The ECs they consider?

Applying to College
1

<p>When you are filling out forms for college etc and they ask for your extra-curricular/hobbies how many spots do they give?</p>

<p>Like do they only ask for 5 ECs and hobbies or 4 or as many as possible on a huge page etc.</p>

<p>The universities I am applying for if it matters is Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn (Wharton), Stanford, MIT and Columbia. I haven't decided on my matches and safeties yet. </p>

<p>Because I only have 5-6 ECs and some of these people on CC have like 20 which are all highly impressive! </p>

<p>So I guess I'm saying is do you only get to 'count your best 5 or 6'?</p>

<p>Because it logically suggests that if they only give you space for 5-6 ECs then doing 20 is unneccessary (obviously you should do them because you love them) in that those extra 14 don't give you any advantage over a 5-6 guy.</p>

<p>Thanks guys</p>

2

<p>You really don't have time to commit to more than 5 or so ECs full time (and that's a pretty big stretch.) You having 5 that you've shown commitment to and hopefully gotten a leadership position in at least a couple is going to be better than the next "20 filler EC" candidate. So I don't know if they'll let you put down 20, but if you do I'm pretty sure the people who decide if you get in or not are going to do a little eye roll when they see "X club- member, Y club- member, Z club- member, A club - member" instead of "X club, member, Y club - secretary, Z club - Vice President."</p>

3

<p>There's only room for 7 at most on the CommonApp. If you want to put in more, then you'd have to put it in the Additional Info section.</p>

4

<p>What else can you put on Additional Info instead of ECs?</p>

5

<p>Any other additional info you think is relevant. If you want to explain why you had a semester of bad grades I'd say that's where to put it.</p>

6

<p>I see, is it common to neglect the additonal info bit? Is it better for me to put in my weaker ECs there or leave it blank?</p>