<p>I have few ECs and I am wondering if I should work towards getting more.</p>
<p>I am a horseback rider (and home-schooled) and I spend the majority of my time at the barn. I work all day on weekends feeding and schooling horses. Wednesdays and Fridays I work as a working student (a position I've held for 7 years). I am at the barn riding my horse every afternoon. The past 4 summers I have been a camp councilor.</p>
<p>All other time is spent either at the local CC taking classes or doing school work or studying.</p>
<p>I also have a lot of church volunteer work - cleaning up yards, feeding at a soup kitchen, fundraisers but all are done with my youth group. Also I was youth council VP for two years but that is my only "authority" position that I've held.</p>
<p>I am trying to find ways to fit in more volunteer work but it is very difficult to find the time. I am working on getting a volunteer position at my vet's clinic for this summer but I still will be doing summer camp too.</p>
<p>Any ideas on how this will effect my application? I've heard that dedication to one thing can be thought of as a good thing but I am not sure....</p>
<p>I think you have a pretty good range of ECs…it sounds like the things you do you’re pretty passionate about. The important thing is making sure that comes across in your application; in other words, do more than just a simple list of your activities. I think you’ll be in good shape.</p>
<p>Sorry, but I have to disagree. While your ec’s show a passion for a personal interest, where are your leadership positions? I think that while your volunteer work looks good you need more academic ec’s. It’ll be hard for you since you lack a school community but there are usually tons of local academic related competitions that you can enter. Have you looked a summer programs? One summer I went to Japan on a foriegn exchange program scholarship. Another year I took some classes at a local U., went to an math program at Howard U., and participated in a Diversity camp at another local U. It’s all about putting in the time to research because my school did not provide me with any of these oppurtunities, I had to search them out myself.</p>
<p>Where do you intend to apply? It’s only a relatively small group of colleges – in general the most competitive ones like HPYS – that factor ECs into admission. That’s because those colleges have far more high stat applicants than they have space for. The rest of colleges, choose students overwhelmingly on the basis of stats and (in the case of public universities) state of residence. </p>
<p>Also, your ECs are fine. The reflect dedication, passion, responsibility and leadership (camp counselor). Taking care of horses is a big responsibility, far more than the responsibilities that most students have who have positions in school clubs.</p>
<p>I agree with Northstarmom. Showing a continued passion in a few EC’s is more important IMO than having a “bunch of stuff” on your app to fluff it up. Play up your passion on your application and you should be fine. Remember to apply broadly.</p>