<p>I've read lots of "Chance Me" threads on here, and it seems like most people have the standard list of ECs or a variation of it:</p>
<p>-Key Club/Interact/Habitat for Humanity/4-H
-FBLA/DECA/JA
-Speech & Debate/Mock Trial/Youth in Government/JSA
-Track/Swim/Tennis team
-Yearbook/Journalism
-Piano/Violin
etc etc.</p>
<p>Does anyone know of some special ECs that would stand out?
Being an Asian, I know that my piano and tennis skills are not highly coveted...</p>
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<p>That part made me laugh. So true…</p>
<p>I can think of 6 or 7 Asian people off the top of my head who play both tennis and piano, haha.</p>
<p>speaking rare languages, ice-sculpting, rare sports (squash, polo), anything off the beaten track. learning how to fly a plane, sky-diving, acrobatics.</p>
<p>Mine. Mading.
It’s famous in my country but not in yours. :D</p>
<p>Okay, so here’s my list so far:</p>
<p>Flying a plane, sky-diving, acrobatics, archery, horse back-riding, speaking Romansh, ice-sculpting, crew, polo, squash, and mading.</p>
<p>…Mading? What’s mading anyways? I googled it and nothing relevant come up.</p>
<p>Anyone want to lend me some money so I can start working to be a certified pilot? You know, invest in my potential aviation skills… Just kidding :)</p>
<p>Okay, so I guess this was a pointless search for answers. Almost all easily-accessible/affordable ECs are the “standard” ones that are found in almost all applications…</p>
<p>Start a project to help out the homeless! People get attacked by hobos all the time in the Bay Area, maybe they’re just angry because they’re hungry and uncomfortable. Or you could also start a tutoring program (and follow through with it) at one of the many under-performing elementary or junior high schools in the Bay Area, like in Richmond (wear a bulletproof vest).</p>
<p>Rather than trying to please some nebulous “other”, please twiddle. What interests YOU? Are there any social issues which get you riled (sex slave trade, oppression in China, possible extinction of tigers, old people being mistreated in nursing homes, whatever)? Do you love the outdoors? sports? travel? books? making things? genealogy? gardening? Pretty much anything you are interested in, there are groups, magazines, projects, activities out there. with the internet, you can find others who share these interests. Schools are not necessarily going to like you BECAUSE you play tennis or the piano, but because you have interests you pursue - whatever they might be.</p>
<p>people do not get attacked by hobos all the time in the bay area! maybe in richmond, but dont generalize “the whole bay area”… lolllll</p>
<p>this is all IMO. If I were an admissions officer, these are the kinds of activities that would stand out to me.</p>
<p>-obscure instruments (bassoon, harp, french horn, etc.)</p>
<p>-obscure sports (curling, water polo, trapeze, etc.)</p>
<p>-Creative clubs that can compete (swing dance, improv, Destination ImagiNation, Iron Chef)</p>
<p>-unusual volunteer causes. A lot of people tutor needy kids, feed the homeless, do relay for life, etc. Although those are totally worthy causes, I think the most interesting students are the ones who commit to fighting for an opinion, ya know? like ending book banning, joining a pro-choice/pro-life coalition, supporting a local political candidate. Now I’m not saying your basic helping out the sick/needy/hungry isn’t a totally amazing cause to help out…I think it would just make the applicant more interesting if they also fought for what they believed in</p>
<p>Asians in my school shy away from contact sports, so that’s what I would do if I were Asian and wanted to stand out. I would wrestle or play football or water polo. I’d also consider boxing or MMA outside of school.</p>
<p>@twiddle:</p>
<p>It’s like an art-journalism combined. Your team discuss a concept, then build something 2 or 3 dimensional and make relevant articles. Things like that.
It’s the biggest youth event in South East Asia :).</p>
<p>Working in high school. It’s getting more and more rare. It won’t get you in anywhere by any means, but as fewer students work in high school, it becomes more impressive.</p>
<p>Well, I suppose unusual depends, to a certain extent, on where you are. As one of my out of state students told me in class one day, “Everybody wrestles. It’s what you DO here.” And I laughed because he’s right. In my state, kids don’t usually start football until around 5th grade, but wrestling . . . sign 'em up in K, even the girls!</p>
<p>Anyway, these are some unusual ECs I’ve encountered (and honestly, I’m pretty sure these kids are not looking at top colleges. They just do this stuff because they like it):</p>
<p>Wrestling (female on the hs squad - very rare indeed as most little girls stop around puberty)</p>
<p>Fencing - almost nobody does it here, but maybe it’s very popular elsewhere</p>
<p>Gymnastics - here it’s a club sport (USAG JO program), but in states where it’s in the high school or where less competative options are available, maybe its quite common</p>
<p>I’ve haven’t seen martial arts listed too many times on CC</p>
<p>Haven’t seen much garden variety high school cheerleading or dance teams either</p>
<p>And oddly enough, darn little church work (that surprises me) - teaching Sunday/Bible school, playing in the bell chior or church youth band. My own kids serve as volunteer accompanyists for the multicultural service.</p>
<p>I don’t perceive this to be an unusual EC, but it seems like very few guys who apply to Ivies play the dangerous sports (Football, Hockey, Wrestling, LaX) and then back that up with high grades and scores. People make a big deal out of varsity sports, but I don’t think sports like Tennis, Soccer, Swimming and even Basketball to some extent are that impressive, as they tend to be sports smarter people gravitate to.</p>
<p>I thought a cool idea has always been school board as a student representative.</p>
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<p>Haha… Now that I think about it, this is so true… And as you also said, most of the people I know who play football/lax/wrestling aren’t the brightest in the bunch. In fact, I can only think of one off the top of my head…</p>
<p>Rare EC? Cure cancer. Good luck!</p>
<p>But really… I’m an Asian who plays tennis, lax (not very well), the violin, and is interested in the math/science fields as well as French (but again, not as good as the others). Welcome college rejections…</p>
<p>Often times my EC of Archery gets surprised inquiries. I often get “So you shoot with sticks and strings?”. No good sir we’ve moved past that into the technological age. But it’s one of those things that makes me different. Lots of colleges have an archery club and although they don’t recruit it stands out.</p>
<p>Personally I just loved reading medieval fantasies and since 2-handed sword fighting was out of the picture Archery was my only option.</p>
<p>I sent you a PM.
I am so not Asian. lol</p>
<p>LOL the typical asian, eh? (no, not talking about you lebron, just from what I perceive from the thread as whole)</p>
<p>Actually, although my ethnicity is Asian, I tried to see parts of me that define who I really am-apart from the ‘stereotypic’ Asian…</p>
<p>Yes- I play both the piano and violin, but I suck at tennis and not science/math-savvy.
When I found out that schools in my country does not offer any sports at all, I knew my EC would begin to differ from the typical ECs I could find on ‘chance me’ threads.
Because I get out of school at 9PM, I tried to find whatever’s available within my school :)</p>
<p>BTW, I used to scoop hundreds of servings of rice everyday.(cafeteria job)</p>
<p>If you are excellent in any EC, you can stand out. For sports, for instance, being “excellent” means being state ranked</p>
<p>One’s depth of involvement and one’s achievements in it are what’s important, not the nature of the EC itself.</p>