<p>I've read people's posts on this site saying that a person's extra-curricular activities are too "cookie-cutter" and not unique enough. How do you qualify an EC as "cookie-cutter?"</p>
<p>I’d assume stuff like key club, national honor society, speech/debate, JSA? Stuff that people flock to do because they hear it “looks good.” Of course, there are people who actually enjoy doing these things and it shows on their application, but there’s just so many people in other schools who do the same club that it doesn’t exactly make you look unique.</p>
<p>Obviously this is a stereotype, but I’ve seen a bunch of Asian applicants on CC with some combination of debate, robotics, math/sci competition, racquet sport, and orchestra. Cookie cutter means that your activities look just the same as a bunch of other people’s, so much so that you couldn’t identify someone by the things they did. Obviously, this is not a problem if you show character and personality and excel at what you do. In other words, cookie cutter applicants are very ordinary and unremarkable and give few reasons for top schools to admit them over the thousands of other viable applicants.</p>
<p>So, it’s fine to participate in more popular EC’s as long as you’re actually interested and “passionate” (a word I feel is used too often around here) about them? Would a list of regular activities be significantly spiced up by one that’s a little out of the ordinary? For example, yes, maybe there are a lot of Asians who enter math and science competitions, but how many are also in the marching band and play water polo?</p>
<p>Things like NHS, key club, science olympiad, varsity sports, speech/debate, yearbook. All of them are good activities, but you need to demonstrate initiative, rather than just being a member.</p>
<p>On the flip side,I wouldn’t try too hard to look so unique as to just look kind of scatterbrained. Be sure that whatever you do, you are doing for your own enjoyment more than anything or else you really aren’t getting the full experience.</p>
<p>People hate on key club a lot, and in a lot of respects it deserves criticism. It’s literally just a bunch of Asian kids messing around… I would know because I was VP my senior year. Of course, I was really passionate about <em>real</em> community service, and it was on my own initiative that I got involved with a program that goes out on the streets of seattle to reach out and provide for the homeless, and I think my common app essay on that ended up helping a good deal. In general, nothing EC-wise is “off-limits” as long as you truly are enthusiastic about what you do and you leave a personal stamp.</p>
<p>Yeah, the Key Club at my school doesn’t really get much done. The officers try, and I’m a member and I try to go to all the events I can, but the problem I have with it is that it’s a lot of one-time events. I’d rather it be a recurring thing with one or two causes, versus just 3 hours here helping wave signs, 4 here at the pet shelter event, etc. They’re trying to focus it on people with mental disabilities this year though, so we’ll see how that goes.</p>
<p>I don’t really think that any extra-curricular is cookie-cutter", it all depends on the passion a person puts into and how involved they are.</p>
<p>An application can come across as “cookie-cutter” not necessarily because of the ECs it consists of, but because of the reasoning for a student’s participation or how it comes across on paper - as extra padding.</p>
<p>My only significant EC in high school was Track and Field. It is neither a unique EC, nor lackluster in the eyes of an admissions officer. Although I did well in the sport, I wasn’t recruited by the college I’m attending, which says a lot. Throughout the admissions process, I simply wrote and talked about what it meant to me, which I now imagine did not come across as “cookie-cutter.” And that made all the difference</p>
<p>Yeah, I also love photography but alas, it doesn’t make for a very stable profession. I’m ok with it being just a side hobby. </p>
<p>Wish me luck. Im going to change my schedule tomorrow for the third and hopefully last time! I wasn’t aware that marching band doesnt count for art and pe as I heard it did, so now I have to go rearrange everything to try to fit all of my prerequisites into one schedule. Why can’t there just be more time?!!?</p>
<p>Colleges can’t throw a rock without hitting an Asian/white who’s a varsity tennis player, plays in orchestra, is in NHS and Key Club, and is in debate. These EC’s aren’t necessarily bad, but they are so common place that they don’t really stand out unless you’re jaw-droppingly outstanding at these activities (like, I mean really good - like nationally ranked or better). If you are one of these people, you pretty much need to have some almost perfect grades and test scores because they definitely aren’t getting priority over anyone else.</p>
<p>Nothing wrong with “cookie-cutter” EC’s, but they just don’t stand out.</p>
<p>I had a few cookie-cutter EC’s – including orchestra and vice-president of NHS. I listed these last on my college applications.</p>
<p>The ones I listed first were more relevant to my major and hobbies – math team (qualified to several national competitions, including USAMO), FIRST Robotics, and a NASPA-sanctioned Scrabble club that I’ve been a member of since 7th grade. These ones were the ones I prioritized, and listed above my “cookie-cutter” EC’s.</p>
<p>It’s cookie cutter if you are joining the EC just to put it on your college application. While I know equivalent clubs at other schools can be a joke, it might be a serious worthwhile thing at your school. Don’t avoid an EC because it’s “cookie cutter”. Choose what you are interested in and you may even find yourself getting a unique experience from a so-call “cookie cutter” EC that would make an excellent essay.</p>
<p>Lol does those EC’s sound okay /: ?</p>
<p>Japanime Club >Co-president
MCC (Multi-cultural Club) >Vice
Interact club> Secretary
Key Club> Event Manager
CSF (the club tutors and college visits)
Online Peer Counselor on “On your mind.net”</p>
<p>Common LOL
Tennis
Piano</p>
<p>hmm maybe a job in ichi ban kan or hollister once senior year starts.</p>
<p>Sigh I wish I was in competitions and stuff like that and trying to find a killer internship. >_></p>
<p>Why is debate a cookie cutter EC? I do policy debate and made states. It wasn’t easy. You have to research international and domestic affairs and make a case out of it. I don’t see many people on the results thread doing debate. Is it really that common or does it matter from event to event? Along the same note, what do you guys think of model congress?</p>
<p>Sent from my SPH-D710 using CC</p>
<p>^^ “cookie cutter” isn’t necessarily a “bad” EC. It’s closer to band-wagoning. Parents/students see good speakers / school politicians going to good colleges, so they decide it’s great to copy their ways. And when they “force” their EC, it’d be natural that their ECs would either be not very impressive depth-wise or, in the case of smart students, show little passion and sincerity when reflected by essays.</p>
<p>I don’t think debate is inherently a bad or “cookie cutter” EC. it is only when someone doesn’t have any genuine interest for it</p>
<p>Debate can actually be very impressive if you are genuinely interested and have considerable skill. If you do it for 3-4 years, the list of awards can grow pretty long. The only thing to remember is that you get as much from debate as you put in, even if you are a naturally gifted speaker,</p>
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<p>Shouldn’t that be “plays piano or violin”?</p>