay so only using one idea or so per author felt less like a waste of money. Don't bother trying to absorb everything, just look for structure or a bit of a good tone or voice.</p>
<p>I give Hernandez's book an A for Clarity and overall common sense usefulness. Harry Bauld's essay book is short and excellent if you only read one. But recommend reading it twice and then beginning your own essay efforts.</p>
<p>My S also prepared an even shorter EC/Activity/Resume to hand to people who interviewed him. It was almost cryptic, but it is a lot to expect an interviewer to remember things about a student enough to write a great paragraph about them with details. Not every interviewer wants anything like that but most appreciated having something in writing to refer to when making their report to jog their memories.</p>
<p>I think Rock Hard Apps was the book that I used for EC format also. I thought it worked quite well. We also, as Faline2 mentioned, had a short list without explanations to take to interviews.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions. Anybody else?</p>
<p>I think I make 3 for Rock Hard Apps- what a stupid, stupid, name. If you can somehow get past the name of the book, the Brag sheet looks good.</p>
<p>appears that the Rock Hard format is a bit less intensive on description & details of each entry compared to Acing the College App format. Anyone have a preference, and pros/cons of the 2?</p>
<p>Well, Cohen's work truly often gives me the heebie jeebies but I thought she nailed the balance between informative (how many hours, what actual skills a student contributed/learned in a project, what a project actually accomplished) and avoiding pretentious on her re-edited EC lists. Most kids do not have state titles or national achievements but that does not mean their local activities are not valid and meaningful. Go for implied Meaning in ECs. Readers on Admission committees are good at figuring all this out in context but you get "points" in my book if you project as a student that you have perspective and ECs are leading you in discovery of self direction.<br>
That is a double edged sword. A student needs to be both not humble since you have like seven minutes to put your accomplishments out there before your file is thrown in a pile of maybes or yeses or nos and also a student needs to project a balanced view of self and not be grandiose or obnoxious. Volunteer work in particular is always more about what the volunteer learns or discovers than it is about noblesse oblige whether you are an adult or a teen.<br>
One other thing I would throw out there, is that although students may totally alter than Projected Future Goals in the next two years, you gotta project something coherent for the adcoms to visualize. Picture yourself as a freshmen member of the next class walking this particular campus even if goal setting is fluid. So orient your ECs to imply how they might inform A. your future academic choices/explorations and B. your future contributions to discourse, debate and clubs on campus.
I would suggest your student do a draft of his EC list and then tinker with it. Then have someone else read it. Get feedback.<br>
You don't have to make any big promises about your future to adcoms like Rumplestiltskin demanded your first-born child. But you should imply some outline of who you might be and what you might contribute if admitted to a college. Stay fluid but project something recognizable for purposes of admissions.</p>