Should uMICH (and other colleges) consider EC's for admission?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

<p>First off, I want to state what this is not. This is not an “EC’s should not count because I did not get into uMich” discussion. I will be attending Michigan in the fall. I can understand both sides of this coin.</p>

<p>In favor
-It’s great that students help out in the community and volunteer
- Students can develop social skills, work skills, teamwork, etc. that are not necessarily learned in the classroom
-Since there are a variety of extracurricular activities, finding one you enjoy should not be a problem
- It’s much more impressive to get great grades while doing a lot outside of the classroom than to be a book worm all day
-Since there are too many students with good grades, EC’s are another useful admission tool
-Students can participate in the same/similar EC’s at college and strengthen the community
-EC can be more applicable to you later on in life. For instance, being a tutor can go along way. Getting A’s in classes consisting of easy busy work (i.e. copying definitions out of the book) probably won’t apply to your job in life</p>

<p>Against
-My main point concerns verification. How can Michigan (or any common app school) prove that you actually did any of those activities? It would be too time consuming for them to call around to verify the EC’s of 30,000+ applicants. UMICH does not even ask for a signature or reference information. I doubt they would buy everything (ex. I worked on Mars and discovered new life forms). Nonetheless, it is very easy for someone to make up EC’s.
-Not everyone has the same opportunities. Some school/communities offer a lot more EC’s than others. I have even heard of schools that have EC’s count as class time (i.e. a class dedicated to Quiz Bowl)
-Certain EC’s are not always what they appear to be. For instance, I assume most colleges think very highly of Honors societies (i.e. NHS, SHS, FHS, etc.) They might think it is very hard to get into these societies. At my school, admission into SHS is a piece of cake.<br>
-What do sports and/or activities unrelated to your major have to do with success in college and contribution to the community?
-A lot of people volunteer for the wrong reasons. They are only volunteering in order to glorify their application
-People end up over committing and do not give enough attention to any of the activities. Your total time concerning EC’s could be less than the amount of time a person spends on doing only one EC. However, the college will see your multiple EC’s to more impressive than committed one by an individual.</p>

<p>I don’t know how much uMich cares about EC’s. On my app, I put down 5 ECs.</p>

<p>Quiz Bowl (3 years, about 30 weeks)
Math Help Room (3 years, about 10 weeks)
Tutoring program (2 years, about 30 weeks)
Soccer Ref (1 year, about 10 weeks)
Volunteer work in my community (4 years, about 10 weeks)</p>

<p>Note: Please keep in mind I am making generalizations. I know there are people who volunteer in the community because it is the right thing to do and I applaud you for that. Also, there are schools that have very devoted kids in honors societies, but some do more work than others.</p>

2

<p>^
do you think your essay helped show the admissions people that you would be a good student a mich, or do you just think michigan put a lot of weight into your scores and grades?</p>

3

<p>Against
“-My main point concerns verification. How can Michigan (or any common app school) prove that you actually did any of those activities? It would be too time consuming for them to call around to verify the EC’s of 30,000+ applicants. UMICH does not even ask for a signature or reference information. I doubt they would buy everything (ex. I worked on Mars and discovered new life forms). Nonetheless, it is very easy for someone to make up EC’s.”</p>

<p>I would assume that people would be ethical enough to not lie about what they have and haven’t done. I know people who did lie to get into college (I know one kid that completely made up leadership positions and ECs and ended up getting into UVA because of it), and I have absolutely no respect for that person and I know that even though he is attending a top college, his behavior will catch up with him eventually. I would say that the vast majority is very honest on their college applications. Everyone schmoozes a little bit and in their write ups make something sound just a little more impressive then it actually is, but I would say for the most part people are very honest.</p>

<p>-“Not everyone has the same opportunities. Some school/communities offer a lot more EC’s than others. I have even heard of schools that have EC’s count as class time (i.e. a class dedicated to Quiz Bowl)”</p>

<p>College Admissions recognize this, it is in the high school profile (how many clubs/teams a school has is ALWAYS in their profile)</p>

<p>-"Certain EC’s are not always what they appear to be. For instance, I assume most colleges think very highly of Honors societies (i.e. NHS, SHS, FHS, etc.) They might think it is very hard to get into these societies. At my school, admission into SHS is a piece of cake. "</p>

<p>Once again this is true, but if you’re talking about a top school like UM, most of the applicants will be members of and possibly in leadership positions in the vast array of honor societies. It is my opinion that college admissions, and especcially UM look for something that makes an applicant different (unique) from everyone else (I’ll go into this more later).</p>

<p>-“What do sports and/or activities unrelated to your major have to do with success in college and contribution to the community?”</p>

<p>If someone volunteers to pick up trash from the side of the highway, or tutor kids, who cares if they end up being an engineering major that is completely unrelated? They still gave their part to the community, cleaned up the highway, helped the child understand long division, etc. etc. Even if he or she was just doing it for accolades, it STILL benefits the community in a meaningful way.</p>

<p>-“A lot of people volunteer for the wrong reasons. They are only volunteering in order to glorify their application”</p>

<p>Covered above.</p>

<p>“-People end up over committing and do not give enough attention to any of the activities. Your total time concerning EC’s could be less than the amount of time a person spends on doing only one EC. However, the college will see your multiple EC’s to more impressive than committed one by an individual.”</p>

<p>From what I have seen in the last year, the types of people who get into the best colleges are the ones who were very very actively involved in 2/3 activities and lighly involved in an additional 2/3. Those who were in 9 clubs and never contributed anything to the clubs were routinely denied from the top college while those who were more heavily involved in just a few were accepted, even with worse grades/SATs. </p>

<p>I don’t know why you would even post something like this. EC’s are a great way for a young high school student to explore what he or she is interested in, make friends, do something productive after school instead of doing something stupid or wasteful. If someone is very successful in debate or a state-champion football player, he or she should DEFINITELY be rewarded for the hours of work that he or she put into being successful. Especially in the college admissions process where numbers are so important. As everyone knows, people can be born with the ability to do very well on standardized tests and get stellar grades. But those of us who are not that lucky have to fill the void with something that can be accomplished by anyone with enough effort, a strong list of ECs and awards to go along with it. </p>

<p>Michigan’s motto “The Michigan Difference” would mean nothing if they ignored ECs altogether and viewed people by the numbers they have rather then the unique things they’ve done to truly make a difference.</p>

4

<p>It really depends on what situation it is. If the extracurriculars are, at the end of the day, the deal-maker, then I would imagine that the University would look into them.</p>

5

<p>If where you were born, your race and your financial situation matter, ECs might as well.</p>

<p>I just joined some stuff because I felt like I needed it. You know, the regular NHS, Mu Alpha Theta, etc. I didn’t really care and admissions wasn’t that hard, but I felt it was necessary filler. Like NOT having those things would make me stick out in a bad way.</p>