<p>A simple question about ECs:
What types of ECs do colleges respect/like the most? What ECs are most impressive?</p>
<p>Different types more specifically:
1. Clubs - leadership positions in clubs seem to be very common in the US, but how impressive do colleges think they are? I am wondering mostly because clubs in my country (Sweden) are rare; schools often have no clubs at all.
2. Running a company - also what position in the company, what type of company. Ex: founder and CEO at an ad agency with two other co-workers.
3. National/international competitions - I'm wondering mostly about competitions in entrepreneurship and business.
4. Cultural experiences - like a cultural trip to India/Africa. Perhaps volunteering.</p>
<p>They are impressed with commitment and passion demonstrated. They don’t care what the activity is, they care about how successful you have been with it.</p>
<p>Cultural trips which you pay high prices for do not impress adcoms–those are just symbols of your parents’ wealth.</p>
<p>fauve said it best. Do what you’re passionate about, whether that’s underwater basket weaving or sports or whatever. Don’t pursue specific ECs just because you think they will look good to adcoms. They most likely won’t fall for it. And I wouldn’t completely discount cultural trips. I am incredibly passionate about traveling and took a trip to Africa last summer. It was an amazing experience and I learned so much about myself and about another culture. However, I was careful to not overemphasize it in my application.</p>
<p>Most colleges factor ECs at most into merit aid consideration. Most colleges make their decisions overwhelmingly on one’s stats. The few that factor ECs in general are the top colleges that can afford to use ECs to pick and choose from among their overabundance of high stat applicants. For such colleges, the ECs that matter are the ones in which a student has achieved at a high level or has had a major impact in (such as organizing a highly successful fundraiser for a charity).</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses!
But I’d like to know further about running a company. Redroses - what do you mean that most high school students can’t run a company seriously? If you can run a company, how can you proove this?
Ex. My company came second inte the category “Best Company” in a national competition in Young Entreprises. (over 5000 other companies competed). Also, I took the bronze medal in a national competition in business simulation (the top 200 young entrepreneurs are headhunted for a place in the competition).</p>