Hey guys ! I was just wondering what other EC’s I could possibly work on for the next 6 months .
Looking to hopefully take Computer Science
MY CURRENT EC’S :
- Founded a Graphic Design Studio earning a
total of $2000 ( worked over 300 hours ,
250+ artworks )
- Founded a Non profit Organization that helped
over 100 disabled people ( made an iris
navigator that helps people who are visually
impaired. Helped over 100 people )
- Co founded 2 non profit startups that helped
domestic workers and handicaped people
locate jobs in our locality and all over India
- Over 80 hours of volunteer work at an NPO ,
for around a year ,raising money for
deprived children
- Interned at two companies over the summer
-
Well versed in Multiple languages , i.e, Python ,
SQL , JavaScript , React , React Native ,
HTML , CSS
-
Multiple Coded Projects , Including a major
machine learning project.
-
Founder of technology club at school
-
Have been playing football / soccer for over 4
years , part of school team
**MY CURRENT AWARDS : **
- Winner of National Robotics Competition x2 ,
College Level
- Winner of National Graphic Designing
Competitionx2 , Runner up x1
- Runner up of National Football/Soccer
Competition
- Coding competitions global and national
Please let me know what I could work other EC I could work on / develop
The problem I see when I read your profile is that you look like a starter and not a finisher. Many people overestimate the benefit of being a “founder”. You are one 4x. To do any one of them correctly is a full time endeavor. Trying to do 4 of them can show a lack of commitment.
3 Likes
I am simultaneously still working on almost 3 of them . The only one I gave up on was the graphic design studio , as I had been working on it for over 3 years and it was taking too much of my time. As for the non profit , I still spend over 3 hours daily on it. I also spend around 2 hours working on my startups daily. The club at my school has been temporarily put at pause because of the whole covid situation , but once everything goes back to normal , I will hopefully take part in everything as usual.
You spend 5 hours per day on (2) ECs on top of soccer, school, homework and your other ECs? What do your grades and rigor look like?
Can you give us the rest of the picture, for context? What grade are you in now? What are your grades like, your class standing, or in what percentile of the class are you? Do you have a standardized test score yet? What is it?
Your EC’s, if they really are what they are, already sound really impressive. It’s tough now to participate in competitions, because I don’t think that they are being held yet, due to Covid. If it were possible, I’d say try to participate in international level competitions that are being held in the US at schools that you are interested in - that way, you could meet and make connections with professors in the disciplines that you’d be applying for. But this may be impossible - right now, these competitions are not being held in person, I believe.
In the US, starting a ‘non-profit’ is a tax designation and it takes a lot of tax filings to get that done. It doesn’t mean a business that’s just to help people or that doesn’t make money. Lots of people start businesses that never make money.
I’d change the name of your business to be more descriptive on what they do or how you started them. “Started a business to help XXX use computers” or “Fixed computers for senior citizens as a volunteer at ABC group”
As there’s the whole covid situation going on for over a year , I’ve had a lot of time to work on EC’s plus my grades and homework. As for my grades I passed my 11th grade with 96% and my 10th grade with 94%. The reason I have so much time on my hand to work on two of my ECs is because I wake up at 6 everyday and start away almost immediately. I work up until 9:30 PM .
I started my final year of school this month. As I said in my last reply , I passed 10th grade with 94% and 11th grade with 96%. So A’s in almost all the subjects. We do not officially have a class rank , but I’d say I’m a part of the top 5% in my class. I scored a total of 1530 on my SAT .
And I will surely work on participating in more competitions held by my preferred colleges and try to gather as many awards as I possibly can.
We have successfully already helped over 100+ people and still going. And yes I will change the description of my business as you suggested. I am not too sure about continuing this path once I have entered college as my partner and I will be splitting ways and we will look to different paths , working on bigger things hopefully.
I like your ECs, as a great base, just need to figure out how they define you as a unique person. Personally I think, you are much better off being passionate about something as opposed to trying to create what you think a college wants.
With the initial glance, I got the “Really Creative Computer Science Guy” vibe. Think about your EC profile as a sort of portfolio that is answering the question of why I would be a good contributing member of the Class of XXXX.
Thank you for your reply , if possible , can you please elaborate what you mean by ’ EC profile as a sort of portfolio '. What measures could I take to improve what I have rn?
If you were going to Art School you would have a portfolio of your work to show what kind of artist you are. Think about what makes you “you” and your ECs should be help paint the picture so someone reading it gets a clear picture of what you are passionate about.
The best advise I can give you is to not worry about creating some profile that will look good to a specific school. Find a school that is the right fit for you.
The portfolio idea is a great one: it’s a way of showing who you are as a student and as a person. Each part of your application shows different parts of you: your transcript and your standardized testing show something of your academic ability, on its own and relative to your peers. Your teacher recs tell something about how teachers perceive you as a student. Your ECs tell something about what is really important to you (via the time and work you have put into them) and how you engage with the things that matter to you (are you a team player? a leader? have you shown growth in your ECs?). Your essays are the way you connect the dots- that fills in pieces that haven’t been shown, or add color & depth to the facts.
The amazing thing about AO’s (who get a lot of bad press) is how much they get right in identifying students who are a good fit for their college. That’s why so many posts emphasize knowing yourself- what kinds of environments suit you and what you are looking for from your college experience- and then looking hard at colleges where you are a good fit for them. Luckily for CS some of the usual ‘prestige’ elements are less important, so you really can look for places that suit you.
1 Like
On paper they all look very impressive, and honestly better than anything I did in high school. I think it comes down to how well you can articulate why you did those things in essays. I cannot stress the importance of writing good essays is in admissions.