<p>I know EC's aren't the only part of the application, but I would like to know if I'm competitive enough or should be doing more. I have a 3.3 unweighted average and I'm very satisfied with my SAT score. However, when I see those posts on CC with people with EC lists miles long, I'm starting to wonder. How much time do people REALLY even spend on those clubs? Key club, French club, Spanish club, Amnesty, Students for Cancer Awareness etc etc...</p>
<p>I get that CC attracts the best and brightest so overachievers are common here, but I'm applying to many of the same schools that CC'ers are applying to (Top 20s).</p>
<p>My EC's are:
A couple meaningless sports with minor awards/JV level - 3 seasons (quit when other EC's demanded my attention)
Varsity Debate - 3 years, several awards and championship/national competitions
Yearbook Editor - 2 years
Varsity Science Team- multiple state finishes in several events</p>
<p>Several awards for national/state humanities and science competitions.</p>
<p>Yeah, that looks really really short, but it all takes so much time! I don't get how people can be in all these clubs, hold leadership positions, and still have time left for schoolwork!</p>
<p>Should I possibly throw a few clubs in there? I know padding is bad, but I think I could get devoted, too which won't make it padding? </p>
<p>(Just in case you suggest that I cut down for whatever reason to boost that 3.3... excluding freshman year my GPA is 3.8 unweighted, and I'm happy with that.)</p>
<p>I think the question is just... what makes me competitive enough?</p>
<p>Thank you for any pieces of wisdom that you might be able to impart on me!</p>
<p>I never did MUN, science olympiad, math league or any of that stuffs while EVERYONE in my school’s doing those
well I got into an amazing school ^.^</p>
<p>Varsity Debate - 3 years, several awards and championship/national competitions</p>
<p>Many applicants with mile-long extracurricular lists never accomplish anything as impressive as that. I don’t think you need to take up any more activities to pad your resume, especially since you’re a junior already.</p>
<p>PaperChaserPop - Wow, thanks for the link! It’s the perfect thread for me O_O. I wish I knew this existed earlier.</p>
<p>I haven’t done anything beyond the required hours at HS - never knew when to do it! Our science practices also meet on Saturdays, and I often spend my weekends at debate tournaments. Any other time during the weekend is devoted to school for me (I do go out with friends on Friday nights, though… but I can’t imagine giving that up! I think it’s the only thing keeping me sane since it’s basically the only time I get to really have fun!)</p>
<p>Should I be forcing time for it? Maybe a .1 drop in GPA wouldn’t be a bad tradeoff if I spent some of my school time for service?</p>
<p>Thanks for your advice, it’s appreciated! I really do love all the EC’s that I’m in. The awards that I get from doing them really is a nice bonus :). </p>
<p>Waitatshu - Plainsboro! House! :D. Great to hear that, congratulations! I’m going to assume that you had impressive grades and a fantastic essay? It’s a bit hard for me to imagine barely any EC’s and getting into ivies otherwise. Maybe I’m wrong?</p>
<p>haha thank you! well I have decent grades, lol but a fantastic essay? idk it’s prolly very personal but it’s definitely not professional since im a former ESL</p>
<p>well you do need ECs, but don’t blindly choose the “nerdy” ones because you want to impress colleges~</p>
<p>Do the ECs that you ENJOY doing!!! I cannot stress this enough!! Do not join ECs because you think colleges will look favorably upon it. Unless you join a club and find that you really like doing it, drop it quickly and keep on looking for something you are really passionate ( overused in admission process … I know) or enthusiastic about. </p>
<p>Assuming you haven’t applied yet since you are asking this question, do not limit yourself to the target of getting into a top 20 school. Really research and visit these schools to determine if you really want to go to a specific school, NOT because it is in the top 20. </p>
<p>Just be active in your community, you don’t have to have a mile long resume. There are different students and some are the ones who only have one main EC like competitive ice skating or chess but spend every waking moment practicing or thinking about it.</p>
<p>Northstarmom & amarkov - no amount of national awards or good SAT scores would get me seriously considered? :(. What should I be realistically aiming for, then? Top 40? 80? Could you name some examples of school that would be matches (any school) so I know what kind of caliber I should be looking at?</p>
<p>I really do have quite a few really good awards. Do none of that really matter with my GPA? :/. Did freshman year ruin chances of a really good college?</p>
<p>Collegestress16 - all of the schools I absolutely love/researched are in the Top 20 (some just outside). I never really took into account the whole one main EC but huge focus thing. Thanks for pointing that out to me!</p>
<p>You really don’t need that many ECs. It’s better to have a few you’re focused on. Of course, if you can handle being focused on many, that’s good, but often just one EC to which someone is committed can take up so many hours that it prevents participation if other ECs. Deep but shallow is fine. Honestly, even though I have some smaller ECs, I didn’t even feel like I needed to put them in my application, I didn’t talk about them in interviews, and I didn’t write about them in my essays. I really only mentioned two, ballet and teaching/tutoring, in depth because they’re the most important to me.</p>
<p>Top 20 with a 3.3 is a very big reach. I don’t think anyone’s saying that you don’t have a shot. Northstarmom, who is quite knowledgeable about admissions, has mentioned a few times that around a 3.0 and an 1800 SAT is all that many top schools believe you would need to be able to pass their classes. Scores under that are not considered as much because it would be unfair, to both the student and to other applicants, to admit a student who would do badly. You’ll be considered, but your chances aren’t that great. I’m sure there are other schools without the Top 20 that you can get to know and learn to love.
You should be looking at schools’ 25-75% SAT score ranges. Pretty much all of them are available on the College Board website. Average GPA or the middle range is usually found on the CB pages as well. If you want some CC help with college search and selection or chances, check out the subfora: [What</a> Are My Chances? - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/]What”>Chance Me / Match Me! - College Confidential Forums) & [College</a> Search & Selection - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/]College”>College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums).</p>
<p>Seems like this topic is turning into a “chances” thing than “should I focus on more ECs” now. I guess my question is answered but I’d still like to figure out a few things :/.</p>
<p>Millancad - Hm, all right, I can see what you mean. Does the SAT compensate for the GPA, though? I honestly don’t want to brag, but mine is near perfect score and better than the 25-75% for many colleges. Or does the GPA far overshadow SATs?</p>
<p>Also, just a general question. Isn’t a 3.3 = B+? Even assuming that I consistently got the same grades every year, a B+ in every subject, honors or AP, in my opinion was still pretty good, so I thought. </p>
<p>Or does the unweighted GPA far overshadow a weighted GPA, too? We don’t weight GPAs here, but I know that colleges recalculate weighted GPAs. So if I’ve always taken honors/AP, then the 3.3 could turn into a 4.0+ weighted (esp combined with a 3.8 UW, full AP/honors load)? </p>
<p>Are the Top 20’s really filled with kids who got straight A’s every year? I was under the impression that straight A kids were really rare. I never realized that a 3.3/B+ would make Top 20 a huge stretch! I think I hoped that my EC’s would “compensate.”</p>
<p>Am I misinformed? Clearly I need to do way more college research o_O</p>
<p>This really is a lot of questions - I truly do appreciate you for reading it (hopefully). I’m even cool with it if you don’t respond to any specific and give me a simple summary :). (No expectations, of course)</p>
<p>Edit: I’ve read through the “3.6 and applying Top 20” thread, but then it goes on about “positioning yourself” and focusing on geographic diversity but eh I’m your classic Northeast nice rich school kind of kid… I don’t think I could use geographic diversity to my advantage o_o.</p>
<p>You’d be competing with students from excellent schools and with tough curricula who have with sky high unweighted gpas, sky high SATs plus state and national-level ECs.</p>
<p>Just take a look at the boards here for top 20 schools and see the stats and ECs of students who were accepted last year.</p>
<p>Grim: You seem to be saying that freshman year ruined your GPA. Many excellent colleges – Stanford and the UC schools come to mind, but there are many more – don’t count your freshman year grades in your GPA! Particularly if your GPA is a lot better without your freshman grades, you might want to recalculate your GPA without freshman year, see where you stand in terms of those schools’ admitted students statistics, and think about whether any of those schools is right for you.</p>
<p>A lot of colleges don’t calculate freshman grades, but they have no way of recalculating your rank, so consider that. Also, your UW GPA is most important–weighted GPA will tell them how challenging your courseload is, but remember that the majority of applicants to top schools have straight A’s or near straight A’s (or come from a well-known prep school known for its rigor) and a challenging curriculum. You should focus on tangible statistics–raising your GPA, SATs/SAT IIs–before focusing on ECs. Likely, you won’t be a particularly strong candidate for Top 20 schools (I’m sorry if that sounds harsh–it’s exam week), and its really only these schools that use ECs (as they have to have some way of carving a diverse, passionate class out of thousands of statistically qualified applicants).</p>
<p>I think your ECs look great. And Debate is a great EC to have, especially since you had done really well in it! Just be sure to highlight your accomplishments in your Ecs in your essays and in as many ways as possible…perhaps even in an interview.</p>