I’ve been playing the violin for 12 years, won awards in many state competitions/1 international competition, governor’s honors program for violin, all state orch, yada yada yada. I’ve also volunteered a lot using violin and am secretary of this club at school that provides chamber performaces to senior homes, volunteer playing at hospital for violin, played violin for church weekly, etc etc
If I’m applying to ivy’s, how much would this compare in like magnitude i guess to things like being president of a big club like FBLA/MUN/Beta/etc and winning state/national awards in those? Would they be the same in importance to college admissions officers or would one have an edge over another?
I think it is the same. The schools are looking for a way to quantify the EC. If you said you played the violin in your room for 12 years, I don’t think you’d get a lot of credit, but if you said you played in the school orchestra, took lessons, won awards if would be no different than doing it in the community.
This is what colleges want:
- Students who are interested in things other than just studies
- Students who can do well in academics, while also spending time on other things
- Students who will come to college and participate in various campus/community activities
So they will see someone who has worked hard at an EC, done very well at it, provided leadership for it and reached out to the community with it. This is exactly what they want.
It makes zero difference to colleges if your ECs are done within the school or outside of school.