<p>And under what circumstances? Like if you were in a club all four years, position, etc.</p>
<p>Here are a few ECs that I'm in, and I know some are kind of just "padding":
NHS
FBLA (officer, but i seriously LOVE fbla)
Interact
Key Club
Environmental
French Honors Society
California Scholastic(?) Federation (CSF)
Swim Team (JV as of now)
Newspaper (it's a class, but still, love it!)
Science Olympiad
AcaDeca</p>
<p>BTW, anyone can feel free you add other clubs that they want to know the "value" of. I know by 11th grade I need to cut back to like.. 3-4 EC's and focus on those, but i don't know which ones are good and i still am interested in. </p>
<p>On my application, I'm not putting on any EC that I spend less than 5 hours on per week. That should give you an idea of what's worthless and what isn't.</p>
<p>Also, anything you joined your senior year (unless you spend a ton of time on it) probably doesn't look the best. That's a more iffy area though.</p>
<p>I don't think the 5 hours per week rule is a good one if you're not really sure what you're interested in so you're doing a lot of stuff (all of which interests you) but it's not a very intense, time-consuming sort of thing (like a sport or an internship).</p>
<p>Senior year I'll be president of two clubs and captain of a sports team, but the two clubs together might take me 3-4 hours a week. That doesn't mean that I'm not committed to them, but just that I know what has to be done in them and will do so efficiently.</p>
<p>Im putting officer ones and then one or three crap ones (key club, math club, nhs) that I've devoted little effort into but add more than just my super-passion shown by my other ecs</p>
<p>lol just put everything on the app. of course it's not like helping at the hospital for 1 day only. put on something that you feel it's heavy :D</p>
<p>lol ya mine too. my schools has math, science, art, music .. clubs
but all of them only meet 1-2 times a month, 1-2 hours each meeting
but I think those are fine :D</p>
<p>If you're an underclassman, I suggest you focus on those you think will benefit your college application/interests the most. </p>
<p>For instance, the EC's on my college app right now have 4 science/health based ECs (Bio Club, Leadership Conference on Health, Hospital Volunteering, and Science Fair Research), and 3 other activities I do that I just love (city's Teen Council, History Awareness thing with the Mayor of another city, and Band) just to give a more "well-rounded" feel to my app. Obviously, as you can see, I'm looking at pre-med/biochem as my target major.</p>
<p>But yeah, I just cut out the "padding" (NHS [my school is retarded and only lets seniors apply so it looks bad on apps having 1 year compared to 4 for other schools], 4-year CSF member, Acadec for one year, etc) only because NHS/CSF are really generic clubs at high schools around the nation and I didn't really focus on Acadec as a freshman when I joined. BUT do not cut these out just yet-- you might find them handy when college apps come around and you realize you're one activity short.</p>
<p>As for the 5 hr/week thing, it really shouldn't matter. Just as you meet often enough to be productive, it should be listed as an EC.</p>
<p>stuff like key club might be those worthless ec's UNLESS u put in some work that is more than most in the club, u did some crazy tight project or u a officer.</p>
<p>I'm not an expert, but I think a lot of it depends on your particular school. For instance, some have mentioned that NHS is pretty worthless. At my daughter's school, it isn't easy to join (each school sets its own requirements) and it's even harder to stay in (strict requirements regarding service hours, mandatory meeting attendance, etc). At my son's school, the rules were much more lenient. I suspect admissions officers may be familiar with the differences, so if that's an important activity at your school you should include it (this goes for any of your ec's, not just NHS). Also, even if it's a "worthless" activity at your school, if it's an honor for which many are selected and you don't mention it, your admissions officer may want to know why you were one of the few not selected (he/she may wonder, for example, if you didn't meet the character requirement). Therefore, I'd consider including it (but not emphasizing it, of course) unless it's obvious that you qualified but didn't feel it worthy of a mention (for example, if you have straight As, there's no need to mention honor roll because it's so easy to infer from your gpa).</p>
<p>Post #15 is right on:
NHS was worthless at my HS as well but they did have a "character
reason" for exclusion. Typically students joined it as a chore, do the
minimum things required and indulge in their passion for social service
by themselves rather than through NHS.</p>
<p>There can be no generic answer to this question. Rather think specifically about what the EC says about you, and what you would say about it in an interview, or in an essay. Think about your level of involvement, what leadership you showed, what you learned, how it tied in with your other interests, etc.
Thus (for example) if you have a lot of good ECs, but also went to the Foreign Film Club a couple of times and watched a movie, I probably wouldn't mention it.
But...if you want to be a film major, started the club, picked the movies, and/or wrote reviews for the school paper of foreign movies, then mention the Foreign Film Club.
Just to add: some ECs will require more explanation than others. You don't really have to explain the fact that you played rec baseball, but you might have to find a place to explain why the Foreign Film Club matters.</p>
<p>Think about your objective. You are trying to make an impression, stand out, to an adcom reading your file. Put your Sales and Marketing hat on for a moment.</p>
<p>If you list: Student Council President 12 ... Soccer: Varsity 10-12, Captain 12, Asst. Editor school newspaper 12, Editorial editor 11. </p>
<p>then, you go on to list member, NHS, member, Students for declawing cats Club, JV football, 9, member, everyone must use deodorant Club, tutor 1 hr. per wk, go to Church every week, volunteer, public library 1 hr./wk, member Young Independents, member, Save the Planet, member, asians for inclusion of Malaysia into the European Union, etc. etc.</p>
<p>Maybe you'd put the JV Football, maybe the Save the Planet depending on hours of involvement, etc.</p>
<p>What have you done by listing #4 through #n? Diluted the impact of #1 - #3. In advertising terms, you've cluttered your message. What's so great about showing up to a meeting? How does that demonstrate that you will add to the student body at some Top 30 college or univeristy? Colleges aren't looking for "members" = "followers". They are looking for leaders.</p>
<p>If that was a real list, the adcom's curiosity might be sparked by the weird ones--they get lots of student council presidents, not so many cat declawing advocates. But your involvement has to be real, and important to you. Imagine yourself at an interview, and the interviewer asks you about the activity. Would you give an impassioned speech about why declawing cats is vital, and how you lobbied the legislature about it, or would you say, "Uh, we met and talked about, uh, you know, declawing cats."</p>