what is a "staple EC"

Applying to College
1

<p>so I decided I want to go to UCSD, and it is a reach, since my cumulative unweighted GPA is a 3.6, while their average is a 4.07 weighted (they didnt give the unweighted). I expect my GPA, after this coming years AP and honors classes, to be a 3.9 to 4.0. Since this STILL falls short of their average, I was wondering what EC's should get involved in, to get me into at least the "maybe pile".
here are my stats
as of now (im going to be a junior)
Sex:male
Race:Hispanic
School:Public, urban high school
Other:Low income, first in family to go to university
3.6 UW GPA (didnt take an AP's to weight it)
Orchestra for 10 years
viola and violin performnace for 10 years
the paula fishman music studio for 3 years
honor roll for 4 consecutive semesters (since highschool)
The YMCA Youth Institute for 1 year
YMCA Youth Institute Alumni for 1 year
YMCA tech tutor
YMCA Youth and Government for 3 years
Pursuit of Excellence award for 2 years, in the fields of Mathematics and Health
Homework help for 4 years
Tutored a foreign student in English speaking and reading for 2 years
Habitat for humanity for 2 years
President and founder of MyPoly, a club at school.
NCCJ Building Bridges participant for 1 year
One world Poly for 2 years.</p>

<p>also, what other colleges should I apply too, for an undeclared major.</p>

2

<p>oh, havent taken the SAT's yet.</p>

3

<p>I'm not sure, but maybe liberal arts colleges look more into EC's. So maybe check out some of those.</p>

4

<p>well, it depends.</p>

<p>Are you going into your senior year of high school?</p>

<p>If so, there's very little you can do at this point.
Any "new" ec wouldn't look all that impressive no matter what it is since you haven't even done it for a year by the time your app. is read.
Other than that, it may appear that you're just trying to fluff up your resume to the adcoms anyway.
(Correct me if I'm wrong...)</p>

5

<p>^ it says he's going to be a junior next year....</p>

<p>Anyway, if you are in-state, you stand a better chance than the rest of the world, assuming they have the same stats. (Or so I think).
You might want to keep in mind too that UCs weigh GPA differently; they only give an extra grade point for 8 semesters of AP/Honors coursework.
If you really want to work on your ECs, then you should probably emphasize on one activity you love and excel at it (but make sure your grades aren't affected).
Good luck and don't worry so much! You are only entering junior year!</p>

6

<p>To the OP:
Just make sure you organize your e.c. list, please, for maximum impact & readability. Put YMCA stuff together, put the music in a different category, etc. Collapsing the list like that does not dilute it, just helps to summarize. Then within each category flesh out not just a title or an activity, but what you did. (Maybe you were already planning to do all that.)</p>

<p>i.e.,
(1) YMCA
Over a course of ___ years (use the maximum cumulative #), I was active in these roles:
Tech tutor [describe the activity & the population tutored, summarizing frequency OR total hours/weeks
Youth Institute Alumni (describe briefly)
Youth and Government (describe: for example, did this require leadership on your part, or did you encourage others in the art of leadership?)</p>

<p>^^ a sentence or two for each, describing scope of your role, is fine.</p>

<p>(2) Music
violin, viola. Btw, if you did both for about the same period of time, mention that. (And if there are particulars to the performances, such as entering competitions, performing public solo recitals, or participating in a major performance such as a new composition for an event, etc.)</p>

<p>Explain the fishman music studio. </p>

<p>Explain Building Bridges
Explain Poly and MyPoly
Anything other than (1) and (2) that can be grouped together under a category, do so. For example, tutoring & "homework help" & anything similar to that (other than YMCA) can be grouped together under a combo title.
If Habitat for Humanity was something you signed up for individually (as opposed to a whole group effort organized by your school), mention that.</p>

<p>Order the numerical list in the priority that means most to you.</p>

<p>In the award section, describe the origin of Pursuit of Excellence award. I know what it's for, but if it's from the school or an outside agency, and how many people got this award. (Just you? Is there one per year at your school or from the awarding agency?)</p>

<p>Never assume that people reading your app or an attachment know what "being involved for one year" means, or what a particular named award is for, or how many of them are bestowed. Even if it seems to be a "household name." </p>

<p>(Think of it as a little bit like a job resume; If you had been a manager in a business you wouldn't say on your resume that you "worked there for one year." That could have been as the janitor or the CEO, for all anyone knows.)
:)</p>

7

<p>maybe im wrong but i think that with ECs its always best to show dedication and commitment to a few organizations but also try different things to show that you are open to new things.</p>

8

<p>From what I read, make sure you put the EC that is most important to you first.</p>

9

<p>and I think he can do that, sarah. No problem there. But organization & grouping really helps to emphasize a concentration of effort, without eliminating the breadth. He actually has plenty of variety, but it's best to emphasize the areas that he's spent most time with and/or are most significant to him. (Sometimes students handle this by enumerating & elaborating on a few e.c.'s or a few categories of e.c.'s, then adding, after that, "In addition, I became enthusiastic about some activities that I had less time for but which allowed me to discover ___ about myself. These included: ........")</p>

<p>Btw, anorexic, the reason that it's esp. important to explain the MyPoly thing is that you say you're president & founder! "A club" is not sufficient for something that you had such a primary role in.</p>

<p>Ditto, TRFA. (Mentioned that, I think.) :)</p>

10

<p>"^ it says he's going to be a junior next year...."</p>

<p>... I need to learn how to read.</p>

<p>In that case, I second the opinions of focusing on a few ec's, rather than adding something new. But I still stick by what I said- adding a bunch of ec's now to make yourself look better could possibly hurt; but if you really want to do something new, by all means go right ahead. Make sure you stress the importance of one or two (or three or four) of the ec's that really mean the most to you.</p>

11

<p>You could probably get into at least 1 Ivy league.</p>

12

<p>all right, thanks sooooo much.
this helped alot.
I know I shouldn't stress so much, but idk, sorry.
haha thanks again.</p>