<p>This is rather a serious question for me, I have no EC's, no hours, none of that. I've been getting mixed advice everywhere. I'm a below-average junior in high school, and I'm trying to aim high, but these days, heh.</p>
<p>Anywho, half the clubs at our high school were made just for the sake of looking good for college. Half the time they meet once, get a teacher sponsor to go with it... and blow it off. Thus, I don't want to waste my time going to these, or even attempt to make a club (the stuff I'm interested in probably isn't school appropriate in a sense, and they aren't "school related".)</p>
<p>I play no sports as well. I'm a bit more active outside of school, but I'm not sure if that counts as "EC's". I build stuffols (metalworking/cars/modifying... quite a bit more indepth, but you get the gist), and things such as airsoft, blah.</p>
<p>Cliffs: Below average junior, no EC's, probably too late to join any club, all clubs at school are BS'd for the sake of better admission chances, like to spend time on my own working on personal projects. Am I screwed?</p>
<p>No, school ECs are absolutely not required and your hobby sounds both interesting and unique so don’t worry about it. Admissions directors see the same kinds of ECs over and over -sports, student govt, newspaper, service clubs, music - which means that your EC is really going to differentiate you. Remember that ECs are just a way to showcase skills and aptitudes that don’t come across in your academic work: creativity, leadership, compassion, etc…Your goal is to make sure people understand why you chose your hobby and why you think you’re good at it.</p>
<p>If you’ve done a lot with your personal hobbies, these are just as good as school ECs. Mention significant things you’ve done with these hobbies, how long you’ve been working on them, competitions entered, awards won, etc.</p>
<p>ECs of some sort are very important, though. Schools won’t admit people based simply on test scores and GPA. The number of qualified applicants based on scores and GPA usually exceeds the number of applicants they’re planning to admit, so you need something to set you above the others.</p>
<p>Oh I’m sure they’re important… I should rephrase the question… “The importance of SCHOOL EC’s”.</p>
<p>And another thing: I’ve heard diversity can be a bad thing… they want to see your “focus” in one thing. However… say I have multiple hobbies/interests?</p>
See if you can come up with a common thread or small set of threads that tie these various things together. But hey, maybe you can’t.
To be honest, depending on what you mean by below-average (some people here have a false modesty) then the most selective colleges may simply be out of reach. On the other hand, there are over 3,000 4-year colleges in the country and many of them are quite good even if they’re not the names always discussed on this forum. And the better news is that at most of them ECs are of minor or even negligible importance. There is a book I suggest you read called “Admission Matters”, which lays out a solid approach to selecting colleges that are a fit for you, likely to accept you, and that you can afford. Here’s an excerpt
<p>Well just to give you a VERY broad overview of my hobbies… they range from computers, to cars, to film making… I’m more of a hands-on type of guy.</p>
<p>Over modest? Lol. I’m looking at people crying over 1900’s and 2000’s on their SAT. Those are hella high in my book, but then again I am from Texas, the state with the lowest averaged SAT scores.</p>
<p>Uhm well… with the exception of my freshmen year’s Geometry, every class I took was honors/Pre-AP/AP. Started off with quite a few A’s freshmen year, and went to A/B’s, and then B’s junior year… No upward trend.</p>
<p>If it matters, I have 3 years in Spanish so far, and am planning on taking Calc BC and Physics C AP next year… My AP scores are terrible (3 on the WHAP, only one so far)… ect. ect. Top 11% :(</p>
<p>Seriously though, the only thing that makes me unique are my projects I do out of school. That’s about it. They all reflect my “devotion” to my hobbies/interests :(</p>
<p>My son had very good stats, but he was deferred at our state flagship. They assign points, and he had no EC’s so scored no points for that section (as well as for the leadership section) … his counselor feels that is the reason he was ultimately waitlisted when many seemingly less capable students from his school were accepted. He does a lot with music on his own (bands, recording for his band & others, etc), and he tried to show that on his app. This school, however, values school or “organized” activities over personal hobbies/activities. </p>
<p>The good news is that he was accepted to several other excellent schools, some with scholarships. Each school looks at things its own way. You are who you are, and you can only show the school just that. Rest assured that many schools don’t make a big deal of EC’s for admission.</p>
:D</p>