<p>hi lotf629, </p>
<p>How do you think of my stats right now? For my ECs, which area should extend more, and how many ECs do you recommend me doing (in ivy standard)?</p>
<p>Also, one of my main EC focus is being the coordinator Junior Statesmen chapter at our school. We've just recently organized a large scale Federal Election Candidates Debate (800 people showed up, including the media), and I am the MC and the main organizer for this event for the event. In february or march, our Junior Statesmen Chapter is also planning to start a Canadian Citizenship program in the local community for new immigrants to Canada. Although we are a political awareness, leadership, public speaking, and international affairs club designed for students, we want to do something solid for the community, so training new immigrants into well informed citizens of our country would be a great way to contribute our effort. Again, Junior statesmen is something I really like to participate in; I started this Chapter last year, and I want to make it more unique and distinct and "worthwhile" than the other student clubs. I want to get the actual students involved in the planning, organizing, and public speaking, and we want to do projects/events that directly benefit other students and people. </p>
<p>So, this is sort of like a brief overview of an EC I've placed most time, effort and emphasis on in the past 6 months. Lotf629 mentioned about the need to "shine" in a single area, not making yourself jump into 30 different activities. So, what do you think of my progress?? please feel free to point out, suggest improvements, or comment.</p>
<p>Also, one of my main EC focus is being the coordinator Junior Statesmen chapter at our school. We've just recently organized a large scale Federal Election Candidates Debate (800 people showed up, including the media), and I am the MC and the main organizer for this event for the event. In february or march, our Junior Statesmen Chapter is also planning to start a Canadian Citizenship program in the local community for new immigrants to Canada. Although we are a political awareness, leadership, public speaking, and international affairs club designed for students, we want to do something solid for the community, so training new immigrants into well informed citizens of our country would be a great way to contribute our effort. Again, Junior statesmen is something I really like to participate in; I started this Chapter last year, and I want to make it more unique and distinct and "worthwhile" than the other student clubs. I want to get the actual students involved in the planning, organizing, and public speaking, and we want to do projects/events that directly benefit other students and people. </p>
<p>So, this is sort of like a brief overview of an EC I've placed most time, effort and emphasis on in the past 6 months. Lotf629 mentioned about the need to "shine" in a single area, not making yourself jump into 30 different activities. So, what do you think of my progress?? please feel free to point out, suggest improvements, or comment.</p>
<p>Hey Jimmy@Killarney,</p>
<p>Okay, here are my two cents as promised.:)</p>
<p>First of all, I think that you have plenty of quantity in your extracurriculars; you need to focus now on variety and quality. Ivies don't care that much how busy you are. They want to know if you can show leadership and if you have breadth. Ironically, although you have about eight ECs going on at the moment, you don't have that much variety. You are currently involved in a huge number of very similar extracurriculars. Nearly all of your ECs have to do with politics or debate. Your EC involvement isn't showing breadth; just busyness. Given that it's driving your grades down, it's counterproductive. </p>
<p>You have plenty of extracurricular involvement to put in those columns; chances are, when you actually apply, you'll find that you won't even be able to fit everything on the app. I think you could safely drop down to two or three ECs right now and be fine, as long as they were all substantive.</p>
<p>So here's my advice: 1) Do less. Drop anything related to policy, government, or debate that you only "somewhat enjoy"; you can afford to. Offhand, I'd suggest dumping the community policing and library monitoring; these don't seem likely to lead you to a genuine leadership position or to help you develop new skills. (I'd also consider not running for office again, but you seem determined, so hey: go for it!) Ultimately, I'd just drop whatever seems burdensome or whatever you love the least.</p>
<p>2) At some point in the next year, try something new. If you get a chance, sign up for some no-pressure, low-time-commitment activity in athletics or fine arts. Make time over the summer, or something. (This isn't a huge deal, but it would be a plus for you. And it could be fun.)</p>
<p>3) Your Junior Statesman thing sounds quite impressive. In order to be considered by Ivy League schools, you really need some certifiable leadership qualities. It sounds to me like you are less of a helmsman-figurehead type of leader and more of a behind-the-scenes, mobilizer-organizer type of leader. I would <em>definitely</em> focus on that EC--set some major goal for yourself next year--cut out a bunch of other stuff and get your grades back up. When you actually apply to colleges, you could also address how your own definition of leadership has grown over your high school career, and how you have identified your own unique leadership style and skills--i.e., that you weren't class prez four years running, but you have shown a great deal of effectiveness in organizing events and mobilizing others. (That's really where most of politics takes place, after all, isn't it?)</p>
<p>Hope it helps. Good luck to you! I think you are definitely in the running.</p>
<p>Hi Lotf629,</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your extensive advice on my current EC progress. You mentioned about dropping ECs that are related to gov't/politics/debate, and adviced me to try something new like fine arts. </p>
<p>But Here's MY concern:
If I shift my attention from my strong holds like gov't/politics/debate, then that would mean losing my FOCUS. Wouldn't it look really bad for admin officers if I did some EC that's completely off track?? I know you want to emphasize on variety, but wouldn't variety also distract people's attentions from really spotting out this person's actual interests/goals??</p>
<p>??????????????</p>
<p>Hey Jimmy@killarney,</p>
<p>Whoops, sorry! I'm not on this site that often; I was just clicking around one day and thought I'd answer your question and then forgot that I still had to reply to your last comment. Excuse the delay.</p>
<p>Okay, so if you dropped <em>all</em> your government/policy extracurriculars, including the ones where you're starting to rise to a position of leadership, and you took started to raise goats full-time, then yes, you would be losing your focus and committing applications suicide. But take a look at the following resume:</p>
<p>Jimmy Killarney. SATs: 750 V, 750 M, 700 W. GPA: 3.63.</p>
<p>Junior Statesmen Chapter. Founder, Organizer. Organized and MC'd debate with attendance of 800+, including students, community members, and local media. Trained 20+ chapter members to assist recent immigrants with ESL, legal issues, education, and the naturalization process. (Chapter assisted more than 40 local families.) Grades 9-12.</p>
<p>Youth League Organizer, Conservative Club of Canada. Recruited a significant number of other high school students to support candidates, raise involvement in local elections, and organize political events. Grades 9-12.</p>
<p>Youth Volunteer, Conservative Party, Elections 2004. Canvassed Killarney on behalf of conservative candidates; provided logistics support to elections staff; recognized for willingness to contribute long hours and creativity to keeping events on schedule and promoting local candidates. Grades 9-12.</p>
<p>Club Gastronomie. (I totally made this up.) Founded an after-school program for students interested in fine dining and/or gourmet cuisine. Recruited 10 members, fundraised $400 for club activities, organized trips and lectures from local food experts. Grade 11-12. </p>
<p>Junior State of America- Princeton summer program 2005: took AP US Foreign Policy and AP public speaking and debating.</p>
<p>Community Policing Centre, Staff. Grades 9-11.</p>
<p>Library Monitor. Grades 8-11.</p>
<p>Student Government Candidate. Grades 8-11.</p>
<p>Okay, that makes you look a) focused; b) mature; and c) three-dimensional. This resume could be yours if you drop some ECs! Now look at where you could be headed:</p>
<p>Jimmy Killarney. SATs: 670 V, 690 M, 660 W. GPA: 3.3.</p>
<p>Junior Statesmen Chapter. Founder, Organizer. Organized and MC'd debate with attendance of 800+, including students, community members, and local media. Grades 9-12.</p>
<p>Youth League Organizer, Conservative Club of Canada. Recruited a significant number of other high school students to support candidates, raise involvement in local elections, and organize political events. Grades 9-12.</p>
<p>Youth Volunteer, Conservative Party, Elections 2004. Canvassed Killarney on behalf of conservative candidates; provided logistics support to elections staff; recognized for willingness to contribute long hours and creativity to keeping events on schedule and promoting local candidates. Grades 9-12.</p>
<p>Junior State of America- Princeton summer program 2005: took AP US Foreign Policy and AP public speaking and debating.</p>
<p>Community Policing Centre, Staff. Grades 9-12.</p>
<p>Library Monitor. Grades 8-12.</p>
<p>Student Government Candidate. Grades 8-12.</p>
<p>I am assumingsomewhat harshly, and I'm sorrythat even if you run again for student government, you're not going to win. (I could be wrong, but my guess is that your classmates perceive you as very hard-nosed and somewhat narrow in your approach, and that could be why you're not winning.) I think three consecutive losses is pretty decisive. My opinion is that you should give it a rest and run again for election in college. But of course, I'm not even in the same country as you right now; you are the best judge. If you don't win, you <em>definitely</em> shouldn't list your candidacy as an activity; your colleges will only notice that you lost four elections in a row. </p>
<p>But anyway, take a look at these two resumes and tell me honestly which one makes you look like a better candidate for the Ivy League? There's no problem with the first one; it has focus out the wazoo; it shows well-developed talents; it makes you seem like an interesting person. The second one makes you look uptight and mediocre. Eschew uptightness and mediocrity! Quit some ECs, relax, get your grades up, and try something new. (Or don't try something new, if you don't want to; like I said earlier, this is not a big deal.) Just whatever you do, stop sacrificing your grades in order to do 8 similar ECs instead of doing 5 similar ECs. And that's what I think. :)</p>
<p>This will probably be my last post to this forum, just because I'm afraid I'll keep forgetting to reply. . . but good luck to you!</p>
<p>Do you have any suggestion as to how can I extend my EC's (esp the Junior Statesmen) to a more profound level? </p>
<p>Also, as for the "other" types of EC's you are suggesting, I have been playing piano for 3 years already, and I still practice 4-5 hours a week. So, does this count as a EC's which can significantly add to the "diversity" of my portfolio?</p>