<p>Just maybe like 2 ec's. (freshman basketball and FBLA). And believe me , if I did it all over again, it would DEFINITELY be different now that Im a senior and realize how important they are. Would there be any chance whatsoever of getting into a school like rice or duke? If thats an absurd question, feel free to let me know.</p>
<p>You must do SOMETHING with your spare time. Right?</p>
<p>what did you do with yourslef, it takes a it of effort to do nothing</p>
<p>if you were working, that is good, if you were just hanging out, eh</p>
<p>Well, Freshman and Sophomore year I didnt really realize how important that stuff was, and I didnt even really know what I wanted to do, plus I underacheived quite a bit. (I was naive. I thought "I'll get above average grades, and that will be good enough" Stupid me.) Needless to say, I didnt participate in anything except Fresh basketball. I pretty much spent free time hanging out with friends and playing basketball with friends. At end of soph yr, I was diagnosed w/ cancer, so I was a homebound student Jr yr cause of treatment and surgery recovery (maybe this "overcoming of trial" will help me with colleges?). Now this sr year is the only year this college stuff has fully come into perpective, and Im hoping I wont pay too heavily for that.</p>
<p>The cancer should be enough to cover up a lack of ECs. Really don't worry about it if you have overcome something like that surely the adcoms should pay attention.</p>
<p>No offense, but I seriously hate people that use things like that as an excuse. There are tons of people out there less fortunate than you and they do not have essays of explanation.</p>
<p>Why should you?</p>
<p>I think that is a very insensitive statement, Robotab. OP had cancer, and if that isn't a valid explanation for a lack of ECs, I don't know what is (in addition to having to work because of family's finances, etc.).</p>
<p>Robotab: I wasnt planning on using it as an excuse for no ec's or volunteering throughout high school. I was planning on writing about how it has affected me personally in my essay.</p>
<p>You would need flawless GPA and SATs.</p>
<p>Robotab
He had Cancer, that would make up for a lot of things.
If he had good grade and he wrote a good essay. I think he would do fine.</p>
<p>Robotab, obviously you have not had cancer. One of my friends was diagnosed with it last year, and she has barely been able to leave her house.</p>
<p>but for the first two year, nada, so its not like suddenly the student couldn't do all the stuff he had been doing, there is a record of previous apathy</p>
<p>I am sorry you were so sick, and it won't wreck your college chances, just maybe your lack of EC for two years of HS, well, to be frank, can hurt you, even with the cancer for one year...sounds harsh, but that the lovely college admissions process</p>
<p>hey!
I wasn't trying to say that cancer wasn't a valid reason for not being able to do anything after you were diagnosed with it, but to say that it's the sole reason why you lack ECs doesn't sound like an honest thing to do. You said that you had no ECs way before you were diagnosed with cancer, and that the lack of involvement at that time was in no way related to your sickness. To tie it into cancer, when it has nothing to do with it, seems a bit dishonest.</p>
<p>Though to use it for a personal statement is a decent idea, depending on how you do it. I'm assuming you're not going to take the "oh, I'm such a poor cancer patient... etc." approach. As long as you take the approach you stated above, the whole "how it affected me so profoundly" thing, then that would be a good appraoch to it.</p>
<p>I didn't mean to insinuate that cancer isn't a horrble disease for anyone who has to live with it or deal with it in their friends and family. I just wanted to make it clear that I think that writing that he had no ECs b/c of cancer was not valid, as he was diagnosed after a period of time when he could have been involved.</p>
<p>If you were to maybe get involved in some cancer movement, that would really help your case. It would show that you now have a global view of something that has been a huge influnence in your life.</p>
<p>And you guys are pretty rude to try to tear me apart like that. Obviosuly, you didn't quite understand my post before ridiculing me, which is pretty much an estimate of your intellegence, or lack thereof.</p>
<p>Robo-
I understand how you feel, but it seems to me that you may have misread the responses to your statement. It doesn't look like anyone attacked or ridiculed you- they merely commented that your statement seemed a little insensitive and that cancer can be pretty devastating. Although you prefaced your statement with "no offense", it did, IMO, seem a little strong-- saying that you "hate people who..". and implying that he might be using it as an excuse to justify the previous years. You seem to have been hurt by what these posters said in response, so you clearly understand that people's words can be hurtful, since you felt that they "tore you apart". So why did you need to then come back by indirectly insulting their intelligence? Please, please understand that I am trying to be helpful (I am a parent) and hope you will hear this as such. You are clearly aware that we should be sensitive to others' feelings and careful in what we say and how we say it, as the person at the other end may feel hurt. I am hopeful that my observations and suggestions are helpful, not hurtful to you. If not, I apologize.</p>
<p>Your observations that the OP had few EC's even before the CA was diagnosed are reasonable, and he admitted that. You are right that what happened in spring of one's soph yr may not explain the lack of activities in fresh. yr. But he came here for an opinion. He didn't sound like he was trying to use his CA as an excuse (he didn't even mention it in his first post). In fact, the OP might consider writing an essay on how he learned that he should have used his free time to the fullest earlier in his HS career, that you never know how much time you have on this earth, or how you can truly make an impact on the world, and that having had the CA experience made him realize this. If his essay conveys that he learned something from his experience, that would be a powerful thing for the colleges to see. Maybe he comforted other kids with CA at the treatment center, read books to them or drew pictures with them. This would be a great "extracurricular activity". Not everyone matures at the same level, and it does take some kids longer for the lightbulb to go off and realize that they need to be less of a slacker and more of a do-er. But to recognize it, acknowledge it and deal with it, that is a sign of maturity.</p>
<p>One point that is not made is this:
The OP will get into a school even without ECs. He just has to find a decent one that he likes. Not everyone needs to go to the so-called top-ranked schools.</p>
<p>Good point, collegebound. But to ask how this "hole" in his resume will affect his chances at the top tier schools is a reasonable one.</p>
<p>You have to understand that it was easy to "misread" your post. You said, "I seriously hate people that use things like that as an excuse." Now, that seems like a pretty clear, strong statement that you do not like people who use cancer (or similarly "flimsy" excuses) as a reason they did not have many ECs. </p>
<p>Your later clarification, that the cancer cannot and should not be used to excuse lack of ECs prior to diagnosis, is certainly valid. However, you might have expressed your opinion in that way the first time, instead of how you did it. Then, none of us would have misinterpreted what you said. </p>
<p>(I was going to reply to the "intelligence" comment, but I think jym sums it up.)</p>
<p>Yeah, I agree that I slightly went overboard in my reply to your criticism...</p>
<p>Ok, maybe way overboard.</p>
<p>I realized that it was just me misreading your misreading, which apparently was confusing for everyone. I know that I should not be quick to judge, as I expect others not be. I apologize to any I have offended in my posts, most especially the OP, whom I hope will realize that I was not trying to downplay the devastating effects of cancer, and the overwhelmingness of it. And yes, I also apologize for the rude comment about everyone's intellegence who criticized me. I was completely unecessary, and really did not show that I was in control on my emotions at all. I suppose I'm just a bit overwhelmed right now, in all aspects in my life, and was taking it out on the posters who simply remarked that they did not agree with me. While it would have been nicer if the had simply asked me exactly what I meant, as opposed to insulting me slightly, I know that I should not take offense to others who simply don't understand my comments. </p>
<p>What I was initially, and still am trying to say is that I have often come across people who use their disease as an excuse for everything, whether it was related to the disease or not. I was trying to say that I really dislike such people's actions, becasue cancer, and other life altering diseases should not be used as a "secret weapon" or a way to get credit for something they didn't do. An exaple of this would be this kid on an admissions site who had pnemonia or something (completely different from cancer, I know) that said they were going to write a supplemental essay about how they were not able to have good grades etc. or study for their SATs etc. because of it. The reality was that they were using this as an excuse, and had not been doing everything they should have been before their illness, and were simply looking to their illness as an excuse.</p>
<p>I simply jumped to conclusions, and thought that you may be trying to pull the same sort of manuver, but I apologize immensly for being wrong. I agree with the mom on this board who said that counceling children in the hospital or drawing with them or something would make for a great EC, better than almost any. I would also say that an essay about something like this, and about how you relize that life is fragile, and can change at any moment would make for a great essay. I'm sure you would use better wording and imagery than my previous sentence, but something along those lines would definately be a great essay- different than probably any other.</p>
<p>I really am truly sorry if I have offended anyone, as it was not my intent at all.</p>
<p>korean i want you to take a step back and ignore most of the people on this thread. after i read Robotabs comment, I tried to find a "delete account" button. Yeah, it was that bad. You obviously have never had cancer. It is life or death, it goes far beyond stupid CollegeConfidential trolling. Get a life.</p>
<p>Well you should have kept reading... cause he apologized, it was all a case of misreading</p>