<p>I had a question regarding how big of an EC this may be and how colleges would look at it. Colleges such as UPenn, Brown, some straight med programs (lol)...</p>
<p>I recently raised over $5000 for a foundation and was wondering how big of an EC it'd be and if it would help significantly in admissions</p>
<p>anyone…?</p>
<p>It’s probably not as different as you think. My guess is that they’d just think of it as a fairly typical (albeit impressive) community service/philanthropic activity. It’s not one of the big, common ECs like sports, classical music, debate, or academic teams, but it’s not like owning and operating a mobile Asian-fusion bakery.</p>
<p>I agree. 5k is a lot, so congrats! But a lot of people do that stuff. It will look good, and can only help your app.</p>
<p>@emberjed…do you own a mobile Asian-fusion bakery? If you do, I would eat at it everday. call me maybe.</p>
<p>They want EC’s that demonstrate a passion. Raising $5k one time does not demonstrate passion. Now, working for the foundation every year in HS, doing much more during the summer, and during that time raised $5k by going door to door soliciting donations, … now that says something.</p>
<p>I agree with Operadad - it’s not about the amount you raised (which is nice but not exceptional) but rather your commitment to the organization, or the cause, or the clientele who benefit from the foundation’s services. And commitment is something that involves more than a one time deal.</p>
<p>That doesn’t mean you didn’t do a wonderful job or accomplish something really meaningful. And we don’t know how you raised the money - that could be where the real ‘story’ is. So tell us more.</p>
<p>I see.</p>
<p>Well this was the first year I did it, but I led it as a volunteer opportunity for a club. The plan is to continue it every year but I guess I won’t get the “dedicated” stamp since I only did it once.</p>
<p>I will say that raising all this money was LOTS of work. We went door-to-door fundraising in at least 10-15 neighborhoods. We did it about 2-3 times a week for 2-3 hours each time depending on how early it’d get dark outside. Since I was the leader, I was present at every neighborhood. We also received some online donations since that was an option and held an event for people to come and have some snacks and socialize. I also had to go get a few sponsors because we decided to make T-shirts and that was another large expense.</p>
<p>I hope this clarifies some stuff.</p>
<p>I think you should definitely write about it somewhere. if you did it during your junior year (which it seems that you did), say you will do it during your senior year too. you must be part of the organization still. Say how much work it was.</p>
<p>The more hands-on you have been in other vol work, directly with those who benefit, the better this set of responsibilities will look. If it’s your one showpiece, I’d suggest adding something asap. Lots of kids confuse something they do for a club or as a hs activity with actual “service.” Good luck.</p>
<p>I did it during the summer before senior year (I’m currently a senior) and it ran into the year a little bit (it ended about 2 weeks ago)</p>
<p>I had to actually register to do the fundraiser myself. I set some pretty high goals so I knew I would need some help so I offered it as a community service type event (the club isn’t through HS it’s like community based)</p>
<p>i’m definitely putting it on apps and all lol</p>
<p>@lookingforward could you clarify the “one showpiece” thing, i didn’t really understand what you meant by that</p>
<p>lookingforward meant that if it’s the only major EC you’ve got, you’ll want to do more.</p>
<p>I’d hesitate to call this a compelling EC on its own, but it sounds like a significant, quantifiable accomplishment–which is something a lot of students don’t have. That said, a lot of your competitors will have done significant philanthropic work and much more, so don’t expect this to be all you need in terms of ECs.</p>
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<li>This does seem to represent effort and responsibilities- and to have taken place over a period of time (versus, eg, a walkathon.) What I meant: it shouldn’t be the only “community service” EC.<br></li>
</ul>
<p>Your work sounds like a challenge, but it will help if it’s part of a pattern of giving your time- whether that’s tutoring, working for this organization, vol’ing at a soup kitchen or with needy kids- see what pattern you are able to show. If this is the only “it,” think abut adding something now. Good luck.</p>
<p>Sounds like you learned some important organizational skills and had to motivate others. That’s good. No reason not to be proud of that and put it in the application. But I don’t think it will differentiate you from the many other kids who raise funds, volunteer their time and organize activities. I wouldn’t build your application around it, since I bet you have much more interesting things to talk about (unless you see your future as a fund-raiser and this is how you discovered your passion for it.)</p>
<p>Yeah I wasn’t going to build my application around it. I have many other things including research, shadowing, other volunteering etc etc. I was just trying gauge how strong of an EC was out of curiosity.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help guys</p>