<p>A self-evaluation of my EC's revealed that I'm pretty far spread-out. There's really no unifying theme to my EC's, other than I enjoy all of them. However, there's not a lot of distinguishment - few leadership positions, few regional/state awards. </p>
<p>In jr high, I was a district representative on the state student council executive board, representing 55+ schools. I also received a superior ranking at the state history fair, and have a letter of state senate recognition for that achievement. Both of these happened in 8th grade - can I put these on my application, or will I be laughed at for posting jr high achievements?</p>
<p>Most applications, as I recall, will specify "9-12." The only non-HS references I made were things that had started early and continued into high school, i.e. "12 years of this sport."</p>
<p>I don't think it much matters one way or the other, except that to me, junior high ECs are kind of a flashing red light--fair or not--that you're streeeetching to find impressive ECs.</p>
<p>Meh. There's nothing stopping you from putting them if you truly feel that they're valuable, but I personally don't think they'll add much (if anything) to your application, if only because:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Admissions officers are very likely to doubt that you, as an 8th grader, really did much, no matter how impressive the position.</p></li>
<li><p>AdComs will probably assume you've changed greatly since middle school, so they may not really see these accomplishments as being relevant to your current evaluation. </p></li>
<li><p>8th grade achievements don't allow for easy comparison to other applicants, so unless they're truly and obviously exceptional ECs, AdComs have no real reason for assuming that most other applicants didn't do comparable things in the same time frame.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Presumably, you want these middle school ECs/awards to reflect that you're an involved, high-achieving person, but to me, they give off the slight impression of scrounging. The question I ask is "Why do this student's junior high achievements (which are notable ones, certainly, but not Earth shattering) overshadow his high school ECs?" </p>
<p>That said, I could be very overly picky. I was also bitter that I couldn't include some middle school stuff. There's nothing to stop you from putting what you want to put, and I doubt it'll do any harm whatsoever to your application. I personally don't think it'll really add much, either, but I suppose that you have nothing to lose! If you're proud and feel that the stuff deserves a place on your applications, then hey, that's what "misc." sections are all about :-)</p>
<p>"Presumably, you want these middle school ECs/awards to reflect that you're an involved, high-achieving person, but to me, they give off the slight impression of scrounging. The question I ask is "Why do this student's junior high achievements (which are notable ones, certainly, but not Earth shattering) overshadow his high school ECs?" "</p>
<p>Admissions officers would ask the same question. Students with strong ECs have problems finding enough room on their apps to list all of their strong high school ECs.</p>