I’m a rising senior and I’m planning to apply to some of the top 20 universities. At a glance my EC seems incredible yet incredibly RANDOM. I lettered in two varsity sports, participated in the all-state band, won 1st place in the state Odyssey of the Mind competition, and I’m an officer of Latin Club and Model UN… and a bunch of scattered things like that. Do you think this is positive or negative? I’m afraid that my EC makes me look like I’m not focused on one area and I just tried to get involved in as many activities as possible so they’d look good on my college app.
<p>It is better to have the EC's focused on one or two areas. It doesn't have to be one or two specific activities, but rather one or two things that define you as a person. The word that is always used is "passion". Adcoms want to see "passion" and long-term committment in one or two areas rather than a "laundry list" of activities with little involvement in any. The other thing they say a lot is that adcoms are interested in building well rounded freshman classes, but not in well rounded individuals. </p>
<p>In your case, do a marketing job on yourself. Pick out two things that are more important than anything else such as Sports and Music, pull as much as possible into those two areas, and make those your "passions". You still mention everything else, but put two areas of interest out in front.</p>