<p>I'm a junior and I am very worried because I have no ECs. I've always had a job and no time for clubs or sports or anything. The only thing I have done is be a member of Arista this year. If I do volunteer work over the summer and am like senior secretary next year and join a law team (things I'm maybe planning on doing), will it just look like i'm trying to add watever ECs I can on my college applications? Is it worth it?</p>
<p>your job is effectively an EC. alot of people make the mistake of thinking if it's not a sport or instrument or, like, math team, it's not an EC.</p>
<p>Thats wrong; colleges want students with ECs so they know the students will actually do stuff besides study. They want to see that you have done stuff with your free time in highschool. Any activity thats not school is essensially an EC. So your job, yeah, if you have alot of hours with that, don't worry about it. What's arista? And yeah, it's better late than never to do activities outside of school. Would a college rather see a student who did nothing, or just stuff at the end. Something is obviously better than nothing. The real problem is students who have "4000" activities; obviously they're not committed to them and are stacking their apps.</p>
<p>If you have very limited ECs, you should have excellent academics, however.</p>
<p>Working is very valuable and worthwhile not just for the money you've made, but for the lessons about life you have learned. You will have great material for essays, no doubt.
You don't mention what your economic situation is (did you have to work for the family, or did you jsut work to provide gas for the car and extras?) but if you really HAD to work, schools will take this into consideration and not expect the same level of extracurricular committment that they expect of others with a more secure financial situation.
If you do have time to be involved with something at this point, choose something that really interests you (like the law team) and give it your best. Also, don't overlook hobbies or interests that you may have pursued on your own outside of school as ECs -these count, too.
Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks so much for responding guys. I'm feeling a little less stressed now, lol.
Sparticus: Arista is like an honor society. We bascially do volunteer work, like AIDS walks and hold events to raise money for cancer and things like that. And my grades are pretty good. 4.0 weighted.
ASAP: My family is not very stable financially, but I don't work to like help pay for bills or anything. I work to be able to buy myself clothes and stuff since my dad doesnt really have extra money. So I guess I dont really have to work.</p>
<p>To be honest, br, if you want this to look OK you should make it look like it did in fact help pay the bills and the family's financial situation was very very tight.</p>
<p>how do i make it look like i worked to help out with bills and stuff? is that something you tell them or include in your application?</p>
<p>but of course the essay</p>
<p>you're willing to lie?</p>
<p>you don't have to lie. just talk about your job in your essays and how it makes you stronger and has given you value for hard work and stuff. ECs are a good way of showing that a student has passion for more than grades,$$,etc. They like to see depth in whatever activity one pursues because that shows that the extracurricular helped define the person's chartacter into a strong and positive one. Your job will only be as effective as you want it to be. If you write your essays around it and other activities that really helped develop your personality and integrity,ethics, colleges will love it. Make sure in your essays you get the message through how it affected you, not just that you worked just for money. Make a list of the positive impacts that your job has had on you.</p>
<p>As for talking about financial status, you don't have to lie. Just say with a tight budget you wanted to help contribute. Buying yourself stuff is contributing caus u didnt ask your parents for it and you learned the value of a dollar.</p>
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how do i make it look like i worked to help out with bills and stuff? is that something you tell them or include in your application?
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<p>How is that ** not ** lying?</p>
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As for talking about financial status, you don't have to lie. Just say with a tight budget you wanted to help contribute. Buying yourself stuff is contributing caus u didnt ask your parents for it and you learned the value of a dollar.
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<p>That's a little better, but still slightly deceptive and dishonest.</p>
<p>In actuality, if you told the blunt truth (e.g "I worked so I could have enough money to buy material goods") you wouldn't be viewed with as much respect, or sympathy (depending on opinion).</p>
<p>Thanks confidential, you might have given me an idea for my essays, for which i wasn't too sure what to write.
And dys2k6, i didnt ask for your moral judgement. Like I said, by buying myself the things most kids expect to get from their parents, I buy it with my own money. One less thing my dad has to worry about. And if I did want to lie, so what. If you don't think it's fair, tough. Why do you care anyway. Don't worry about it. ;-)</p>