<p>One of the things I am worried about is so many people saying that too many ECs can be dangerous, showing lack of passion, ambition, or interest. Some say that it is a mark of "doing it only for college" in the eyes of ad-coms. I am currently the president of 5 clubs (founder of 3), a chairman of two committees, an admissions and diversity intern, an ambassador to several conferences, a proctor, and a senior tutor. Only of on these activities is even related to my major! Will this hurt me? I really love all of these activities and have been doing these for 3-4 years! </p>
<p>If you really love them, then when you are interviewing with a college rep, your passion will shine through. The one possible issue is if the hours you state on the Common App add up to an amount that far exceeds what is possible. Maybe some of your clubs are not year-round, or some of the activities are not year-round. “Padding” would be to exaggerate the time commitment. Being in love with lots of things isn’t bad. My own daughter was very similar – but many of her activities were quarter-long or for a specific timeframe. So as long as you are honest with how many hours per week and how many weeks per year these activities take, then you should be fine.</p>
<p>In your roles as President and “founder” do you have a transition plan for when you leave? Who will be the next President/Chairman? </p>
<p>Or will they fold b/c they were orgs fully built on your back and efforts? If the latter,then I question your ability as a real leader. I’m not trying to put you on the spot but your “founded” groups – why did you need to create them? Why wasn’t your time better spent joining someone else’s org? Was the purpose and goals of the org less than the need to start an org? To me, “founder” is a red flag.</p>
<p>These would be my skeptical questions for you. Maybe you’re just a super-organizer. I get that it’s a real possibility. Bravo, then.</p>
<p>But the uneasy feeling you express is because someone like me will question whether your activities aren’t indeed, resume padding.</p>
<p>If some of your orgs don’t pass my litmus test above, maybe just list them rather than try to highlight SEVEN supposedly heavy time commitment activities. That’s my 2 cents</p>
<p>@T26E4, good question about whether club founders have transition plans. I wonder if interviewers and adcoms wonder or ask about that, too. I’ve noticed at my D’s high school that every year someone seems to found a new club that looks to me like a resurrection of an old club. Favorites are eco-related, human rights, gender equality. The clubs never seem to last more than a year or two and then they reappear under a new name and another student claims to be the “founder.” (I’m not saying that this is what the OP is doing.) But I also agree that the OP needs to look at the hours he or she is claiming for each activity and see if the total sounds plausible.</p>
<p>@T26E4 Thanks for the reply! All 3 of the organizations I founded had not previously existed at my school at all for at least for around a decade according to my school’s Director of Student Activities. I was not the sole creator of the clubs, and all 3 revolved around me and two friends creating infrastructures and promoting the groups. Both of my two other friends, for some reason, do not consider themselves co-founders, and said I could write the founder title in the application without a hunch. (Note: Both of them have high ranking positions in the club too!) The transition plan is something we have never thought above because all three clubs became hugely successful. That is something we will definitely bring up in the next meetings we have. Thank you!</p>
<p>I don’t think having too many ECs is “dangerous.” This is more about quality over quantity (which is not a matter of titles.) And not so much about this CC notion of “passion,” which makes it seem all you need is to be really, really interested in something. Try to list everything you have done and are doing (incl out of school, even with family,) then stand back and look for the patterns, what your role is.</p>