<p>Speech and Debate is my only EC. I do Lincoln Douglass value debate, humorous interpretation, and oratory. It's the only extra curricular I'm going to sticking with the rest of my high school career. I'll probably be doing junior statesmen of america and maybe Academic Decathlon next year but I won't be as dedicated to them as I am to S/D. Here's my question: Does speech and debate alone stand as a strong EC, or at least the way I'm doing it? Doing three events shows my passion for it and I feel as though it's the only one I should put on a college app, even though I won't, but just in case, does it seem strong alone?</p>
<p>S&D is a very strong extra-curricular. Like all ECs, however, you really have to show your passion for it through your application/essays. Have you won any state or national awards? Have you held any positions of leadership on the team?</p>
<p>I did Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, Declamation, Impromptu, and Duo Interpretation, all with a focus on debate, was captain of the team my junior year, and it was also my main EC. I considered S&D very important to my application as a whole. Of course, I ended up only applying to my state flagship, so I can’t tell you my results with colleges as a whole. Everything I’ve read, however, points to S&D (particularly debate) as an extremely potent EC.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I just joined this year (sophomore) so I have a lot of work to do before catching up. I’ve won insignificant awards, nothing on nat or state level but hopefully I will soon enough.</p>
<p>Speech and Debate is definitely a strong EC.</p>
<p>However, its effectivness vastly increases if you pick up state/national awards. Also, being team captain would help a lot.</p>
<p>By the way, I only joined as a sophomore and am in line to be captain. Of course, I also won first place at state debates my first year…</p>
<p>But good luck!</p>
<p>def do some other activities that go along with it…it’ll just bolster it</p>
<p>as above, awards and rigourous time commitments to s/d will shine</p>
<p>If you’re really good at those two and only focus on speech and debate for ECs, then I think those two will suffice. I mean, volunteer/tutor or something, but I know S&D take a LOT of time, and they’re considered one of the most rigorous ECs no matter what high school you go to.</p>
<p>I have a volunteering background so I guess they’d suffice. Thanks for the input guys, they’re really helping, btw, help me think of an oratory!</p>
<p>i’m a PFer who’s gone to nats for the past two years and i’ve broke to top 80 and 4th place team for PF in the state…this has opened alot of doors</p>
<p>good oratory-maybe dumpster diving…? its interesting</p>
<p>Just wondering–is Public Forum better than Classic? All I know is that they both vary in topics and PF is shorter.</p>
<p>Of course PF is better! (I’m a PFer.)</p>
<p>But really, I don’t think colleges care about the difference in format. Both are equally impressive, especially with national awards.</p>
<p>But in my state, Speech & Debate are highly competitive ECs. Also, I believe that my school has one of the top 10 Speech & Debate teams in the nation receiving a school of national excellence award as well. Plus, I find Debate very time consuming–making evidence cards, doing research, making cases etc. But isn’t PF less competitive than Classic?</p>
<p>Also, is congressional debate worth the time? I know for a fact that you can easily qualify for nationals.</p>
<p>It depends on if you’re good at it or not… if you have no awards then obviously it doesn’t mean much</p>
<p>It depends what’s offered in your school and sate. Here, public forum is the only competitive high school offering.</p>
<p>Yes, debate can be a lot of work: that’s why its a strong EC. Picking up awards will prove you actually do that work.</p>
<p>Would somebody please explain what PF and those other formats mean? I am a US citizen in HS in Bangladesh, and the main debate formats in the country are the World Schools Debate Championship form and the British Parliamentary form</p>
<p>Also, because debating takes up so much up time and because I love debating so much, its my only ECA. I have however taken my school team to 5 national championship finals and will most probably represent Bangladesh internationally in the 2010 WSDC ( World Schools Debate Championship) . What do you all think? Will these be enough?</p>
<p>nra,</p>
<p>Public Forum is a crossfire format: [Public</a> forum debate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_forum_debate]Public”>Public forum debate - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Don’t worry too much about your format. Just excel at whichever you chose.</p>
<p>You’re debate accomplishments sound very impressive, but I do think you should have one other significant EC. It shows you are passionate, but also have some degree of variety in your life.</p>
<p>I can speak from experience. Speech & Debate (LD, Ext) was my only significant school-year activity. Of course, I had a few clubs on the side and worked during the summer. Thankfully, I had gotten leadership positions within my team and had gotten to nationals by the time I applied (by the time RD decisions came out, I had also gotten far at the state level). I got in everywhere I applied (the only places CC’ers would likely care about is Georgetown and George Washington). It’s really not a problem provided you’re able to demonstrate passion. That often does require winning some awards at the state or national level. I would however, recommend that you diversify yourself during the summer, with some good jobs or internships.</p>
<p>I compete in LD and Domestic Extemp. Debate here in Alaska is fairly sad, but it is improving. </p>
<p>You don’t want to hear my opinion on PF. You really don’t.</p>
<p>Regarding Congressional, I think it is a fantastic event. I’m personally terrible at it (I don’t put in much time researching the bills), but it’s lots of fun and can be a really good debate.</p>
<p>@nra92: Worlds and BP are highly recognized forms of debate that are extremely popular both outside the US (as you are) and at the college level. Very few colleges have a strong emphasis on LD (sad), and when they do it is generally Policy LD. Bizarrely, the local school here in Anchorage (UAA) has an excellent Worlds team, and they host a high school tournament every year. I’m trying to get into it a bit more because this is likely where I will compete once I’m in college (I don’t like Policy).</p>
<p>@kameron, no imagination, and DCforMe : </p>
<p>Thanks for your advice.</p>
<p>@kameron and DCforMe:</p>
<p>I have some other ECAs - I tutor low income academically weak students of our school after hours three days a week along with a summer job. But I dont have documentation for this. will the colleges believe what I say just if I include in my app? Also, community service isnt really available. Also, given recent political instability - the Bangladesh border guards conspired and launched a mutiny against their officers at the annual gathering in the capital Dhaka - my parents aren’t really comfortable letting me go to the slums to teach beggar kids how to read and write - which would made an awesome and enlightening ECA. Will colleges take this into account?</p>
<p>@no imagination</p>
<p>I read up the Wiki article on PF and got to know it better. It is similar to a format in Bangladesh called T format debate.</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen in this thread, PF is really polarised. Either people hate it or they love it. You dont seem to like it too much - why is that?</p>