<p>The top 5% kids in my Junior class are the quintessential examples of diligent, hardworking students who do nothing but study.
I would say that 99% are robots, they don't have passion for anything but getting the best grades possible. I'm a part of this 5%, what actions do you recommend I take to make myself stand out from the pack of robots?</p>
<p>Look up the thread that says something like “What ECs are good”, look at the list and do one.</p>
<p>I’m sure you know this, but it bears repeating. Students with perfect SATs at the very top of their class are turned down from top tier universities every year. Their essays are creative, their LORs are shining, they have taking the hardest classes available. Many have attended competitive summer academic programs. So, what’s missing? A life. Really. Any indication that there is an interest in something beyond being the best in the classroom. </p>
<p>There is no single ‘best extracurricular activity’. The one that is right for you is the one you care about. The one you can spend 20hours a week at and still have the energy to do your school work. The one that makes you happy and you find a way to share that joy with others. Some find this in sports. They then coach little league, and perhaps volunteer to run clinics in the summer in lower income areas where students generally don’t have the funds for camps. There is a common theme here. They are doing something they love, sharing it with others, and find a way to make a difference. Some students are involved in marching band, and preform in small groups at retirement homes. There is generally a tiered effect of an interest that make a student stand out. A student may start their own business mowing lawns. After a summer they find a few kids that can work for them with a good number of regular clients. They then spend one day a week working on urban renewal, perhaps planting flowers in a park or picking up trash in a neglected area.</p>
<p>I know I am making this sound very simplistic. My point is, find something you really care about, build on that, and give back to your community. If you enjoy it, and it matters to you, you will stand out.</p>
<p>^Why does it matter what they do? You are going to need to stand out from alot more people than the 20 or 50 people in the top 5% of your HS. </p>
<p>Perhaps start with the threads pinned to the top already like <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/210497-those-ecs-weak-so-whats-good.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/210497-those-ecs-weak-so-whats-good.html</a></p>
<p>why does it matter what they do? A couple of top kids from my school go on to ivies but most are instate (20 to Berkeley last year lol) but I get your point that competition is FIERCE across the nation. The thing is though, if students narrow their comparisons to just peers within their school they can drastically minimize stress (works for me). </p>
<p>And thanks for the link!</p>
<p>I feel that that extracurricular link has outrageous expectations for what you need to do to “stand out from the pack of robots”. I focused on a set of 4 extracurricular activities consistently throughout my high school career (none of which involved my work being published in some reputed journal or starting a nonprofit organization or helping to feed starving children in Africa). However, my essays were written and my accolades laid out to really show the passion and my growth as an individual from doing activities that concerned what I was most interested in and I feel that that has really helped me in these college applications. </p>
<p>Everyone is unique (duh) and there are people that can handle much more on their plate at a much higher level than I can and thus, will probably be accepted to much awesomer places than I will. However, I think everyone can agree that having the initiative to choose extracurriculars and jobs that suit your passions will naturally lead to the personal growth and the awards to prove this. I would argue that this is what colleges want to see.</p>
<p>It’s almost impossible to PLAN an activity or EC that will make you “stand out” these days. There are ten thousand top students throughout the country all trying to accomplish just that; unfortunately, more than a few of them have parents with deep pockets who can hire admissions consultants, whose job it is to design just such impressive ECs.</p>
<p>Instead, you need to pursue a couple of passions or charitable causes that appeal to you, see where you can uniquely contribute and see what contacts you make. SOMEWHERE, if you’re lucky, you’ll make a contact and present an idea that will allow you to do extraordinary things which will leave adcoms scratching their heads wondering how you managed to achieve such lofty or unusual goals at such a young age.</p>
<p>Of course, you make your own luck to a large extent by choosing activities that you really feel strongly about and then stop to consider how you can make a unique contribution, and also advocate your ideas to people in leadership roles. The problem is that you can’t PLAN what to do at the very outset, or someone would already be doing it – you need to fall into it by first following your passions and then following any accidental opportunities that result from that passion.</p>
<p>"It’s almost impossible to PLAN an activity or EC that will make you “stand out” these days. "</p>
<p>Agreed. Frankly you are who you are. While you call them robots, someone else might consider you one (didja ever consider that?)-- so then what? Do what interests you and know that a successful collegiate career probably awaits – regardless of what schools admit you (or your classmates).</p>
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<p>They can also drastically minimize their chances.</p>