<p>Im a sophmore and i have been taking classical guitar lessons ever since i can remeber, am part of a leadership program based in school, staff writer for school paper(just got rejected for editor spot due to senior privelages and other people with connections but am interviewing for the PR manager), row in jv 8 and varsity 4 6 days a week (7 if theres a regatta), volunteer at my meeting house and senoir center, active member in NHS/French Honors Society, and am lead guitar in Highschool Jazz Band. Next year i was looking to start an english literature club,join the debate, academic, and chess team out of interest. My grades are good with my wieghted gpa around a 4.3 and I am taking all the AP courses next year that are available except one (Honors physics instead of AP CHEM). I was looking for an english(or journalism)/foreign language major with a minor in music mayb. Do i have enough EC's as it is or should i pursue others?</p>
<p>IMO, I think the fact that you have too many ecs can hurt you very much. If you were to apply and they saw a long list of ecs with no particular focus, it would hurt you tremendously. Since you love english/journalism/languages, then pursue these only. Dont waste time and energy on others just to extend your list. Instead, make these stand out, and you can even write an essay about how u love english.</p>
<p>Every time I've been to an Ivy League presentation the admissions officers have said that they'd rather see a few ECs that the students have really enjoyed and can perhaps have leadership roles in than in long laundry lists. I can't make any guarantees, but my son (accepted this spring) had a very short EC list:</p>
<p>Science Olympiad (state medals)
Academic Team (the team made it to nationals, but that's a joke)
Latin Honor Society (doesn't do anything)
Worked for a computer web development firm
Was lead programmer for the most popular "mod" for Civilisation 4</p>
<p>Four of the five reflect his math/science/computer interests.</p>
<p>I do think quality trumps quantity.</p>
<p>I agree with you mathmom. The fact that your son shows a certain level of commitment in addition to other good attributes (essays, GPA, SAT, etc.) and the fact that he was a legacy at Harvard (not sure but I think that is the case, right?-anyway, my point is that this is a favorable look of the student) were all aspects that affected the decision.</p>
<p>Yes, he's a legacy and also interested in a field that Harvard is interested in expanding. (Though they say they don't look at majors when accepting kids.)</p>
<p>yea i understand wat u guys are saying, but i am the most focus on my writing, language, music, sports ecs but would am interested in the other ones i was looking to do such as debate team and academic team (which the team captain seems to think i could be very good at).</p>
<p>They don't look at majors when accepting kids?
I was pretty sure it was the other way around. After all, if you wanna major in sth and your extracurriculars are oriented towards that, doesnt that come into play?</p>
<p>They say that they don't look at majors when accepting people, supported by the fact that at most Ivies you can say you're going to major in something and end up majoring in something completely different (exception being accepted to an engineering school versus a college). I agree though that it probably comes into play to a certain degree...otherwise why would they bother asking? It's hard to just say you're looking to major in a less competitive field though if you can't demonstrate interest in it as well as something more mainstream.</p>
<p>I kind of regret not realizing this earlier...as I probably could have said I was interested in some things that would have helped my application. Regardless I think I'm still headed to the school that's the best fit for me.</p>
<p>And I'm pretty sure almost anything can be a good EC to have. It's really just what you make of it.</p>
<p>Pretty much what Lions said.
Major is important but they do consider the fact that you might change them. However, some ecs can help u based on the fact that you are not going to deviate from Comparative Literature to Astrophysics.</p>