What constitutes good EC's vs. "stellar" EC's?

[MWolf]

@lookingforward

“Depth, breath, progression, and commitment.” Very good. But I’d add, “relevant.” And showing some stretch. You’re applying to top colleges, they pick the kids who meet their expectations. If you don’t like their rules, opt out, take those colleges off your list, don’t apply.

If a college expects stem wannabes to have some math-sci ECs, and you don’t have them, there are no make-up points for, “Yeah, but he was really, really into xxx.”

Imo, that’s not sad, it’s savvy. You’re not applying to go to a better high school. You’re attemptng to make the college leap- and to some mighty competitive ones.

No, you do not need national or international awards. Yes, you need balance.

-What you do primarily based on your own interests (hobbies, side lines, the pie club. This does include involvement in ECs for that major that supposedly “interests you.”)

• What you do for/with your groups (peers, religious, sports, music, whatever it is. It shows engagement.)
  -And what you do for your community, for the needs around you, directly.

Just doing what you want can’t cover it all.

I think that we agree that a kid who is not interested in STEM should not be engaged in STEM ECs to increase their chances of getting into a STEM program at a prestigious college, because because they think that STEM is more prestigious than humanities. A kid who loves history and is talented in scholarship shouldn’t be trying to win Physics Olympiads because they think that kids with Physics Olympiad awards have a better chance of being accepted to some prestigious school.

So it is very sad that there are kids who are giving up the opportunities to explore their interests, during one of the very best periods in which they can do this, because they are spending all of their time trying to hammer themselves into a person who they think has a better chance of being accepted to an “elite” college…

It is sad when teenagers are not being allowed to be teenagers in the name of prestige, and it’s worse when the pressure is coming from the adults in their lives.

Kids ECs should reflect their real interests and passions, rather than those which they think that “T-10” colleges like. Kids who are “really into XX” instead of STEM should do ECs related to XX, and pursue that, rather than STEM, even if those ECs are less likely to get that kid accepted to an ivy.

A kid whose real interest is sociology should be doing ECs related to sociology, even if it ends up leading them to a college which isn’t even a USNews T-100 (OH, THE HORROR!)

I’m not saying that you should “follow your dreams and everything will work out”. I’m saying: “find your academic interests, and actually invest time and effort into them, and then attend a college where you can pursue those interests. Find your non-academic interests and put effort and time into them. Find out where you can contribute to causes that are important to you, and put time and effort into those”.

That being said, following your interests and passions often does a lot to help kids, not only in their mental and emotional states, but often in acceptance to a college which is highly ranked by USNews. I can say that it worked decently well for a number of kids from my daughter’s class.

PS. regarding “following your dream”, rather than working at finding and investing in your interests, here is one of my favorite quotes from the late great Terry Pratchett:

“If you trust in yourself. . .and believe in your dreams. . .and follow your star. . . you’ll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren’t so lazy.”