How is it HUMANLY possible for someone to have 20+ ECs ?

Applying to College
1

<p>I've been browsing through these threads lately and I see people who are in 10 clubs, 2 sports teams, 2 or 3 math/science teams, tutors people, volunteer somewhere, works every week and plays instrument.</p>

<p>Personally, I don't understand how this is humanly possible.</p>

<p>I go to the 20th best High School in the U.S. (ranked by U.S. Weekly)
It takes me 1hr and 30 min to get to school everyday and another 1.5 hr back.</p>

<p>I leave home at 6am and school ends at 3:40 pm</p>

<p>I am in the oceanography team, astronomy club, philosphy club and (will join) rowing team.</p>

<p>Here is the schedule layout (I do hav leadership roles, but didn't bother to specify)</p>

<p>1st Term:
Mon, Fri - Oceanography
Wed. -Philosophy
Thurs - Astronomy
Tues - math contest we have once in a while are always on tuesdays</p>

<p>2nd Term
Mon, Wed, Fri - Rowing
Thurs - Astornomy
Wed - Philosophy (have to also share this day with Rowing practice)
Saturday - Rowing</p>

<p>I get home at around 6:30 pm, and after everything (eat, hws, etc) I sleep at around 11-12 pm</p>

<p>I babysit almost all the time on Saturdays (my sister) and because of ALL these work, Sunday is my rest day.</p>

<p>PLUS, during vacation weeks, I will have like 4 projects, 3 essays, tons of homeworks and tests to study for, I barely have time for anything else.</p>

<p>How is it humanly possible for some1 to have like 30+ things in their laundry list aka ECs.</p>

<p>I'm really serious, can someone who does have like 30+ ECs please tell me how it is done??</p>

2

<p>They don't. It's called resume padding. It is impossible to be seriously involved in that many extracurriculars, unless you possess some magical time turner (like Hermione)</p>

3

<p>Also can these be considered HOOKS?</p>

<p>1) I'm the only person in my immediate family that speaks English
2) I'll be the 1st person in my immediate family to ever attend college</p>

<p>BUT does these hooks gets cancelled out by the following</p>

<p>1) Asian
2) Male</p>

<p>?????</p>

4

<p>Here is how my ECs come together</p>

<p>My interest: Astrobiology - search of extraterretrial life in the universe and the origin of life.</p>

<p>Philosophy - questioning our existence, why do we exists on Earth? (philosphical and scientific aspects)</p>

<p>Oceanography - studying the ocean, the first oasis for life</p>

<p>Astronomy - studying different stars and planetary systems for possible signs of life, and also provides knowledge into human origins</p>

<p>Rowing - a mental and physical challenge so that I can discover the true limit of my body and how the mind can surpass the body (kinda)</p>

<p>Therefore, if I piece my ECs together, do you think this says something about me? Does my ECs now make sense?</p>

5

<p>Wow. You're the first person I've seen trying to piece together their ECs to make sense...most people just do what they're passionate about without thinking of how to unite all their activities to a central theme. :D</p>

6

<p>Maybe people with "20" ECs meet like once a month at lunch.</p>

<p>My schedule is:
Mon: School, Mock Trial, Big Sisters, Taekwondo
Tues: School, Taekwondo, Work (5-10pm)
Wed: School
Thurs: School, Taekwondo, Work (5-10pm)
Fri: School, Work (5-10pm)
Sat: Work 10am-10pm
Sun: Work 11am-10pm</p>

7

<p>brieb08: you must be over 18, because I don't think minors are allowed to work 38 hours per week. My sons each work 20, and with huge hours devoted to music and sports, they would die with double the hours at their jobs.</p>

8

<p>thnx H5N1</p>

<p>I peice EVERYTHIGN i do in lfie to make sense. The classes i take, the ECs i do. Everything</p>

<p>I want colleges to see my laundry not as a laundry lsit but a story of who I am, everythign I do there is a reason, and I want them to know that.</p>

<p>Besides, astrobio is a fairly new field, so i think i'm good.</p>

<p>breib08 - how long does it take for you to do hws? how do u have time?</p>

<p>its takes me 2-3 hr min. on average to do homework, notcounting the frequent tests to study for and huge essays and projects to do.....</p>

9

<p>sry 'bout the typos in the last post, i type bad and too fast, hehe</p>

<p>EVERYTHING*</p>

10

<p>I don't know anyone that has that many, but we only live 12 minutes from our local public high school. Sports are only 2-3 months commitment, so kids can do 3 sports a year. Many clubs only meet once a month. Some activities only have a few times a year that they require a lot of time. So I could see someone with about 10, maybe.
Oh, and band is a class here, so except for football games, playing an instrument is not necessarily an after school thing.</p>

11

<p>fencersmother- I just turned 18, but i've been working those hours since 16. the business is owned by a family friend. yes, it's an illegal job, although i do pay taxes on half my paychecks.</p>

<p>ivycrazyperson- I have 2ish hours of hw/night. I mostly do it at work, since we don't have too many customers late at night.</p>

12

<p>lol nice. I'll be too stressed by the end of a day to actually go work. I live in NYC where its ALWAYS busy 24/7, lol</p>

13

<p>lol no one really wants ice cream in january at 9:30 at night, even in hawaii :) i love nyc btw!!</p>

14

<p>ahhhhh Hawaii, lol</p>

<p>btw, wat u said be4 about piecing my ECs together, that's a good thing, right?</p>

15

<p>I think so</p>

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<p>Also, rest assured, having +20 plus EC's doesn't really do much for you, come application time. </p>

<p>That is a bummer you have to drive 1.5 hrs to school!!!! What do you do with your time? I had to drive really far to soccer practice one year, so I listened to vocabulary building cd's. Yes, hella nerdy, but then I did get 800 on that part of the SAT. Just make sure you switch out the cd before your friends get in the car. :) </p>

<p>Most clubs at my school do not meet after school, so I think your clubs are more intense and therefore will have more weight in admissions although you may be in less clubs. And remember, it is not simply participation but LEADERSHIP and PASSION that colleges look for. </p>

<p>Sports rock! Best part of high school, for me. And yes, as mamabear said they are for three month periods. (Except if you want to be good, you gotta put in some time in the off season.) </p>

<p>Not that your life isn't busy, and certainly crew is rigorous, but many people don't get home till 9:00 pm. Then they start their hw. I'm definitely not advocating this, I'm just shedding light on how they "get it all done". And, some folks are just over the top and after a hard week of work they will find one or two hours to tutor/serve the community on a Sunday. </p>

<p>I'm not advocating any of this, I'm just letting you know that yes, some people do do more, simply by working harder or longer. I've found if I love what I'm doing, it doesn't matter how long I'm doing it or how much sleep I lose. I enjoy the experience and remember that I've only got four years. As Helen Keller said, "Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."</p>

17

<p>well stefanysoccer, I mean i understand that it is possible, but is this really the norm for kids who want to get into selective classes-having somethign to do EVERY wakign hours and NO free time at ALL??</p>

18

<p>most of the people who have too many ECs or ECs they don't actually care about aren't actually doing a good thing. don't worry.</p>

19

<p>Students who live in a city have a special set of EC's that no one else has. They really cant be shared with anyone else. Skill based learning EC's such as:
How to avoid the drunk baseball fans from ralphing on your textbooks.
How to spot those crazies before they start oversharing things with you.
Circumnavigating the 20 or so sex offenders addresses at the bus stop.
How to pretend to be asleep when the Jehovah Witness lady comes to save you.
Reading advertising for all of societies woeful pestulences.
Watching the comparative cultural arts of subway grafitti.</p>

<p>See there are six EC's and that's just the one and half hour long afternoon ride home.</p>

20

<p>LOL, exactly! Theresa, you've made my day.</p>

<p>But besides since I'm in NYC, its much harder to do alot of these ECs, for one thing, in NYC, the term 'community' or 'neighborhood' doesn't exist, I probably only know one of my 'neighbors'. Everyone lives in apartment buildings and I rarely see anyone, so while some kids who live in rural areas can 'start a program/project in their community" (watever the f--- that means), city kids can't do that.</p>

<p>also, in the city, hospitals and other palces for volunteers are much more competitive and the process takes forever because they are so busy all the time</p>

<p>in addition, i spent a total of 3hr on the TRAIN everyday just going to/fro school, so life is pretty darn busy for city kids like me</p>