<p>There is not much space in the Princeton/common app to write about ECs. There are so many things I did, but I can possibly not see how I can fit what I did in the little spaces provided.
To those who got in and into other colleges at Princeton's level: How did you approach this problem?</p>
<p>You need to pick a theme for your application. Then the admissions people can refer to you in shorthand as "the percussionist," the "soccer goalie", the "cross country captain", the "eagle scout", the "amazing film maker", the "prose writer", or the "math champion."
One way to figure out your theme is to create a resume to work off of. List topics like awards and honors, athletics, music, art, community service, leadership, and academic pursuits like research, contests, math team, world quest, etc both within and outside of school. Pick something that you have excelled at, done consistently, had some leadership involved, etc. These top schools are looking for someone who will change the world. Quality matters more than quantity, depth more than breadth. My S will be attending Princeton in the fall and he chose for his theme an activity that he participated in for all 4 years of high school both in school and in the community, and for which he won honors and awards, and where he had a leadership position in his senior year. Good luck.</p>
<p>relax man. the Princeton app actually allows you to add as many ECs as you like, unlike the CommonApp. I'm not kidding.</p>
<p>For my Princeton app, I even included an extended list of ECs (resume) and with full descriptions under the form "What else would you like us to know?"</p>
<p>Yeah, you could also send in some supplementary materials to elaborate your e.c.'s. Just make sure these things help the adcoms to form a more complete picture of you. If the materials don't, don't send them.</p>
<p>You have to pick and choose. Many have this problem</p>
<p>Anyone else? geez. So it really doesn't help if you do loads and loads of activities when you have such little space.</p>
<p>Also, I am only talking about the common app. Thats the app I'll probably use. So, disregard the princeton app.</p>
<p>Compile a resume and have your counselor send it. That way, you can be focused on your actual app and the college still has it...</p>
<p>I'm not sure it's such an advantage at Princeton to do "loads and loads of activities." Just choose the ones that you feel were most significant and that represent who you are most appropriately. If anything, I suppose you can send in your resume (I'm not sure how Princeton feels about that. I do remember the University of Chicago complaining about kids sending in their resumes when they were never asked for, but Princeton could, of course, hold the opposite view) and then focus your application and the ones most significant and descriptive of who you are.</p>
<p>Group your ECs under common threads. For example, I wrote for the newspaper and was an editor for a yearbook, so I grouped that under "Publications". I was in Women's Ensemble, then Madrigal Singers, then A Cappella, so I grouped that under "Vocal". There's a section for extra explanations, so if needed, I added my explanations there.</p>
<p>Also, what's most important is what your ECs meant to you. I strongly suspect that Princeton's adcomm only looks at the EC list to get a sense of what you like and to note any interesting activities, but puts the greatest emphasis on your essays. One or more of which will probably highlight your work in an EC. I know that if an EC meant a lot to me, I invariably wrote about it.</p>
<p>I just listed my most important activities in the space provided and listed the rest in the extra information section.</p>
<p>Debryc, I get the same feeling that you do. The two biggest involvements in my life, music and tutoring, both were topics in my college essays. I agree that Princeton will most likely decide how important they really were to you through those, and perhaps your recs too.</p>
<p>I made a chart giving detailed information on all of my extracurriculars (not just officer positions but exactly the kinds of contributions I'd made--especially when it came to unimpressive-sounding things like summer jobs). I'm pretty sure you're allowed to add this type of supplementary material if you want to.</p>