<p>Is it necessary to be good or have won awards for a certain extra curricular?</p>
<p>For example, I've run track every year of high school, both indoor and outdoor seasons. I was on JV my frosh-soph years and am now on varsity. However, I'm only your average athlete. I haven't won any major awards, or gone to state/nationals, etc. I don't normally win races either. </p>
<p>So does the fact that I'm not a stellar athlete matter? Or is it enough for colleges (even the super competitive ones like Ivies) that I've stuck to track the entirety of my high school career? </p>
<p>This question can be applied to anything really (music, art, etc)</p>
<p>It definitely doesn’t hurt to do well, but based on what I can tell, as long as you have a real passion for something, colleges love to hear about it. For instance, I love Academic team competitions, but I’m not that amazing at them. But I know that if I convey my passion, it’s something that they’ll love to see: the adcoms have told me this themselves. I’m sure it’s the same with you.</p>
<p>As long as you can show you are dedicated, you’ll be fine. I guess an achievement made right there is that you went from JV to varsity! After all, many students I know give up a sport after sophomore year. There are also many more that don’t even participate in any athletics during their high school career.</p>
<p>I luuuuuuurve music. I’ve played guitar and drums for many years now and I’ve performed at a number of concerts, but I’ve never been given the opportunity to participate in a competition - in fact there are very few competitions around where I live, at least none that I know of. The biggest “competition” I have won is my school talent show, but that’s barely a competition :/</p>
<p>I’m going to talk to my teachers about competitions and more places to perform, because my drum teacher in particular performs all over the world and I’d love to get advice from him…</p>
<p>The overwhelming majority of colleges do not – or barely factor – ECs for admission. Instead, admission is based on your stats and curriculum and (in the case of public universities) your state of residence. Of course, recruited athletes are in their own category, and are highly sought after. Similarly, if you’re applying as a music or theater major at colleges that have competitive programs in those fields, your related ECs could be very important.</p>
<p>However, for most people, at most their ECs may give them consideration for merit aid – if the college offers it.</p>
<p>The colleges that do factor nonathletic ECs most in admission are places like HPYS, which have such a overabundance of high stat applicants that the colleges can afford to pick and choose to create a well rounded class.</p>
<p>so you’re saying that outside of the Ivy league and other really competitive schools that ecs aren’t really factored into admissions? That seems to run contrary to everything I’ve read (although a lot of what I’ve read has involved HYPS type schools)</p>