Hello, I’m new here and was wondering if I could be helped out… I’m a high school student from India, (I’m currently starting on the applications procedure) and while browsing through discussions on EC’s, I couldn’t decide where I stood or what my chances are for getting admissions in some of the best Universities in US. (My top choices as of now are Columbia University, UCLA, Caltech, Harvard…)
So, here are my EC’s:
♪Playing piano… I have been playing for almost 3 years now (I had a small amount of knowledge regarding musical theory before that, from short-lasting keyboard lessons I had as a kid). I’m a self learner and practise for around an hour a day. But I haven’t really won any awards and all… It’s just that I play because I simply love it and am really passionate about it. I can sight read pretty fast and improvise well enough. I performed only once in front of an audience apart from school plays and such, during an international student exchange program arranged by our school for old nuns in an old age home. And apart from that, I have very recently started uploading on YouTube and will be doing so somewhat regularly from now on, mostly Chopin, other classics and movie themes for now. I can provide a link to my channel next time I write, if needed and if allowed, so you can judge my piano playing abilities … I compose too occasionally, and record them. That’s about it. Again, no awards, competitions taken part in etc. It’s beyond any scope in my area…
Painting… Self taught in this too, and am really passionate about it. I mostly do oil paints of detailed sceneries on canvas and polychromo portraits (realistic art). I don’t sell them or anything though, just do it because I love it, even though I use professional techniques. I can’t spend more than an hour a day generally when I’m at it, and do one painting every month, working on each for about a week. I write comics too.
3D modelling and animation : Even though I haven’t done this for long, I really love it. I use Autodesk Maya software for the platform, and have modelled and rendered things like Indian Army bike, seaplanes, ancient and new ships, and animated stuff like a metallic table fan, rainy clouds, trees in the wind etc. Just fancy stuff, nothing official. I don’t know if I should include this… Should I?
Essay writing : Wrote the entire script for our annual program (school play) and have contributed to the school magazine. Love writing short fiction stories in general.
There are a few more but I guess they’d be insignificant.
Other than this, I’ve been a part of our school exchange program (Indo-German cultural student exchange). And as for community services, does rescuing cats in the neighborhood count? (Like I mean, saving one from near death situation in a bad accident, another from frail conditions and feeding a total of 12 cats and providing shelter for them in our balcony? They are just random wild, stray cats that my parents and I care for as no one else in the neighborhood seem to care for stray animals, not pets in the general sense). Because I don’t have any specific hours of community service which nearly every other applicant is bound to have. Just the usual community service schools provide for us to take part in, and playing piano in an old age home just once as I stated before
So, what are my chances? Anything at all? My academic performance should be fine to go along with, but it’s the ECs I’m worried about.
Sorry for such a long post and I’ll be grateful if someone can provide an insight as to whether I’m fine with these EC’s or not. Thanks in advance, any advice will be welcome. Have a great day all!!
I think it would be beneficial to do some programs that are organization based.
Saving neighborhood cats on your balcony does not count as community service.
Your extracurriculars are not strong enough to ensure a spot at any of the colleges you’re talking about. But also, the colleges you are talking about are very different from each other, and a few don’t seem to match your interests. I think you should rethink where you plan on applying based on your interests. Why bother applying to CalTech when you seem to be mostly interested in art, and that’s a heavy engineering school?
I’d recommend exploring other US universities. Don’t focus so much on brand names. Find schools that match your interests. Good luck!
@thalaya
Thanks for your reply and help.
I think I wasn’t clear enough about my university choices. I know my hobbies are related to art but I’m mostly interested in theoretical physics and astronomy, and I badly want to do research as well. One problem is I can’t include much on my contributions to that field as my school doesn’t offer science fair projects. Just what I do out of my own interest… I’ll try out something else for org. based community service.
But how do I improve my extracurriculars? Honestly speaking, I can safely say that both my painting and piano playing skills match upto professional level (I’m not boasting or anything), but if it’s something like I have to perform in public concerts on a regular basis, it won’t be possible cause there aren’t any music halls or concert halls within the entire reach of the state I live in, forget my locality. And very very few people care about extracurriculars, so I’m not sure about what to do.
Anyway, thanks again.
@Blistering_Barnacles You do have strong EC’s! And don’t forget that being in India, things on your application are going to be different from some of the other EC’s you see on this site. I’d say that you should include everything you do(art and writing-wise) in your applications, and in your essays definitely find a way to mention what you’ve been doing for stray cats in your neighborhood. Unfortunately, saving cats can’t be counted as community service hours. One thing I’d recommend, is try to convert this into something more organized! Get some friends together and find a way to create a neighborhood organization around fostering and saving strays - you can get plenty of ideas for how to start these kinds of things on the Internet. But like @thalaya said, you should definitely look at more colleges. Don’t only think about the famous name-brand universities that you hear about, but universities that are equally exclusive and good that are more tailored to your interests. Check out UC Berkeley, keep MIT and Cal Tech on your list, and think about University of Chicago, UT Austin, Purdue. Good luck!
Stray, or even feral cats are not just throwaway animals. They are domesticated cats who are homeless, and sometimes not socialized (but many are friendly). Given care and a chance, they can make fine pets. If they are truly feral (simply means not tamed, not a different species), they can still live in a feral colony and receive food and care in exchange for local rodent control.
So I see what you’re doing as community service…you are supporting a feral cat/stray cat colony. This is important and humane work.
So I thank you and also suggest you reach out to local rescues and shelters for help with vet expenses, adoption fostering, etc.
Before you start applying to all of those schools, you need to look at your budget and what you can afford.
A US education isn’t free.
The UC’s do not fund non-residents. You are looking at $60K per year.
@Astro77 Thank you for the nice comment and your understanding. Yes, I strongly agree, those cats have feelings of their own obviously, and have occasionally surprised me with their seemingly intelligent behaviors I was completely unaware of. Some of them are extremely friendly while the others are mostly frightened cats or kittens…I have taken some of them to the vet occasionally.
@aunt bea
I’m aware of the high expenses. And as you say, it is not affordable for my family without any financial aid… But I saw on some of the college websites, they do offer financial aid for international applicants… or, don’t they, really? I thought they were need blind… Could you give me some more info into this, if possible? Thank you
We can’t chance you because you didn’t provide test scores and GPA. Your scores have to be exceptional to even be considered for admission. With internationals, assume 1-5% chances. There just aren’t enough seats at many of the “popular” universities. The numbers are finite at each school.
The UC’s offer little to no financial aid to non-residents. These are public universities funded by the state and its taxpayers. Funding priority goes to in-state residents. If they were to give you a scholarship, assume the top amount to be $2k per year. @browngirl1010: Non residents pay $60K per year. Most public universities are charging full fees to non-residents.
Need blind means that they DONT factor in your ability to pay the fees when they are reviewing your application. It doesn’t mean that you get full funding. There are very few schools that are need blind and can fully fund you. Need Aware means that they do consider your ability to pay when reviewing your application.
If a school says it has financial aid for international students, that does not mean they give you a full ride. It means that they give you what they think they can give you. It does not mean you get what you need. They have a limited budget in what they can spend. The dollars are limited.
Look at each school website that you hope to attend; find the NPC (net price calculator) to get an estimate of what that school will cost.
The schools that seek and are trying to attract students are typically in the Southeast and Midwestern US. You can google these.
@“aunt bea” Thank you very much for your time and all the information. I didn’t know much of all that. I couldn’t put in my scores as I am giving the SAT this December (I gave one in my junior year, it was ok, hopefully this time I’ll be able to perfect it to what I want) and school grades are straight A’s. Our school doesn’t have a GPA system, and I don’t know how accurate the online calculators are. But it’s OK, I know chances are low anyways, I’ll have to look into all of this more before I decide anything.
Many thanks for all your help once again
I feel some people may have misinterpreted my statements about your ECs. They are definitely valuable things to do with your time, and would definitely be acceptable ECs at an average US University if you were a domestic applicant. However, they are not good enough as an international applicant to top schools. The problem is you have no proof of your accomplishments. You need reputable sources to show that you are as good as you say you are. Same thing with the saving cats: it’s community service for sure, but colleges wouldn’t consider it the same way as they would consider organized community service because it is not verified.
You certainly have a chance at admission at other U.S. schools. The problem is that the kind of international applicants who get into top US schools have spend the entirety of their high-school careers preparing to apply to US schools. Many of them are from International schools.
Additionally, if you cannot pay for it out of pocket, you need to be realistic about the cost. Most schools put international applicants as the lowest priority in terms of financial aid. Net price calculators should help.
Just wondering, why have you ruled out studying in India for undergrad? With the interests of theoretical physics, you could come to the US for a masters or doctorate level degree.
@thalaya
Hi, and sorry for the rather late reply.
I quite get what you say. To be honest, I haven’t really spent much time during high school (save this last year and part of the year before) preparing to apply to top US schools in an organized way, just went in and did what I liked and cared about without having much of all that in mind. It’s just that very recently my dad was notified that he might get a foreign posting in the US, and that is when my family started to take the perspective of my studying in US into account seriously (a bit too late it seems). But as for proofs of accomplishments, won’t the digital locker in the coalition app be of help in regards to that? (I know that not all schools I was thinking of applying to accept the coalition, but the ones that do…)
And yes, I understand about the financial aids part. And no, I haven’t ruled out studying in India. We (my parents and I) were speculating on what would be best for my studies and decided to try all the options. We were focusing on the US schools for undergrad studies since the scope of research is greater there.
So presently I believe I shall apply to some of the universities, and if I don’t get admission (I know there’s nothing more than a quark of a chance of getting in, but still, for the sake of a try), I’ll study here (in India, that is) for the time being and apply later on, as you suggest.
Btw, talking specifically of volunteer work, will cultural exchange program serve for volunteer hours? We had this Indo-German exchange at my previous school (grades 10 and 11) in which twelve students are selected every year as representatives of school, state and country. Each of these representatives host their corresponding exchange partners at home. I wonder if this counts?
It sure helped. And I’ll check out other colleges as well.