How are my ECs? How can they be improved?

Applying to College
1

Hello CC,

I am currently a sophomore in HS. My stats/academics are pretty strong for me right now, so I want to develop my ECs, especially since summer is coming up. I think I have strong ECs currently, but I am not 100% sure if they are good enough, or how they can be improved. My intended major is international relations/global affairs and my dream school is Yale.

Varsity Golf Team

Model UN (hope to win some awards next year)

UNICEF (expecting to be president/vice president junior/senior year)

NHS

Freshman mentor (after school, 30 mins 5 days a week to help them acclimate to HS)

Member of my nearby college symphonic band, also in school marching and jazz band, also district oboist

Volunteered for campaign of Bruce Rauner, planning to volunteer for Trump campaign this summer (don’t hate me)

I have connections with some local circuit judges & local aldermen - I’m confident I can lock down an unpaid internship in the summer before senior year… if I am really lucky, I might be able to get an internship with the local state department

Culver’s Employee

Founder of Debate team (got approval this year, starting next year, my public speaking and writing is quite good so hopefully I will be able to make a good run)

Writer/blogger for the Libertarian party website within my city (one of the biggest cities in America)

Are these strong ECs for T1 schools? How can they be improved?

2

bump

3

Sounds awesome to me! Keep looking for those leadership opportunities…not just the titles, but making an impact.

4

I’m confused. You are a sophomore but in your Chance thread, you state that you’ve already taken the SAT, ACT, fourteen AP exams and three subject tests. Is that correct?

5

Oh, man, I think OP may have been projecting before.

Thing is, OP, if you don’t have a good idea of what your targets look for, you don’t know what matters. Put your efforts into this understanding, so you can build the right presentation, through hs and in your thinking. It’s not NHS or founding something or blogging.

It’s not just stats and titles. It’s not an AP arms race and 14 looks like collecting for the count. And the easy APs don’t impress. 4 scores can also be an issue.

Miles to go.

That said, the music and campaign work are good. But you need the right balance.

6

I will repeat what I’ve written on a number of threads. Choose your curriculum and your ECs based on your strengths and interests. You should be challenged by your courses, and you should be invested in your ECs.

What you are doing is setting up your entire high school experience for the vanishingly small chance that you will get into Yale.

To decide what courses to take and what ECs to do, start with these basic assumptions: you will not get into Yale, you will not get into Harvard, and you will not get into Princeton. Well, unless you are the kid of a super rich legacy who is likely to donate a large amount of money.

Focus on succeeding in High School, not on being accepted into this or that college.

7

You guys are rights, @lkg4answers and @lookingforward , I was projecting for the future.

My obsession with college admissions over the past few months has been unhealthy and I am aware of this, so I apologize for my obsessive ‘tiger’ mentality when it comes to this stuff.

That being said, tangible success and achievements in high school are my primary source of happiness, and therefore I will spend my next two years strengthening my resume - both for my own sense of accomplishment and my admissions into top schools, schools which I seemingly only want to be accepted into for their prestige.

While I am not sure if this is a good or a bad thing, it definitely motivates me to do my best. Sorry for the false chance me’s. I will continue to build my extracurriculars over the upcoming years, and I think I have crafted a strong outline to do so.

Wish me luck!

8

PLEASE learn to find fulfillment in something else. There’s nothing wrong with being happy with your own successes. But if your success and achievements are your primary source of happiness, that’s unhealthy. Remember to take care of yourself.

9

Looking at your projections, there are some areas that caught my attention. This thread mentions Yale. Others threads mention Columbia and Dartmouth. Look beyond Ivy League. There are many schools that have strong programs in your area of interest.

GPA: UW - 4.00 - Cut yourself some slack. If you are taking rigorous courses (ie. 14 APs), this might not be achievable. Be okay with that.

Rank #1 out of 450 kids - In your other thread, you are doubtful about whether this can happen. Take this off of your list and don’t worry about it.

AP World History (Self Study) - 4 - Not necessary to self study for tests. Show that you can handle rigor in AP courses and not just the test. They want students who will attend and participate in lectures,not just show up for midterms and finals.
AP English 3 - 5 - There is no AP English 3. You are most likely referring to AP Language.
AP English IV - 5 - There is no AP English IV. You are most likely referring to AP Literature.
AP Spanish V - 2 - Spanish 5 is usually AP Spanish Literature. I didn’t see AP Spanish Language on your list which usually comes first. In another thread you mention majoring in Poli Sci/foreign language yet this appears to be your weakest subject. Additionally, in a third thread you post about taking the French AP exam without taking French 1,2,3. If you feel you will get at two on the Spanish exam, why take it?

SAT: 1580 - Did you take the PSAT 10? If so, how did you do? In my opinion, this is too lofty of a goal to set as a sophomore. Take practice tests and aim for over 1500. Once you achieve that, study more and aim for over 1550.

ACT: 35 - Same as above although a 35 on the ACT is closer to 1530-1560 on the SAT.

Varsity Golf (4 Years) - Will you show growth and leadership?
Model U.N, 3 conference awards (4 Years) - MUN gives many awards. Will your awards be different than the rest?
National Honor Society - Very common for students applying to top schools.
3-Time ILMEA Oboe Player (Prestigious State Band, Audition Required) - You did this or you will do this?
Jazz Band (4 Years) - Will you show growth and leadership?
Marching Band (4 Years)- Will you show growth and leadership?
UNICEF Leader (3 Years) - What does being a leader mean?
Campaign Volunteer for Rand Paul (2016) - Was this in junior high?
Freshman mentor (after school, 30 mins 5 days a week to help them acclimate to HS) - Show leadership not just hours committed to the activity.
Culver’s employee - Are you already working as a sophomore? How many hours/wk?
All of the rest: Focus on your passions and the involvement and opportunity will come naturally. Don’t look for titles or hours served but participate and become engaged because you enjoy doing it.

10

@lkg4answers the previously mentioned stats projections have become irrelevant and looking back, they were very naive. I am confident in my ability to present competitive stats to universities (low 1500s PSAT, straight A’s, pretty certain that I got 5’s on all my AP tests). Therefore, I am more concerned with developing my ECs, which I think has been pretty successful.

Addressing your comments

Varsity Golf - I think this will be a great way for me to show growth. I came into the sport as the only one on the team without any golf experience, and now sit in the middle of the pack - my coaches constantly tell me I am the most improved, so I am anticipating an award of that sort in my senior year, however whether I get it or not is irrelevant.

MUN - My school’s MUN program is pretty weak, I don’t think I will make this a huge part of my ECs. I do enjoy it though, so I will keep doing it, if I earn more awards I will probably put them on my awards section of my common app.

NHS - will try for president/vice president, sort of irrelevant because most schools know this is fluff anyway.

Oboe - I decided to put this all under one umbrella - probably my best EC, as I have gone to district, am involved in the local college band, my school’s top band and jazz band, and have also participated in marching band consistently, albeit not on the oboe.

UNICEF - I will be president as a senior, which will consist of organization of events that we do. It’s a small club, so manageable, but it connects well to my major and is fun for me.

Campaigning - I have volunteered on a few campaigns, including presidential and gubernatorial. I am going to volunteer in 2020 this year, which will strengthen this EC and show commitment.

Freshman mentor - self explanatory, not much to develop here.

Culver’s employee - 20 hrs/week, shows my ability to manage time and diversifies some of what I’m doing.

I have also started an official state league debate team in my school, which I think is pretty strong. Furthermore, I have been writing many articles for my local city partisan website. Those are my current ECs - I plan to add an internship for a circuit court judge to learn more about my future field and show interest to future college admissions officers. I am also trying to land a position as a senate page next summer, which is possible due to my many political involvements, however it is competitive nonetheless and semi luck based.

I am gonna try to stray from posting more on this site, because it leads to me doubting my ECs which I know are strong. I do my ECs both because I enjoy them and I want a strong resume. Thanks for the advice.

11

Thing is, this summer and over following years, you have time to learn what the colleges want, fine tune activities, add some community service, and other things. Don’t give up easily.

Freshman mentor: no tip. Nice for the hs, but no stretch.

UNICEF: you’re describing a school club, a few kids. What does it do, raise some funds for the org? In general, what you actually do in the local community tops something that’s just a club for an external entity, a foreign land.

NHS. No tip. Golf? Let’s be frank. Some great golfers in NE, but the outdoors season is short, most of it not during school terms. And ‘most improved’ just suggests you started behind, says little about present skills or contribution.

The campaign work is good. That could be an edge. Many kids interested in poli sci or IR don’t seem to get out there and do this.

The explation lkg4answers gave is excellent. I’d just say not all activities require “growth.” Just participating in marching band requires both a time commitment and meeting a coach’s expectations. You don’t need to be a section leader or win some award. AND, leadership is not about titles. It’s a quality in your thinking and actions that comes through or not. It’s how one chooses to take action and what.

Working for a judge isn’t a special it. It’s more show how you pursue interests. (Not “passions.”) And to the college, the whole matter of interest in them is in how you know the school, what it values, how you align, and more. None of this is just about what you want.

We don’t know what you do on campaigns, but assuming you’ve done the in-office things, working the neighborhoods tops “founder” titles.

It’s fine to do what YOU want, but the most-competiive colleges want to see what THEY want. That’s the rub.

ps. I’d consider not lumping all the music into one category. You have nice, varied involvement.

12

@lookingforward thanks for the advice - I have a few questions.

Do you suppose a college would value a leadership position in NHS or 4 years of MUN involvement? I was planning on leaving my Model UN stuff out of my app besides awards since I thought it was not as good as something such as NHS, but it may connect well to my desired major. Maybe I will focus on expanding the relatively small MUN program in my school and taking a larger leadership position that way.

In terms of UNICEF, the current leadership focuses more on in-school events - I will probably aim for more community events when I am in a leadership position.

As for golf, I think it would be beneficial towards my app by showing time commitment and some athletic involvement, as well as pursuit of hobbies.

In terms of my common app, do you think it would be better to place my music ECs under an umbrella to make room for more ECs (such as NHS & freshman mentoring) or to spread it out over 2 categories. In terms of my musical involvement, I do marching, jazz, district, and local private college band, so do you think I should split these up into two categories or keep them under one to be more efficient?

13

I’ll pm you.