<p>How strong of an EC is this?</p>
<p>I love classical opera. Aside from regularly attending, I joined a local Opera League and do various volunteer work in the opera house. I also started a Classical Opera Club at my high school; we talk about upcoming operas, go see them together and raise money to send underprivileged kids to the opera (since its quite expensive).</p>
<p>However, I don't participate directly in the opera as I have little singing ability. Rather, I'm just a patron of sorts. Also, it doesn't relate to my other EC's (sports and research) and I actually plan on majoring in the sciences, but it's something I have a passion for and I plan on trying to expose it to the community for the rest of my high school career into college.</p>
<p>So thanks for your opinion, and if you haven't seen an opera before, you're missing out :]</p>
<p>It’s a good EC in terms of saying something very positive about what kind of kid you will be to have on campus. That counts for a lot. It isn’t, of course, as compelling as having sung at Lincoln Center, having had a few articles on opera published in a major magazine or newspaper, or exporting your community service project to schools throughout your city or metropolitan area (and running that). Few applicants can claim those sorts of achievements, however. CCers seem to enjoy contemplating what would constitute a stellar EC for acceptances to top schools, so I approached your post from that standpoint.</p>
<p>Since I answered your question, perhaps you will entertain mine. How would you sell opera to the uninitiated, or to those who have attended previously but didn’t enjoy it?</p>
<p>Most colleges use ECs at most for merit aid consideration, not for admission. The few that do are the most competitive in the country, places like Harvard that have such an overabundance of high stat applicants that the colleges can pick and choose from those to create very diverse, well rounded student bodies.</p>
<p>If you’re applying to that kind of school, your ECs would stand out because they are different, clearly a passion of yours, and you’ve done some interesting things with them such as raising money so low income kids can be exposed to opera. If you’re applying to such schools and have the stats for them, your EC could be interesting enough to tip you in, but of course, odds are long against anyone applying to such schools.</p>
<p>You sound like a very interesting person, and I’m sorry that I don’t know you in person. I’d love to hear more about how you got such an interest and why you think it is important for low income students to be exposed to opera.</p>
<p>Spideygirl certainly covers it. Don’t sweat it. Perhaps you will get lucky and get an opera lover for a first reader.</p>