Hi, i’m in my final semester of CC and will be applying for transfer after it is over. I have a lot of ECs and i’m worried they make me look scattered/unfocused, when the truth is I just have a lot of free time and love getting involved with different organizations. What do you think? I’m a biology major, 4.0. Looking to go into conservation biology/marine biology, to do research/be a professor/work for a nonprofit, etc
ECs: Founder/President of my college’s speech and debate team/NFL competitor/NFL judge(side job)
Volunteer at my high school’s speech and debate team, work in TAB which is all the behind the scenes organization and work. (60 hours a year)
Work 25 hours a week as a kindergarten teacher at a private school(worked my way up from summer camp counselor to teacher) I am responsible for creating lesson plans, buying supplies, and teaching the kids.
Worked with the National Parks Service in a intern-type program.
Well established painter, i’ve won several competitions and sell my art regularly
Volunteer wildlife rehabilitator
Volunteer with an organization that spays and neuters outdoor cats, takes injured ones and gives them a home
Volunteer zookeeper
Chosen out of 10K applicants to go to a 3 day environmental conference
Research assistant at my state’s flagship university(which is very high respected) researching evolutionary behavioral mechanisms in aquatic life
Completed a research project at my college where we isolated viruses from soil sample and analyzed their genetic structure Volunteer at State flagship’s aquatic collections room, basically I label specimens, organize them, take care of the live creatures, etc.
This spring i’m going on a research based internship in NYC(researching environmental effects of local processing plants in local waterways)
This summer i’m going on a 4 month internship in Alaska working directly with marine mammals.
There is nothing you can do at this point. Your CC performance seems to be good and you’re very involved. I think you’ll do well in finding a four year college.
Everything else on your list is related to marine biology, conservation biology, or environmental/ecology
All of these are areas in which you’ve done a fair amount. I would keep most of your activities, hhh it group them so that you come across as more focused.
^ Following up on the above, I’d group your ECs something like the following:
Marine/Conservation Biology and Ecology
Research assistant at my state's flagship university researching evolutionary behavioral mechanisms in aquatic life
Completed a research project at my college where we isolated viruses from soil sample and analyzed their genetic structure
Research internship (forthcoming) in NYC(esearching environmental effects of local processing plants in local waterways
Worked with the National Parks Service in a intern-type field program
4 month field summer internship (forthcoming) in Alaskaworking directly with marine mammals
Volunteer wildlife rehabilitator
Volunteer zookeeper
Volunteer at state flagship's aquatic collections room
All of these show a ton of dedication and effort devoted to this area, which is your intended area of study, including research and field work, and hands on work with animals. I’d probably leave out volunteering with an organization that spays and neuters outdoor cats, given how much other stuff you have. I’d also leave our the 3 day conference, unless there was a named competition involved - 3 day conferences generally aren’t as valuable as sustained activity.
Speech and debate
Founder/President of my college's speech and debate team/
NFL competitor/NFL judge (side job)
Volunteer at my high school's speech and debate team, work in TAB which is all the behind the scenes organization and work. (60 hours a year)
Teaching / work experience
Work 25 hours a week as a kindergarten teacher at a private school (worked my way up from summer camp counselor to teacher). I am responsible for creating lesson plans, buying supplies, and teaching the kids.
Fine art
Well established painter. I've won several competitions and sell my art regularly.
Any sustained activity with awards is good, and this is a nice complement to all your other stuff. If you have a website on which you’ve sold art, you can list it as well. Submitting a portfolio may be an option if your work is of really high quality.
These 4 areas balancing each other, and don’t come across as too diffuse, but rather as discrete areas of focus. Being able to juggle so much and still go into depth in each of these areas shows that you are likely to be hard working, dedicated, organized, mature and responsible. Those are all good qualities when applying.
@renaissancedad Thank you that helps a lot, it really helps me organize everything. The only reason I included the eco conference was because it was a very selective process, there were over 10K applicants and I was one of the 3 that were picked to go. It was basically an essay contest that took grades/ECs into account as well. I received a full travel grant.
^ Then you can list it under #1, noting something like “fully funded scholarship participant to attend environmental conference”. Anything that funds you is generally competitive, and adds value.