What's the best way to get your EC's up?

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm not a great athlete. I do indoor track in the winter and outdoor track in the fall, but I'm not great by any means. I'm in math club, where I tutor other kids in math after school. I just plan on beginning to do key club this year (junior year) but I feel like i'ts going to be too late to get a position in the club anytime soon. I've done orchestra after school in grades 9-10 and I plan on continuing that. I participated in this piano performance thingy called the Dorothy Sutton Performance Festival, and it basically consisted of playing piano for a judge and then taking a theory test (which actaully got very hard). You have to do good in the performance and get a 90/100 points on the theory test to pass. Theres 8 levels and I completed them all, but this was from like grade 6-9 so I'm not sure if this can actually help me. </p>

<p>I really want to find a way that I can get my EC's up such as community service and volunteering at a hospital or something, but I'm not sure where you sign up for these kind of things. </p>

<p>And does taking Calc 3 in high school look good for you? I'm taking Calc 2 this year.</p>

<p>And oh yea I did a science fair thing called PJAS in which I got 1st in regionals and states.</p>

2

<p>I’m taking Calc 4 (differentials). So hopefully Calc 3 looks good. </p>

<p>For EC’s, apply for captianship to a bunch of different clubs your interested in. Seems you should try math team or perhaps chess club, since your obviously good at math.</p>

3

<p>you should study more to do better on Ec’s
:)</p>

<p>But for reals: Find something you are passionate about (Most important step by far)
With you passion (and perhaps google) find something where you can lead (prefered) or do community service with this passion
Then you win</p>

4

<p>The best way to advance in ECs is to select a couple of extracurriculars that you LOVE. Then, devote your time, creativity and passion to those ECs regardless of what position you get. Be willing to do more than your share of work. Be willing to be part of a team and to share credit and to compromise. Be willing to listen, learn and to risk enough to make some mistakes. If you can’t make a mistake, you can’t make anything.</p>

5

<p>You could check your local community college and ask about getting a tutoring position. Usually community colleges have a lot of opportunities. At my local CC you can read to those who have difficulty with English. Tutoring.</p>

6

<p>You can also start your own club! You are automatically Founder/President of this club if it goes through with your school! =)</p>

7

<p>Except clubs are kinda lamee</p>

8

<p>Lots of students erroneously think that starting clubs will impress colleges. In general, doing that will not impress colleges. When I was an alum interviewer for Harvard, I met all sorts of students who had started clubs. These included students who suddenly fall of senior year decided to start the Pie Eating Club and the Game Playing Club (I am not kidding).</p>

<p>Starting clubs usually doesn’t impress the few colleges that care about such things because most of the time it’s obvious that the student started a club only to fatten their resume. The clubs are do nothing activities.</p>

<p>Now, if a student started a club that really does match their interests and that club really does impressive activities, that could impress the few colleges that care about such things. However, it’s virtually impossible to start such a club fall of senior year. The students who do start such clubs tend to also have had a long record of interest in whatever the club focuses on. They don’t just suddenly decide to start a club after showing no interest in that subject before.</p>

9

<p>I agree, pick a few that you love and devote all your time and energy on those few ECs rather than add a million more.</p>

<p>Also @Northstarmom, would it really be that bad to start a club senior year? Because I was actually thinking of starting a science olympiad team for my school this year. The reason I never did it before was that in 9th grade I was still part of my middle school’s olympiad team, in 10th grade I moved to a different country, and in 11th grade although i came back, i didnt want to overextend myself with it being my first year of IB and all along with all my other ECs. I truly do love science and the only thing standing in my way is finding a teacher who will help us and get funding. If you saw something like that on a students resume would you automatically assume it was to add to their resume?</p>

10

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<p>My correction: Find something you can be passionate about. You should be willing to throw your weight behind any EC you’re involved in, even if you don’t have a burning passion at the moment. Some people are born with the desire to write, or draw, or solve math proofs; the rest of us find our interests through devoted exploration.</p>

<p>My advice? Quit every time-sucking club and activity you do that doesn’t interest you enough to devote more time to. Then focus on the one or two that are left, and follow NSM’s advice:

</p>

11

<p>There’s nothing wrong with starting a club unless you’re starting a club only to look good to colleges. If you plan to do all of the work to start a club (and if you are serious about it, it is a lot of work), and if you’re also willing to have the club really do things, and to leave it in shape so it can continue after you leave (in other words, you don’t plan to abandon the club after your college apps are in), then go ahead.</p>

<p>Otherwise, don’t waste your time or the advisor’s time.</p>

<p>For the club to work, you’ll have to care about those who come after you, and that even may mean that a junior, not you, would be the best person to be president because they’d be able to continue with the club next year.</p>

<p>Summer of senior year in high school, my older son became certified as a facilitator for a conflict resolution/youth leadership program. He didn’t do this to impress colleges. He did this because there had been a fight at his school and about a dozen kids were arrested, and my son wanted to get the training to help prevent those kind of things from happening.</p>

<p>My son was never able to bring the program to that high school, which he transferred out of at the end fo the summer. However, he did make the program a part of a countywide organization that he was head of, and by the end of senior year, he had trained more than 50 people - including adults – in the program, and had won a countywide award for community service.</p>

<p>Later, he used the program to help start a free summer camp that was operated by the county and was lead by teens and college students whom he had trained to take over. Even now, 6 years after he got the training, the camp continues, and he volunteers with it.</p>

<p>He didn’t do any of these things to try to impress colleges or to get awards or jobs. He did this because he genuinely cared about making a difference, and he enjoyed being a facilitator. And he worked to make the project something that others were involved in – including as leaders . He didn’t do it so he would be able to fill in a leadership blank on a college app.</p>

12

<p>I’m interested in starting a volunteering club at my school. Should I contact my guidance counselor or is that a job for someone else?</p>

13

<p>Let’s see: track, math club, tutoring, Key Club, orchestra, science fair, award. You’re a junior, it’s a good start. You may be able to incl the Stratton- noting that you passed the top level in 9th (which counts as hs.) Be very wary, please, of adding comm service just for colleges- they smell that a mile away. (It has to have some real leadership to shine.) Why not bump up your math/tutoring? Can you volunteer to help students at the middle school in math areas? Help them found a math club? Or, go to an after-school homework program and help with math. Look harder to see how you have already shined- eg are you a soloist in orchestra? Yes, calculus is highly valued by adcoms.</p>