<p>I just quit my last (planned) music class at school and I'm a lot less involved in music nowadays compared to when I was younger. The main thing I do outside of school is program, but I don't know if that counts as an EC outside of school.
If I were to participate in programming contests or hackathons, would those counts as ECs?</p>
<p>Additionally, I've interned at a couple places to teach kids, and at one of those places, I was teaching programming. Does this qualify as an EC?</p>
<p>How much does my lack of "real" ECs affect my chances of getting into a good college?</p>
<p>I may be biased as an I am active supporter of making programming skills available in all schools and stuff, but I definitely think that Programming is an EC.</p>
<p>However, it is not a great EC by itself. Have you built any apps? Or websites? Those usually show a level of competence in your work, and prove that you know what your talking about and also show that you are willing to dedicate time to your activities.</p>
<p>Interning and teaching kids to program is great - that is, again, proof that you actually do what you claim to do.</p>
<p>Awesome! I actually have made sites/apps and have a few on the way right now!</p>
<p>I forgot to mention that I’m the webmaster for one of the biggest clubs at my school, so making/maintaining the website is another thing I do. Would that qualify as well?</p>
<p>Definitely. I think some colleges, like MIT, actually have a section where you can post links to Apps and Website that you built…</p>
<p>Not many people actually submit anything for that, so if you could then it would give you an advantage in the CE and CS depts.</p>
<p><a href=“Creative portfolios | MIT Admissions”>http://mitadmissions.org/apply/freshman/supplements</a>
Check out the Makers section.</p>
<p>Being the webmaster definitely qualfiies. </p>
<p>What if this (programming) was my ONLY EC, would that make a difference?</p>
<p>It sounds like you interned to teach, and not just programming. So that is more than just programming and should go on your list. Being the webmaster, developing websites and apps, and any music activities you did during high schools can go on your app. </p>
<p>It depends on what kinds of colleges you are talking about.</p>
<p>I’m talking about programs like EECS at Berkeley.</p>
<p>In general EECS@ Berkeley does like programming experience. But they are more focused on GPA (weighted) and SAT/ACT scores due to the volume of applicants.</p>
<ul>
<li>Programming certainly counts as an EC</li>
<li>Like the other posters said, UC’s don’t care much about extracurriculars. Why? Because they don’t spend much time verifying whether they are true (less than 1% of applicants receive a notice to provide proof of their ECs, as opposed to private school’s which send out much more). </li>
<li>Grades and course rigor will be the most important factor for admission at Berkeley EECS. </li>
</ul>
<p>That’s a huge relief! I’ve spent the past few years keeping my GPA up and doing hard classes. I just remember ECs and panicked. Thanks so much for helping out guys!</p>
<p>If you’re applying to be a CS major at certain schools (maybe many schools?), it would be important. </p>
<p>If you looked through the UIUC decisions thread over the last cycle, it seems that all the non-female&non-URM candidates who got accepted for CS in Engineering there (which is now quite competitive, with a single digit admit rate, despite the high admit rate of UIUC as a whole) already had considerable programming experience (have their own app company or are working as a developer at a software company, etc.)</p>
<p>I’m not sure about Cal (though I hear that they do care about ECs more than other UCs).</p>
<p>I think the teaching kids is a very good compliment to having more solitary programming expertise, assuming you can demonstrate some level of expertise, as it demonstrates people skills, patience and communication as well as being a good citizen and putting your time out there for the good of others.</p>
<p>Absolutely put programming down!</p>