<p>If you start REALLY trying to put together good, passion-based ECs that come together during the beginnning of junior year- does that look like your just a resume padder? or is too late like a month before you apply? b/c ECs would be in full swing by middle or end of junior year</p>
<p>Do what you enjoy. If you have a passion for something, go for it.</p>
<p>Stop thinking about how the minds of college admissions officers think, because they're tricky ;)</p>
<p>Ultimately high school is (or at least, is supposed to be) a time of exploration, where you discover a passion and run with it. (In fact, you don't even need to find a passion, so just make the most of it!).</p>
<p>And sure, you may look like a resume padder, but so what? If it's your passion, then go for it. Don't think of high school as a stepping stone into college, but as an experience in itself :)</p>
<p>nicely put tako</p>
<p>^ amen</p>
<p>(10 char...)</p>
<p>whatever, Cram as many Ecs, as you want. People always say passion, passion, passion, however if you only have 1 EC starting junior year then that really sucks...don't listen to others, do a couple things you enjoy and you will be fine.</p>
<p>The most important thing is honesty.</p>
<p>My D is hanging on to an older passion, currently, but has discovered a new activity this year that is a segment of her same general areas of interest. And there are times when she has chosen this new tangent over the older passion. It's really more a <em>discovery</em> of an additional feature of her talent. </p>
<p>This is what these years are supposed to be about, actually: discovery. In the rush & race to achieve that highschoolers are under these days, there's not enough time for that, so I encourage it when I see it.</p>
<p>There's no need for students to pretend they've done something for 12 yrs, when they haven't. You can explain it as something you're eager to do more with, develop more (if it's an activity that can continue), or as something that is a current focus that is so important that it's supplanting previous interests. </p>
<p>The college wants to get an accurate picture of who you are as a person, as opposed to just a collection of impersonal "qualifications." To be an honest & sincere person is also a way of standing out.</p>