<p>so i was wondering...everyone's always associated getting into harvard with doing something EXTRAORDINARY and out of the top. </p>
<p>i have amazing grades, scores, essays and recs.....i just had a question about the whole "need to have AMAZING ECS" thing. i have several other extracurriculars but in particular, i've been singing Indian carnatic music and dancing Indian classical "Bharatanatyam" since i was almost four yrs old. i sing 3 hours a day and dance two hours a day and i've participated and won numerous awards in tons of competitions (including national ones). will adcoms find that extraordinary/amazing/over of the top or do i need to have done something like travel to a third world country and start an advocacy program (i don't have anything great like that) ? should i even bother applying</p>
<p>no way are national awards good enough. you need to go to a 3rd world country and start an advocacy program for sure. you should probably also cure cancer or something along the way. and do it all before january so you can list it on your app.</p>
<p>You obviously suck, have no life, and have no chance of admission for any kind of college with that kind of EC. You might as well put, "I played video games" on your brag sheet. ;)</p>
<p>lol of course
i'm sure you know that singing/dancing for 5 hours a day (i don't even see how that is possible) and winning national awards in a unique activity is exactly what adcoms probably love to see.</p>
<p>Seriously- those guys are right. Walk around Harvard and ask anyone what their biggest EC was.</p>
<p>Maybe one in twenty will be world famous cellists, or Olympic athletes, or will have written for the New York Times... or whatever. Almost everyone has normal- though passionate- extracurriculars- they competed in a few national competitions, or were president of their school's yearbook, or are a third degree black belt in karate, or whatever. Your extracurriculars are certainly impressive enough.</p>