One of the biggest questions I had going into college apps is: What makes a “good EC” for being accepted? What do admissions officers look for?
This year, I was accepted to Scripps, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Vassar, (as well as my safety) and waitlisted at uchicago out of 6 college apps. Going into the process, I felt lost - basically, I was throwing darts at a board and praying that one would stick. All the while, I was worried about my ECs - all I’d heard from CC was that they were “weak” or that I needed X amount of hours in volunteering opportunity XYZ, or that I needed at least one competitive national award in thing-A or else my chances of admittance were “on the low end”.
Coming out on the other side of admissions (mostly) unscathed, the most important thing I learned is that your apps are not about how many clubs you’re in, or even how many random service hours you have in lion taming or teaching ballet to deaf kids - it’s about how involved you are in a few activities that you are genuinely interested in.
Your ECs are all about quality and not quantity. Trust me, Admissions officers can see through resume-padding or things you’ve done just to get into college - don’t put that you were an NHS member on your common app and expect them to be impressed with you. Continue doing one thing, or even a few things, that you do well and that you enjoy, and demonstrate that you are involved in that category through your hours, leadership/maybe awards and cut all the excess.
At the end of the day, admissions people are not going to care if you frantically joined Key Club in Senior Year because you were worried that you “didn’t have enough service”. If you really love what you do, it will shine through your app.
For some perspective - my ACT is a 30, my GPA is semi-decent (3.8 UW), but the thing I wrote my essays about and that I sprinkled on my “activites list” on the common app is almost solely about my involvement in visual arts. I have 400 hours in that category with summer art programs, clubs, independently completing IB art HL2, doing AP art, having 4 years of continuous art class credits, having downtown gallery showings/sales, winning a few awards, and (of course) submitting a portfolio to my colleges. Quality over quantity, and definitely consistency/dedication are so important.
If CCers/whoever is telling you to get more hours in this or that, they aren’t always necessarily informed or insightful.
The best piece of advice I ever got from an admissions counselor was: “Demonstrate that you have a passion without ever using the word ‘passion’ - show, don’t tell. I don’t care about how good you are at soccer, I only care that you care.”
Anyways, I hope this helpful to any pre-app highschoolers.