<p>I was advised by you fellow CC'ers to show a particular passion in my EC's.</p>
<p>I love playing piano! I play at my church, for old people in a hospital, and have passed the highest level of piano (advanced panel.)</p>
<p>I also have a club that I founded for charity. I really am passionate about helping people! I want to help those special ed with sports (because I love sports!) and maybe volunteer with a "challenged athletes" foundation.</p>
<p>I also plan do raise at least $1000/ or contribute 100 hours to local habitat for humanities, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, etc. </p>
<p>Do I need to take a step further with these passions to stand out on college apps?
(I'm a senior)</p>
<p>These are great - and you are helping your community. The thing is, they aren’t “unique”. Doing charity work because you are ‘passionate about helping people’ is somewhat bland, helping special ed ed kids because ‘you love sports’ is a bit, er, vanilla.</p>
<p>Depending on the schools you apply to, you’ll need to do something unique and original to “stand out” for the top schools. </p>
<p>If you are applying to an Ivy league or another top school, there is an ocean of kids out there who have done loads of community work, are music virtuosos, or have founded a charity organization.</p>
<p>These are great and will spruce up your application but they won’t “stand out”, if you catch my vibe.</p>
<p>@ctesiphon I have 400+ hours of community service from volunteering at local sports leagues, the hospital, Boys and Girls club, etc. </p>
<p>Do you suggest anything that will help me “stand out?” I really want to get into MIT but I know I am competing against highly qualified students :(</p>
<p>Some examples of really big things that can make you stand out: Doing research as a high schooler, starting and running a business, internships. But in the realm of community service/volunteering/clubs, If you can start an organization that helps towards your specific area of interest, and do something unique with it, it will certainly stand out. You can turn your aspiration to help challenged athletes into a club or something. Your school may or may not have Special Olympics, Becoming a leader in that program if you can would really show leadership and community qualities. If not, you can perhaps look into starting a similar program.</p>
<p>@ctesiphon Hey thanks! This advice was really helpful. I don’t know if it counts but I’ve been running my own “mini” business by selling clothes online. I want to major into business, but I don’t know how tying in the club of “helping others” would benefit my specific area of interest. But the special olympics sounds great for my school! It should be okay if my clubs don’t have anything to do with business because it does reveal a passion of mine. I just don’t really know how to connect the “charity work” with “special education” and helping the environment. I just want to help the community in all aspects- not just the homeless or the special education. Would it be okay to not have a specific area of interest for my club, but just help all different groups of people? Or would that be too sporadic and messy?</p>