<p>
</p>
<p>They aren’t designing recipe’s. They may be designing the plant or the processing of large-scale reactions.</p>
<p>This thread is giving me hope for my daughter, who is very academically driven but whose only EC was soccer. She dropped out of band before HS and turned up her nose at every club or activity I suggested. Then out of nowhere… bellydancing? One year in and she is performing in “haflas” (dance showcases) for charity and practicing on her own for hours. Making a mental note to post in two years to advise if this came up in her interviews. But I believe on her apps it will need to be referred to as “Egyptian and Turkish folk-dancing”. Also the gap year could prove interesting.</p>
<p>My daughter competed in modern pentathlon, an Olympic sport, which consists of running, swimming, fencing, air pistol shooting, and show jumping (on a horse). It certainly taught her about time management!</p>
<p>My son is also a hunter, outdoorsman and an amateur ornithologist. It took him a long time to find what he loved to do. Some kids may not have years of experience doing something because it takes a while to figure out what “it” is.</p>
<p>Among other ECs, my son was a semi-professional “gamer”. While I’m sure this conjures up images of a long-haired kid who sat around the house playing computer games all day, he was nothing of the sort. He competed nationally, internationally and started his own online business to teach others his craft.</p>
<p>He’s now using his tournament winnings to fund his Cornell business education. </p>
<p>My advice is -your kid can particpate in any EC as long as it shows passion and commitment.</p>
<p>My daughter participated in Destination Imagination (problem-solving team) for six years as a team member and one year (senior year) as an appraiser. Her teams made it to the national tournament three times. It was great for essays.</p>
<p>She also rowed crew, played the oboe, and studied different languages through summer programs, so I think she looked kind of different on paper.</p>
<p>You don’t hear much about stamp or coin collecting as hobbies / ECs these days. Too passive?</p>
<p>Not stamp collecting, but similar–D2 has a high school friend who had a successful business buying and selling old postcards, maps, labels, and local newspapers. Everything she collected and sold was from New England, primarily Massachusetts. She’d go to flea markets and all sorts of places to look for these things. Her sales were primarily on Ebay and she’s an expert on Ebay. I know lots of adults who would go to her with questions.</p>
<p>It all started when she had to do research for an American history course in 8th grade. Her business took up most of her free time and she considered it her main EC. She also worked on the high school year book. She went to top-20 LAC and graduated from there this year.</p>
<p>D1 collected stamps as a hobby but she did not list it as one her ECs. Her grandmother has a big stamp collection that’s why.</p>
<p>Not to detract from this thread, but do you think colleges would look down on kids who do something which is on the ‘beaten path’, what most kids do? Because I’ve been thinking about this a lot after reading Cal Newport’s book, How to be a HS Superstar that encourages randomness and innovation and I kind of think that isn’t there so much you can do with math/science?</p>
<p>How can you go beyond a research paper or volunteering or competitions? You can’t start a business using the field of science I’m interested in (molecular bio/biochem/microbiology) unless you have at the very least a PhD. </p>
<p>Am I wrong and simply uncreative enough? </p>
<p>Haha, the failed simulation effect indeed…</p>
<p>The ideas on here are great. I never thought about suggesting to my daughter to include EC’s on her resume that didn’t have to do with academics or her major directly. </p>
<p>My daughter had lots of activities from High School (key club, southeastern guide dogs, horseback riding, Girl Scout Silver award) but after being accepted into Honors College she devoted almost all of her time to studying. How far back is too far to list these EC’s? Now that she’s graduated anything that would make her resume stand out would be great.</p>
<p>ShanesDad - I think that now would be the time for your D to look back on her EC’s, decide if any would still be attractive to her, and then get involved on a volunteer basis with those that still hold interest. I am sure that organizations such as the Girl Scouts would welcome her interest, and they likely have both volunteer and paid positions. Prior interest and involvement can only be an advantage for her, and just getting out and among people might keep her from becoming depressed and isolated.</p>