<p>I only have room for one more EC on my common application. Which EC do you guys think I should choose? </p>
<p>*Origami Class- Every week for the past 3 years I have taught patients at the nursing home how to make origami flowers, cranes, animals....basically everything. It started with my great-grandmother.....she wasn't in the best of conditions so I wanted to make her happy. Before long others started joining and now I have a class of thirty, with newcomers every week!</p>
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<p>History of my Hometown- I teach a class every week about the history of my hometown. I've been doing this for about three years now. I had to research practically everything about my town and do alot of interviewing. It was hard work! Many a times I have set up presentations for my class. Even the mayor has attended several times! </p>
<p>I don't know which I should choose. The mayor will be mentioning my history class in his recommendation. I really have a passion for history.... but I also have a passion for community service and absolutely love my times at the nursing home! I hear all the time that you MUST have a education passion....well for me its certainly history. </p>
<pre><code> ALSO......I love history...but theres not many job opportunities for a history major. So I plan to go into business, since history is very important in business and business uses alot of historical knowledge. Would colleges want me to major in history...since its my passion???????????
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<p>To answer the second question first: except for majors like engineering, and except for a few schools that have “oversubscribed” majors, colleges don’t care what your major is. They know that kids change their minds multiple times during their college careers, so don’t even worry about that.</p>
<p>As for what to put on your common app: Put one in under EC’s and put the other in under Additional Information. Or you can put them under Leadership rather than EC, because teaching a class is a form of leadership. Or under Volunteer/Employment. There are multiple places for you to add all sorts of information.</p>
<p>Both ECs are excellent, reflecting many good characteristics about you. The “history of my hometown” is the most impressive of those 2 ECs because of the amount of research work it requires and because of your leadership in being able to teach an academic type of class. The cranes EC also reflects leadership, compassion, your passion for pursuing an activity, etc.</p>
<p>I agree with Chevda about how to include both activities on your app.</p>
<p>Make sure that you provide some description of what you do in each activity so the colleges realize how much work is involved.</p>
<p>Except for things like engineering – which require students to have pursued a specific high school curriculum – colleges don’t care what major you plan to pursue. </p>
<p>What you’ve done with history has developed research skills and leadership that you could use in virtually any major or ECs.</p>
<p>Your ECs also are nice examples of the types of ECs that impress Ivies and similar schools. Clearly, you were doing those things out of your own interest and passion: You didn’t choose some activity to impress colleges, but you followed your heart and pursued the activities with creativity, research, hard work, independence, etc.</p>
<p>I was so impressed by your ECs that I checked your back posts to learn more about you.</p>
<p>I see that you’re homeschooled in Kentucky, and also have done things like: “*Director of Application Assistance League- This is a home repair service for Appalachian families in need. I came up with the idea my freshman year and am the director. I help recruit volunteers, meet with families in need of home repair, and assist in repairs. So far we have repaired 50 homes.”</p>
<p>While Ivies and similar schools are reaches for everyone, I think that you have a better than average shot at one because:
You have an unusual amount of leadership demonstrating your passion to make a difference, and your creativity, empathy and organizational skills. What you’ve done is more impressive than the “leadership” demonstrated by the many student council presidents whose only duties were going to meetings, planning prom, and brown nosing the SGA’s advisors (I’m not saying every SGA prez is like this, but many are!).</p>
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<li><p>You are in an underrepresented state and also are in Appalachia, an underrepresented region. </p></li>
<li><p>With all of the APs you’ve taken, you demonstrate intellectual passion.</p></li>
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<p>While the scores I saw on your chances thread were low, I think that they still are in the bottom range of what is acceptable to Ivies. The fact that Kentucky isn’t known for its educational excellence will help you as is the fact that you appear to have done what you could to have a challenging curriculum.</p>
<p>Your high level of motivation and obvious intelligence also indicates that you’d rise to the challenge of a place like an Ivy. I would bet money that your scores would have been higher if you had been able to have the kind of education that students get in top rated public and private schools, and if you’d had the kind of tutoring that many students buy to prep for the SAT and ACT.</p>
<p>If you qualify for need-based financial aid, also look at places like Rhodes College and Vanderbilt, Wofford, which have the Bonner Scholars program (or similar programs), which give very generous scholarships to students qualifying for need-based aid with strong backgrounds in community service. The scholarships come with a requirement and assistance in doing more community service, the kind that based on your background, I think you’d enjoy. Do check out those programs as well as merit aid at other colleges that are generous with students with strong community service backgrounds whether or not such students qualify for need-based aid.</p>