<p>Start a local initiative to encourage election participation!</p>
<p>Zogoto...Eschew the word "passion"...show it ....don't tell it....</p>
<p>kind of following what omokunrin said...</p>
<p>what i dont understand is this whole thing based on the honor system? I know its unethical and immoral and everything to lie on ur apps but isnt there going to be at least one person out there that could put a bunch of fake awards for an EC that he or she did for maybe one year at the most and didn't win anything at all? How are colleges supposed to confirm if all the information on an application is correct?</p>
<p>ihateschool2007-
Not all awards and clubs/activities are created equal. Really great or prestigious awards from esteemed national organizations are hard to fake, and those are the kinds of awards that matter. You could make up a lot of awards or clubs, but I doubt it would have much weight with adcoms. From reading admissions books and CC, I get the impression that clubs and activities with adcoms tend to be sort of "guilty until proven innocent" in that they are considered inconsequential or unimportant unless proven otherwise. Recommendations and personal essays can discuss the work you've done, and let the adcoms know what activities truly took time, effort, and work and actually produced results in your community. If you put down 400 hours of work at homeless shelter on your app, and NOWHERE else is it mentioned, it wouldn't have the same weight as a rec that states how much work you did to benefit the homeless shelter and how thankful they are to have you. For academic awards and the like, it would be easy to tell from looking at your transcript whether or not you had the grades, test scores, or ECs to back it up.</p>
<p>I'd highly recommend an EC "cheat sheet" -- a chart of all of your ECs, hours/grades involved, and a quick explanation of each one. I don't see how listing all of your ECs on that tiny common-app chart could possibly make you look very passionate about ANYTHING. As an aside, on my "cheat sheet," the blurbs for the activities I was passionate about were longer and more-indepth.</p>
<p>I'd sugest picking up a copy of "Acing the College Application" - that's where I got the idea from. Good luck!</p>
<p>I suggest that you do NOT add tons of extra recs to your application or add an extra list of all your activities. They give you eight spaces or so should should be plenty. You can collapse a few activities down to one. For example, if you are in 3 different bands you could just day "band practice" and add up the total amount of hours. Admissions reps often stress how they prefer that you stick to what they request and only that. Now if you have a really special/unusual talent, maybe you're a concert level musician or something, then ONE extra rec might not be a bad idea. </p>
<p>You can find passion from
1) Your activity list. If something is ranked #1 or #2 and you put that you work on it for a lot of hours, that's a hint that there's passion.
2) Awards. If someone is really passionate about something, they usually devote a lot of time to it and become skilled at the activity.
3) Your essay. Both the activity short response (only 150 words or so I think) and the long essay are a chance to show that you really enjoy what you do, that passion can really help bring your application to life.
4) Recs. Recs from your teachers and college counselor should at least mention the things you are really passionate about, plus any extra recs you might have.
5) Interview. If your school offers interviews, your passion could come out in the interview too.
6) Summer programs. Another way to show you like something, devote even more time to it.
7) General consistency in the application. This is what really shows that you are passionate about something... maybe you have taken extra science classes, did a summer program where you did cancer research, and then senior year started your own research project at a local college in some medical field, plus your essay is about your passion for medicine and your recs say how you really excel in science, etc., then that's a good sign that you like biology/research. Or you took an extra semester of some social science class, have been in debate for 4 years, and have a few awards at at least a regional, preferably a state or national level... good chance that debate/poli sci is something that you are really passionate about (once again essay/recs should hint at it somewhere).</p>
<p>I agree marlgirl. Adcoms don't want you sending files upon files. They don't have all day to make a decision about you, nor would they really care that much even if they did to read it all. Your essay is where you should show unusual passion, otherwise the hours and activity awards and such will show for themselves.</p>
<p>Imagine if you were an adcom and some jerk of a kid sent 20 pages explaining his ECs, as if he were the only person getting evaluated. Heck, I'd throw his app in the trash.</p>
<p>zogoto,
since you have lots of the math/science type awards to emphasize debate more you can list debate awards, i.e. speaker awards, tournaments you've won/broken at, and such.</p>
<p>can i write about my passion in the short response and the long one? or should i just do one?</p>
<p>I'm wondering this too. In the short one, I'm writing basically about my second favorite activity, which is a sport, to show that I am multifaceted and not only academic. I don't want to write about my real favorite activity in the short one since I want to write about it in the long one too, and since it is so much more important and I can write so much more, I would rather write about it in the long one. Is this a good thing to do?</p>
<p>I read an essay in one of those essay books (not essays that made a differnece...i just checked) where the writer was describing "My DAy" in chronologicdaly order of activities ...to show he had wide ranging interests, was a star in physics, orchestra and came home, made hmself a snack because his mom worked, and worked on his car...breaked for dinner, did his homework then diagnosed the car problem and finished changing the brake fluid or somthing into the night. the tone was modest and journalistic but with some subtle self reflection along the way, but it was not a cliche.ridden me me me look how multifaceted i am story. He hinted at the loving autonomy he has at home. But mainly the content told the story. The generalizing points at the end were "look behind the cover" at people you think you know and "I love my life". It was such an impressive essay. so eloquent and relaxed in its simplicity...It is one of the few I really remember from the books I looked at. I could imagine an adcom reading ,,,,thinking "where is he going with this..." because it had such a documentary feel with little reflections here and there and at midnight there was a very tired but confident high school senior, who challenges himself telling you how much he loves his life.</p>
<p>Jose, you don't have very much space in the application, so I'd say just choose one or the other. The short response is very short (150 words is nothing) so be careful not to sell yourself short, but if you have a really great idea for the long essay that really captures who you are, don't hesitate to use that for the long essay and write the short one about your passion. </p>
<p>zogoto, that seems like a very good idea. I was also a math/science person who did debate, and for my short response I actually wrote about how debate had helped prepare me for the world of math/science (speaking skills for presenting research), so you could actually combine both somehow. And it's ok to be mostly academic, the only problem there is that you want to show that you'll be an interesting roommate as well as a strong student so something more personal, as in reveals something about your personality (need not be something that makes you "well-rounded" just something that proves you're not socially inept) is a good idea. </p>
<p>Also, about the extended essay. The perfect essay is something that really captures who you are. If you were just starting to talk to someone and wanted to explain a bit about who are you and what you believe, would you reach for the extended essay and have them read it? It should be clear and concise and honest and really be "you". It's very hard to do well, but it feels great when you finally succeed.</p>
<p>marlgirl, I will probably be writing about my karate experiences (Failed brown belt test, came back a few months later after working really hard, passed, got black belt after 2 more years of hard work) since it is more of a story of triumph, etc. But I see what you mean about capturing who you are. I'm excited to start writing these. Are most people at first excited too but then begin to loathe it or what?</p>
<p>jellzogoto, juan .. i am so impressed with all of you guys .... you have time to write 20 esays between now and submittal time. Write, brainstorm , try things out, don't over work a single essay, write several different essays , something special might jell....... just keep writing .....</p>
<p>Wait spiker, what do you mean something special might jell? I'm sorry, it's late.</p>
<p>Would the colleges be interested in religion stuff?? (I am really deep into participations in local Catholic church)</p>
<p>(My three passions happen to be Church, Math, and Scouts ---- pretty random)</p>
<p>zogoto...just write write write....by jell I meant an essay that you start as a flyer, or something you didnt think youd write about originally may appeal to you after letting it sit for a few days ...and then with more polishing it may become your best essay. this actually happened to me...I ended up writing my best essay for my safety school! they asked a very interesting question and i just got rolling with it....</p>
<p>I'm definitely not an expert on college aps...I only applied to one school because I knew I wanted to go there, and I started working on the essays and ECs the last day of the Regular Admission deadline and submitted it two minutes before the time limit...That said, my application faired well, getting me into my school, their selective honors program, and an academic scholarship. I think the most important thing about an application is that it seems genuine...which it won't if you're too busy trying to prove something to the admissions panel. As for the comment that awards from large national organizations are the ones that matter, I would definitely beg to differ with that. Don't live your life trying to build up a "resume" for college applications. If you just participate in things you're interested in then your life will speak for itself, and it will be easy for you to write with insight. As for essays I think that maybe if a school offers a "Different Essay You Wrote That You Like" option, it can be a good idea to take it. Then you can use any essay, even if it wasn't originally written for a college, and that can steer you away from the traditional narrative of overcoming life. (I'm not saying this is bad...just that it's what admissions people read 95% of the time.) As for what are "good" passions to talk about, I think that anything is great if you care about it. Church, sports, some dorky interest, whatever...just don't try and play it up like it defines you. You are defined by your unique personality, a part of you that will be hidden if you place your identity in an activity or a list of awards. Anyone can do a great activity or win a great award; colleges want to see the person behind the achievements.</p>
<p>I've been sort of worried about the ECs that I have. I played softball for freshman and sophomore year. When it came time to plan my senior year, I found that I would be in a situation where I could not play softball senior year. When I tried out for junior year (Varsity), the coach cut me with a vast amount of reasons, the big one being he wanted someone who'd be around the next year. My school doesn't offer Advanced Placement and I was trying to go to another school for my senior year where I could take such classes. I found out that they weren't going to have two of the courses I'd originally wanted, meaning I was cut from the Varsity team junior year for nothing. There are only four other sports for girls at my school, none of which I have talent for. </p>
<p>As for clubs, other than NHS, we only have three; none of them are worth joining. There's spanish club (meets for 20 minutes to talk about favorite mexican restaurants), envioronmental activist club (they recycle paper in the school, that's it), and SADD club (the sponsor gets a police officer to speak to the whole school, that's it). The reading club that I was in was cancelled due to the fact that there were only three of us. We tried getting a writing club together sophomore year (I also write, and have begun submitting short stories to magazines), but there wasn't anybody interested in joining or sponsoring. I am considering starting a Harry Potter club (silly I know, but I am a dedicated fan) in hopes there would be lots of fans who'd join. It will probably be a bust. My school doesn't have a paper or lit magazine so I can't join that. Because of scheduling conflicts I have never been able to join the yearbook class. All I have is NHS, which I plan on getting Vice President this year, and the community service I've done. I have 43 hours of tutoring and activities with NHS. </p>
<p>We just got a performing arts class last year and I am joining it this year. It's something I am interested in. When I go to college I plan to get involved in theater hopefully, writing for a lit magazine, and softball, possibly even tennis because I like the sport but have never had an opportunity to learn how to play it properly.</p>
<p>I do work at a movie theater and once I am 18, they'll let me get into projection there, which helps because I want to study film at college. I have a passion for movies and the arts basically, but little way of expressing it because of my lack of oportunities (basically, where I live and my dud of a school are factors). How can I spin my story so I can show that I do have passions, they've just not been fully realized?</p>