"Non-official" ECs.

Applying to College
1

<p>The topic about "ECs at home" prompted me to bring up another question about kids' ECs and their recognition by adcoms.</p>

<p>What about any activities the students do with their family and friends? Do they count, if there is no "official" recognition of them from any organizations, no awards or nominations?</p>

<p>For example, my D, who is now a high school junior, besides heavy studying, practicing her 2 instruments, playing in youth orchestra and participating in some of her school's EC activities is involved in some activities we do as a family: she sings (and, occasionally, plays both her instruments as an accompanist) in at-home amateur opera with the group of family friends; provides the musical accompaniment (and occasionally, does some acting) in amateur children's plays (where her younger sister is involved); also, we tend to travel as much as we can - both, to wilderness with the tents and backpacks and to big cities with museums and theaters ... </p>

<p>We value such family passtimes very much, but I'm somewhat worried that come the college application time, my D will lack "adcom-impressive" EC's. The time she spent on our cozy amateur rehearsals and performances for our immigrant community might prevent her from winning some prestigious competitions (less time to practice for that) or from volounteering for some recognizable organization. The summer we spent going camping in national parks or car-hopping through Europe or visiting relatives in our home country will not be spent at some "impressive" university-based summer program or internship or getting "job experience". The weekend we spend going orienteering or listening to classical music concert is not spent on winning some tournament or doing community service ...</p>

<p>That is, I think, all of the above family activities do make my D an interesting (for colleges as well as for herself) person, but will adcoms recognize it? Surely, she can write an interesting essay about all that, but, still, many lines or even the whole sections of her college apps might remain empty or somewhat lacking because she hasn't been after filling them up through all her high school life ... she just have been living as active a life as she possibly could.</p>

<p>Are there any ways to present those "unaccountable" activities in some more impressive way? Or, should she just stop "wasting her time" and start doing something more ... um ... "accountable" in terms of EC's to impress adcoms?</p>

2

<p>Why not list the unofficial EC's? They're great; the "at-home" opera, musical accompaniment and children's plays are particularly interesting to me (not sure about an admissions counselor, though). I wouldn't worry about what the college is "looking for," I'd just help her present herself as just that; herself.</p>

<p>She should definately the "unaccountable EC's" or the travel experiences one of her essay topics, although travel topics are probably a dime a dozen these days. She should write her essay in order to let her personality shine through and not worry too much that she doesn't have as many EC's as some other applicant.</p>

<p>Also, you don't mention whether she has any work experience; some schools are particularly interested in applicant experiences that show some kind of responsibility. My D used her summer job as a lifeguard as her main essay topic; she hasn't received a rejection yet!</p>

3

<p>I saw someone list their primary EC on the common app "playing dominos with the family 10 hours a week/365 days a year"</p>

4

<p>I saw someone list their primary EC on the common app "playing dominos with the family 10 hours a week/365 days a year"</p>

<p>they got into Cornell, and some other reputable schools.</p>

5

<p>Those "unofficial" ECs sound great. Great to list. Great topics for essays, too. They are far more interesting sounding than the usual NHS type of ECs.</p>

6

<p>what might be fun is taking those Opera's OUT into the world...senior centers, etc would love any kind of entertainment, you are sharing your passions with others, and as an aside, it looks cool</p>

<p>something I would do is get a decent camera and on those adventures take lots of pictures, at those senior centers, many never get out much any more story telling, etc along with pictures would be good for all</p>

7

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<p>Well, so far, she doesn't have it (hadn't any humanely possible spare time for that); but, right now, her school "hired" her as a piano accompanist for an annual spring musical - although any other kind of involvelment in her school's musicals is concidered as just "ec activity", they do pay to pianists, because it's a huge time commitment. So, I wonder whether she can list this as her "job experience" ...</p>

8

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<p>Well, it would be fun ... But the problems with this are:</p>

<ol>
<li>those operas are not in English. :-) </li>
<li>the performers (very few of whom are any professionals in music) get used to the acoustics of that particular home, where they rehearse, and whenever they go perform anywhere else they feel overwhelmed (not that audience don't like it, though ;-)).</li>
</ol>

<p>So, mostly, the audience of those productions are friends of friends of friends of the performers, who come in manageable groups of 50-60 people for several in-home perfromances. These makes, in average, about 150-200 people audience and probably can be called "ethnic/cultural community events". :-)</p>

9

<p>As to going to senior centers and such, at school my D is a member, and this year, an officer of "Music for Community" club, which does just that: goes to perform music at senior centers/living communities, nursing homes, city and/or charity events.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, in her school (full of excellent musicians, btw) that club is one of the LEAST prestigious, compared to other "national level", "award-winning" (debate team, robotics team etc.) ones.</p>

<p>This year, as an "activity manager", she has to find performing opportunities for the club, get the right time for performance to involve as many of her super-busy fellow musicians as possible (which is a task by itself) ... only to find out in the last moment that their performance is cancelled by officials due to the fears of cold and flu season.</p>

10

<p>Language doesn't matter!!!</p>

<p>If ou have been to a senior center, or assisted living place, or a veterans home, they are so grateful for any kind of entertainment</p>

<p>Once, we took a group of brownies and girlscouts to a veterans home</p>

<p>We basically sang the first verses of a ton of Christmas songs...they LOVED it!!!</p>

<p>Most of the time, you will be in a rec room, with 20-40 people in the audience, who just want to see some new faces</p>

<p>you don't have to do the opera fullon- you can do half hour of excerpts, maybe 6-7 songs, in whatever language</p>

<p>see, people are afraid that it has to be perfect, and such, when it doesn't have to be to get a smile, a hug, etc</p>

<p>why NOT try it one time? find a local senior home or center that bring in seniors for the day</p>

<p>you are making excuses where none exist-</p>

<p>accoustics, please, do not even think about that, you seem to think these are big fancy productions at senior centers, uselly they are student groups with a very simple presentation to share their music in anyway they can</p>

<p>and yes, if she was paid, it is a job</p>

<p>so, please reconsider the possiblity of sharing something so beautiful for those that are lonely, don't see young people very often, who's families may not be around</p>

<p>a simple production of songs is so much, I guarantte you wil cry when you see the smiles your family has brought</p>

11

<p>don't worry about presitge and how the stupid school rates stuff</p>

<p>at my Ds school, its all about the sports, blech</p>

<p>my D is doing journalism, fashion, photography, things that are not as presitigious either, but it is what she loves and she has been able to combine them OUTSIDE of school, in a way doing it on your own is harder but just as powerful</p>

<p>my oldest D spent hours and hours a week on a youth comission helping city kids, but because it was "politcical" those hours didn't count toward service hours at school, but to her, it was just as valuable...and I KNOW her outside unofficial ECs helped get her EA into two schools </p>

<p>oppsy, we cross posted</p>

12

<p>Thanks for encouragement, citygirlsmom. :-) I have written (above) about my D's experience with senior centers performances. She loves to do it with her school friends (already had experienced and greatly apprecciated those heartwarming moments of bringing smiles on people's faces) ... but it's not easy, logistics-wise.</p>

<p>As to operas, there are much more people involved than our family, so it's not exactly up to us, where to perform. ;-) But, who knows ... we might. ;-)</p>

13

<p>My sons listed "Hobbies" on their resumes at the end. Stuff like fly fishing, computer building, etc. all went there.</p>

14

<p>weenie -- I really wish I'd done that. I didn't mention drawing, painting, creative writing, graphic design, or any of my other hobbies on my apps because they aren't organized activities, even though I've spent a lot of time pursuing them. :(</p>

15

<p>definitely worth mentioning</p>

16

<p>What about such "unorganized" EC activity as ... reading? :-) My D have been a bookworm most of her life, except now, in high school, she rarely can find the time to read for pleasure, something not school-related. Not that she particularly likes this situation, but she doesn't see the way out of it, and neither do I. The only way she could come back to leisure reading is to cut back on some other, more "organized" activities (which she also likes). Or to do/travel/perform less in summer, sitting at home (or at the pool/beachside ;-)) with the books more instead. And I'm not sure that she wouldn't actually like it more, being the kind of nerdy introverted person as she is.</p>

<p>But, then again, colleges might not apprecciate that MOST of app sections would remained unfilled in that case. On the other hand, what kind of university student might it be, who never has time to read something brain-stimulating, without being assigned to it?</p>

<p>So, what would be apprecciated more in today's college admission world - truly well-read "desk-bound" intellectuals or super-overachieving activists/artists, must-be-leaders who never sit in one place? The latter is easier to indicate on the application form by filling the checkboxes, but the former correlates much better with the word "education" for me ...</p>