How many ECs does a person need?

Applying to College
1

I’m using a different website to check the chances of getting into certain colleges and can’t seem to get “enough” ECs listed to move the needle much.

Chancing calculator says grades and course rigor are strong.

Questions

Can the individual events that are part of the state’s mandatory 30 service hours count? Should I mention these separately?

She helps a senior citizen friend sometimes with small projects. But I didn’t list it. Should I?

She was a CIT one summer for a camp. She didn’t like the camp, though, so didn’t return. We actually paid for her to do this. But she did work as a counselor to younger kids. Is this worth mentioning given it was just a short time one summer and she didn’t get paid?

Current ECs Include:

-varsity sports team,
-honors group with partial academic scholarship to high school,
-in a service club,
-in middle school, won an award for photography from a high school camp,
-physics camp for a few summers at a university,
-has a PT job.

Child has been to same camp as a camper for more than a decade and they hinted at hiring her to return as a junior counselor but not sure how likely that is.

It seems like starting a business and/or raising money is looked on favorably. Go figure in America that money talks. Haha. She has talked about going house to house to gather cans of food to give away and also has talked about starting a business. I do find it unfortunate that raising money seems to be “better” than, say, gathering items to give to those in need.

If she doesn’t want to do more, it’ll be okay. I know she’ll get in somewhere! It looks like some colleges are good with what she’s done.

That said, I’m wondering what schools that say her ECs aren’t enough are looking for…

I look forward to people’s suggestions and knowledge!

2

Quality is more important than quantity. Don’t slipt ECs onto different lines just to fill space.

Website admissions calculators are garbage.

For admissions purposes, life begins in 9th grade. Nobody cares about middle school awards.

If one is a recruited athlete or a Hollywood superstar or on track to win a Nobel Peace Prize, one EC is all that is needed. For everyone else, the number is greater than one, but does not have to be 10.

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I hear you about middle school. The only reason I’d considered including it is because the camp took place at her high school.

4

Don’t have her include it.

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5

Does not matter. It’s still middle school.

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@Kombucha22 - How many do you need? One! Something on your list should show dedication and tell the AO what makes you, you! and will this candidate be a contributing member of the college community. Remember more is not better, the ECs should weave a story about the candidate.

Think about separating her ECs into three buckets.

  1. Things she does because she loves to do them (this is the what makes her, her)- Maybe sports, performing arts, collects bottle caps, raises Llamas… what matters here is it shows some commitment and maybe some leadership

  2. Things she does for others - Volunteer activities, community service, you can also add jobs here. Having a PT job shows some time management skills.

  3. Things that might relate to your major - What does she do in the honors group? Tutor other students? Physics camp???

Outside of showing you are more than the sum of your grades and test scores there are a few ECs that could potentially move the needle on acceptance chances. Things like Eagle Scout, Boys/Girls State…

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This is plenty. I’d omit the middle school thing. Colleges want to know what you did in high school, not middle school.

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Agree that she has enough activities. And agree that the middle school award should not be included in a college application.
Your daughter should see if she can obtain a leadership position in one of the clubs or teams for her senior year.

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Thank you. Good to know.

I guess that website’s calculator is not so great as someone said. I experimented adding more items just to see what the chancing calculator would do—and it barely moved the needle.

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Thank you for sharing the idea of categories. That’s excellent. On her own, she spends time with seniors but she hasn’t wanted to count it in the past because, “I would do that anyway.”

11

That’s exactly the reason she should include it; she can probably speak passionately about it.

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ignore any calculator. It doesn’t have the nuance to evaluate ECs. You can look at what the colleges themselves say. For example Stanford

Students often assume our primary concern is the number of activities in which a student participates. In fact, an exceptional depth of experience in one or two activities may demonstrate your passion more than minimal participation in five or six clubs. You may also hold down a job or have family responsibilities. These are as important as any other extracurricular activity. In general, we want to understand the impact you have had at your job, in your family, in a club, in your school or in the larger community, and we want to learn of the impact that experience has had on you.

Truth be told, outside of the most selective 100 or so colleges ECs are generally of minimal importance. If, like many on the forum, she is looking at those 100 then criteria like that pasted above will matter

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Thank you for this!