<p>Does having an uncommon EC help my application? I've played table tennis competitively for about five years, and have won some events in both local and USA Table Tennis (national governing body for table tennis in the US) rated tournaments. Will this affect my chances differently than, say, having played tennis or ran track for the same amount of time and gotten equivalent awards? I hear colleges like to have a diverse class of students, so will this make me stand out a bit more?</p>
<p>i really doubt it. table tennis is kind of generic. on the upside u might be good at beer pong in college...</p>
<p>I wouldn't say table tennis is 'generic'; at least the way I play. This isn't 'have fun with your friends playing ping pong in the basement' - it's a sport where you're playing against other ranked players in a sanctioned tournament competing for money, prizes, and trophies. And I don't know a single person in my school (my class is around 400 kids, so around 1600 kids in my high school) who plays table tennis competitively.</p>
<p>Not that I'm ignoring your input; it's just I feel that your reasoning is misguided in this context. </p>
<p>Your thoughts?</p>
<p>Uncommon EC's are probably a little bit better than standard high school EC's such as MUN, Debate, Key Club, and others. Colleges want a diverse group of people in their school. </p>
<p>However, i don't feel Table Tennis is very uncommon. What counts is that you do what you like. Colleges want to see how you live your life. Unless your true interests involve doing bad things/video games, just be yourself.</p>
<p>Most colleges use ECs at most for merit aid consideration. The colleges that have such an overabundance of high stat applicants that the colleges can pick and choose from those to create a diverse, well rounded, student body that's active on campus and in the community are places like HPYS. If you have a national ranking in table tennis, that could help you at places like HPYS, which need students to participate in their hundreds of student-run ECs. Since HPYS get so many extraordinary applicants, usually to have one's EC be a tip factor, one has to be nationally or internationally ranked or have accomplished something else that truly stands out in their highly competitive pool.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. I will be applying to some more competitive schools (Tufts, Georgetown, Cornell, Hamilton, Dickinson, George Washington, to name some), so I guess this could give me a slight edge.</p>
<p>I think playing ping pong definitely makes you stick out and make admission officers go "interesting.." but since colleges don't (at least i think they don't) have competitive college league ping pong, it probably won't be the key to your admission. Still, it's an achievement nonetheless.</p>