<p>Okay, I've heard craps about EC. What is some kind of special ECs that would dazzle colleges? Does quantity of club matter?</p>
<p>I’m certain this thread can help: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/210497-those-ecs-weak-so-whats-good.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/210497-those-ecs-weak-so-whats-good.html</a></p>
<p>The best thing is to follow your own interests, and not do things just to get into a college.</p>
<p>Well, if I only follow my interest I’ll never get into those big schools.
Sorry but it’s my biggest problem</p>
<p>You should do what matters to you, though.</p>
<p>Seriously. People are ALWAYS doing things only to be able to get to the next stage of life…where they’re just going to be doing things only to be able to get to the next stage of life! It’s such a dangerous circle! At that rate, life will be over before you know it!</p>
<p>Okay, fine, do a few extra curriculars that are less important to you, but will bulk up your r</p>
<p>When people say “follow your interests,” they generally mean “follow your interests” but not if your interests are playing video games, going to the beach, or playing poker. These things are fun and you should enjoy high school obviously but these shouldn’t be the cornerstone of a Harvard application.</p>
<p>Follow your interests, though, with that reservation in mind. I would be surprised if you could come up with some new and dazzling EC that your admissions officer hasn’t seen before. They review thousands of applications a year. Instead, spend a lot of time and energy doing something you enjoy at your school, and I’m sure that you’ll acquire inadvertently some kind of leadership position.</p>
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I and a lot do
Are you saying that, DwightEisenhower, we shouldn’t “come up with some new and dazzling EC that your admissions officer hasn’t seen before” and instead do what other people do only?</p>
<p>Of course not. I’m saying that the very idea of whether or not other people have done something shouldn’t be in your thought process when you pick activities. I was simply saying that you shouldn’t think, “oh, well, I kind of like Model UN…but everybody does Model UN” and instead take up lyre lessons for the sake of being unique. Chances are, your interest and passion for a “typical” activity will be far more appealing to colleges than your artificial interest in something less typical.</p>
<p>“Well, if I only follow my interest I’ll never get into those big schools.
Sorry but it’s my biggest problem”</p>
<p>If your passions are things like playing poker and video games and partying, you don’t have the kind of personality that would make you a fit for schools like Harvard. It is highly unlikely that you’d be able to fake successfully interests in the kind of things that would make you look like a good fit for Harvard. If you somehow got to be a Harvard student, you’d also be miserable there because you wouldn’t have much in common with the other students. There really are students who don’t have to fake interest in ECs that would impress Harvard admissions officers, and those students continue to happily and passionately pursue their interests at Harvard.</p>
<p>I agree with all the posts above - do something you love - if it doesnt get you into Harvard then obiously it wasnt the place for you! I personally talked about my love of photography and in particular urban spaces and the awards I won.</p>
<p>Seriously? I know plenty of Harvard kids who sit in their rooms playing video games all day. I go to Davidson and I would go downstairs this year to visit my guy friends on a hall three floors below me and the whole hall was almost always on the sofas in front of the big tv playing Halo. My other guy friends on another hall were the same with FIFA. My Duke friends say it’s the same where they are…for guys especially it’s really a social activity. These are both extremely incredible, nationally recognized schools. Most of my friends who do this are doing it to bond with their hall and take a break from studying, and most of them do very well academically.
No, gaming won’t get you into college, but just because you’re really, really into video games doesn’t mean you wouldn’t fit in at a selective, tough university.</p>
<p>Also, don’t ever let anyone tell you that the Ivy League / highly selective schools are not party schools. My friend went to Yale because she thought it would be a “serious, focused experience,” and reported back later that it’s only so if you lock yourself in your room or the library and keep away from everyone. Her roommate went out seven nights a week, and that was considered pretty typical, at least of her college. Duke, Emory, Vanderbilt, and Georgetown are also big party schools. Davidson has been much less so than others, but there are still plenty of kids who go out three or four times a week for the parties. Again, it won’t get you into college, but once you’re there, everyone does it. Think these experienced partyers never got into it in high school? Most of the hardcore kids are quite practiced in drinking, smoking, and hooking up BEFORE they get to college.</p>
<p>What I most want to get across is that interest does not determine personality type or the other way around. Interest and personality are totally independent. People can be passionate about video games, computer games, poker, online communication, and partying and fit in perfectly at Harvard.</p>
<p>But the question isn’t about fitting in at Harvard, it’s about getting into Harvard. And for that, it’s helpful to have something that you do passionately and devotedly at a level that earns statewide or national honors and makes your application distinctive among those of around 30,000 other immensely-qualified applicants.</p>
<p>“No, gaming won’t get you into college, but just because you’re really, really into video games doesn’t mean you wouldn’t fit in at a selective, tough university.”</p>
<p>If your only recreation is video games, you aren’t going to fit in at a college like HPY. Sure, students at places like HPY play video games, but they do more than that when they’re not in class. If this wasn’t true, H wouldn’t have the hundreds of student-run clubs and other activities that it has.</p>
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<p>No one said Harvard kids don’t play video games. But I’d be surprised if any Harvard kids did little more than play video games.</p>