What if you aren’t very good at an EC, but you still like being in it? Also do activities like math club, and science olympiad count as Extra-curricular or Co-curricular activities? Thanks.
Clubs offered at school are considered extra-curricular activities.
This is on topic of the essay relating to EC’s…
Let’s say you’re editor-in-chief of the newspaper, really passionate about art and writing (AP art and show, produced a play) but you really want to eventually go into film/television (have interned for UPN). What do you talk about? I guess I could combine them all theoretically? Should I just choose one of the things I’m passionate about? My friend who’s going to Princeton wrote about how he started the “lunch box club” and he talked about the rules they set up that you could only eat at their table if you brought a lunch box and how that affected him/displayed his character (he’s also a genius and one of the coolest people I’ve ever known). What are your opinions on these obscure essays that reveal insight into character but not into your passion? (Assuming one could pull it off…) How much should be about your personal voice and how much should it be about something you’ve done/are passionate about. Sorry for the bombardment of questions but each has been nagging me for quite some time and we have to write a practice essay for our college counselors by… a few weeks ago. Any advice?
What if you have leadership positions in upwards of 3-4 clubs? What if in your Junior year, you are President of 3 clubs (2 very successful, 1 that you started yourself), Editor-in-Chief of the Literary Magazine, and are involved in one or two other things that you have a passion for (plays and peer leadership group).
Does this look like a laundry-list of ECs? Will people assume that the clubs must not be very active/amazing/important if you can manage to be president of 3 and involved in other things, or will they understand that everything is a serious commitment to you?
doodlesmastah- I wish I knew the answer to your questions.
BrownCow- our school gives A LOT of homework, so I am just writing based on my and my peers’ experiences. I honestly don’t know how anyone could pull off serious commitment to more than one club (now of course it matters what clubs you’re talking about - I’m talking about clubs like environmental club, GSA, amnesty, etc. - where a leadership position would entail nightly hardcore research and work).
Let’s talk about passions. Now, if you indeed are passionate about something, you WILL be good at it. People don’t like doing what they’re bad at, and generally pursue things that they love doing, or love the thrill of being good at whatever that activity is. [I have no idea if your peer leadership group is helpful or even useful at your school - at ours, it’s a big joke.]
The big thing is, it’s not enough just to be involved at school. You need to demonstrate the intereste OUTSIDE of school where awards or more opportunities are more available. You like peer leadership?- work at a summer camp, organize some community service project with friends. You like plays? enter some competitions, compete in speech, lead your chapter of the international thespian society.
In my experience, I’ve only really been able to excel in two things (I’m only going to talk about one). For example: I love music… so I compose and I’ve gotten a lot of recognition for my composition. I also play the saxophone, but any jazz player knows that in order to be good at improv, you’ve got to spend a lot of time practicing - and I don’t have that kind of time because I use it to compose. I have gotten into All State, but that’s due to other factors than talent and passion.
Ultimately, I think everyone will be able to be very good at ONE thing, and be extremely competent at a handful more.
Your list of ECs will appear like a laundry list if you don’t have any other outside of school experience to back up your love of those activities. Adcoms won’t understand how everything can be a serious commitment unless you have outside of school experiences to demonstrate your passions.
I’m seriously considering (in fact planning to) forming a Sunday School kind of deal for our local Hindu society. We don’t have a temple, but we do have a group of people, mostly adults, who get together every third Sunday for religious discussion. Some of the adults expressed interest in having a program for their kids (almost all elementary school age). I would be the teacher; I’ve only just finished freshman year, but I did go to the classes we used to have a long time ago (we still have all the materials at our house) and I think I can get our program affiliated with an international society, the Chinmaya Mission. I’m going to do this anyway, but how much of a draw will this have for adcoms?
I could also write my essay on this program, but I would like to include a lot about Hinduism and the process of change upon myself and my students. Do you think that colleges would appreciate my diverse faith, or might that subtly work against me?
Oh no. It will definitely work against you. Are you kidding? I mean colleges don’t like any leadership positions - especially in the community. Teaching kids? That almost guarentees your future job as an AOL phone employee. I don’t know if even a community college would accept you.
And Hinduism? ***? I don’t think any progressive liberal arts colleges would take you. It’s a known fact that colleges hate diversity. Wow.
[/sarcasm off]
I’m sorry if my post came off a good bit naive. I probably deserved the sarcasm. I suppose I was mainly looking for affirmation of what I already pretty much knew. However, my real question should have been: will that kind of an essay/EC stand out at all, or is it rather commonplace and overdone?
Yeah, I’ve asked similar questions before, that affirmation is nice.
In terms of the essay, if you can SHOW how something in your community was lacking something, and how you used what was available to you to solve that problem, that will be awesome. You not only added to to your community, but you held a nice leadership position doing that. Moreover, if you can demonstrate how the experience shaped your life (especially since you’ll be doing it relatively early in your freshman year), that will be good.
how do u tell them about stuff that isn’t on paper. do u write it down in essays. will they believe in it? what reason do they have? and what about hardships that u’ve had to bear, that too in essays. how many essays to one college on average should there be?
So what if a kid has had a great life? Are they just SOL?
Seriously, I wish I had a dollar for everytime in the conversations about apps, that the words are used [I’d be paying for college already].
I’m definitely writing about gymnastics. I’d never quanitified it before, but its probably a good 200 hours of practice over the 4 month season (around 3 a day after school). I came in as a sophomore who couldnt do a cartwheel on floor or a back uprise on parallel bars. now at the end of my second year, i’m ranked around 15th in the city on parallel bars in NYC public school gymnastics. Can’t help but feel lucky that I have something like this to write about – the point is, it was an awesome/painful/fun/grueling experience, probably my most memorable in HS – thats the kind of stuff to write about — i dont think necessarily community involvement – besides I dont see many ways that i can get involved in my community at all
i took this class in my junior year called Clinical Rotations. It gives students the opp to go to hospitals every morning by an organized schedule. Since it was a regulars class, i felt that i made some sacrifices by taking the class to really see if i was interested in becoming a doctor. I know this would not fit the term ec by definition, but could i call it one in my essay?
No, the class is still not an EC. If the college app allows, though, your experiences with clinical rotations still could be a good essay topic.
thanks. Also i was looking at this collegeboard how to write a college essay <a href=“http://www.collegeboard.com/student/apply/essay-skills/9405.html[/url]”>http://www.collegeboard.com/student/apply/essay-skills/9405.html</a> and it says to focus more on my strengths than events, so how often exactly would I put in a good word about myself in the essay? just one sentence here and there, or like one paragraph of just self-praise?
You don’t put any self praise in. You provide anecdotes that display your character and things like what you’ve learned by taking that class. There are many excellent guides to college essays, including on-line.Many also provide sample essays by students who got into top colleges and by students whose essays sucked. Take a look at those.
Just out of interest, is 350+ (about 360/400) hours of an EC (thats really really important to you) during high school good enough to justify being on top of the EC’s list in the application if you’ve been involved with it for 2 years or so before high school and with activities connected with it for 6 or so years before high school.??
That all depends on how good you have become at those activities due to your extended involvement. It is extremely likely that you’ll be really good at it - colleges will reward you for it. If it is your only hardcore EC - then you better be VERY good at what you do.
Well…if its volunteer work which involves lots of different skill
Yes- that is true. But 350 hours of community service is not a lot. Sure, it may double the hours of community service of many applicants, but it won’t make you stand out a lot. Increase it to 500+ and then you may start to stand out more.