<li><p>What EC’s look best?</p></li>
<li><p>What should you do in the summer?</p></li>
<li><p>Do they like seeing courses at the local CC?</p></li>
<li><p>Are athletics important?</p></li>
<li><p>Do some clubs look better then others? or do the just like to see you invlolved, what clubs look best?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>sorry if these are "dumb" questions but I would really like to know o_O</p>
<p>They are not dumb questions! :) They are a little broad, but they are good questions and the answers are useful. Let me do my best. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Passion needs to be conveyed in ECs. No EC looks good if the admissions officers get the impression that one was just filling space. Signs of this include huge numbers of or short times in ECs. </p></li>
<li><p>The same answer is relevant here. Pursue what you are passionate about during the summer. Volunteer extra hours. Increase your work hours or get a job, especially if one in something relating to an expressed passion of yours is available.</p></li>
<li><p>Never a bad thing, rarely a necessary thing. Challenge yourself with your high school courseload.</p></li>
<li><p>If you are passionate about a sport, aspire to a leadership position and let that passion shine through as an EC. Devote time to it. If you are in the running for a competitive position or a scholarship, your coach might be able to write you a letter. If you're not passionate about a sport or sports, don't pursue them to fill space. However, not doing a sport won't hurt you going into an academic major at a school not comprised mostly of athletes. </p></li>
<li><p>Again, pursue your passions, or you will burn out and it will count against, not for, you. Don't worry about what looks best, because they are good at detecting people who sign up for things just to look good.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Well, everyone has a different experience, and there is no set formula, a lot of the process is subjective. The best I can do is to tell you my experience with the entire thing since my experience may show an opposite viewpoint than what many people may suggest (if they're suggesting massive amounts of ECs, internships and research, etc.).</p>
<p>I had virtually no EC's other than sports because I played 3 sports every year of my high school career so I had no time. I was also a captain for 2 of those so it easily fulfilled the leadership aspect of my application. I remember I mentioned NHS, but honestly I don't think I mentioned any clubs or anything. In the summer I worked as a desk manager at Tennis Courts, my skills involved answering phones, not exactly stimulating activities there either. I live in an isolated area so CC courses were out of the question, as were interships and research, so none of those. I ended up at MIT, not too shabby, but I meet people all the time with exactly the opposite experience (research, internships, CC courses, no sports, etc.) here so I can say without a doubt there is no formula for getting into college.</p>
<p>One of your questions I can answer kind of. I was told multiple times from multiple sources that certain clubs will not help your application. For example a Sci Fi Comic Book Club won't help you on an application because it doesn't show anything important about your interests. So yes, some clubs look a lot better than others. Clubs that show genuine and important interests are enlightening to an admissions officer. Movie clubs shows you are into cinema or like to make movies, chess club is like a sport, academic clubs show you have a serious interest in a specific field, but a LAN club just says you like to play video games with your friends, not enlightening.</p>
<p>This is the best I can do, but seriously there is not a set way to structure an application to facilitate admission to a college. Make it show who you are to the best of your ability, because they prefer real people with real interests, not some standard "ideal" student they've pre-set in their minds.</p>