<p>Alright guys, I'm sort of in a dilema. I look at all the posts on here and see that the people all have extremly nice EC's. However, I on the other hand feel bland compared to these people. Currently I feel like WORK is going to be what gets me into the colleges I want to attend. I'm not your average worker who works at different jobs during the summers. Since I was in 8th grade I've been working at the same store. I work 10hrs+ per week during the school year and 30hrs+ per week during the summer. I know this dosent seem like a lot but work consumes ALOT of my time. I also participate in track/buisness club/indoor basketball
SO basically this is what my EC's are:
Work during school year 10hrs per week
Work during summer (at the same place) 30hrs+ per week
2 seasons of track every year of highschool
4 years buisness club (president senior year)</p>
<p>Are these EC"s good enough for the top 20 schools (exclude Ivys) especially UVA my #1 choice?</p>
<p>heh, i hope so because i’m in the EXACT same boat as you, except its 20+ during school year and basketball instead of track… and no Pres of a club but still. i personally think that work experience is MUCH more valuable than doing endless volunteer hours or doing 15 clubs you don’t really care about.</p>
<p>this is what i intend to do: list a rough estimate of hours you have worked since you started. for me its over 1500, which sounds MUCH more impressive than 20 hours a week since sophomore year. it all comes down to how you advertise yourself, and if you put it like that, 1500+ hours of work is quite a bit more than 200 hours of volunteering and 75 hours at clubs</p>
<p>depends on your grades as well of course, but if a college admissions officer doesn’t regard your working that much as a major EC than is it really worth attending a school that won’t appreciate how much time you’ve committed to something? if they didn’t than they would be hypocritical because colleges always say they want depth over breadth, ya know?</p>
<p>That was an amazing post forzworn. When I asked Dean J (dean of admisions at UVA) she told me not to play down work but that it is a great extra credit. I so agree. Work teaches worth ethic and real life lessons. For me I would much rather be working than doing a sport which I do not enjoy. Work has taught me so many life lessons it is really unbelievable. And btw I think I have worked well over 1500 hours.</p>
<p>If you have a delicate situation in your family (e.g., divorced parents&living with one of them, orphan, many brothers/sisters) or a tight financial situation, then I would say that your EC is a very solid one, demonstrating responsibility, hard work and perseverance by working in just one place for so many years. Admission officers fully understand and respect your choice.
If, on the other hand, you have no such problems, then I still think you have a solid EC… still, some admission officers will think that, if your financial situation isn’t a problematic one, you are only working for some pocket money…</p>
<p>heh thanks uva, i just get tired of people saying how i have no EC’s and such but in reality i have done more than them, though they may have a higher quantity of activities than me, so be it. thats awesome to know that they said that, i agree i can honestly say i have learned how to deal with people in a real-world environment and have quite a bit of experience with it, which IMO is quite beneficial.</p>
<p>and good call on that fact xelink, not a bad way to phrase it. but either way, working a substantial amount of time, whether it be to supplement family income or for personal money, is something most teenagers don’t do. i rarely see someone in the what’re my chances forums with any substantial work experience, which makes it seem to me like it is a rare EC, so why not make it a focal point of an app?</p>
<p>I worked full time for a while during my junior year. I hated being at home(bad relationship with my stepmother), I’d have worked for free. Fortunately I got paid and my relationship with my step mother is much better now.</p>
<p>and simply put, working during HS is a great thing to say about yourself in general for many things. Helps to say that you’ve worked since you were 16 when you’re doing a job interview or trying to get an internship.</p>
<p>I think work is MORE important than clubs. Any lazy kid can sign up for a club and go to the meetings (or not). It takes MUCH more responsibility and work ethic to get (and keep) a job.</p>