I wrote some ECs in the EC section of the UC app. Two of my essays elaborate on ECs I stated in the EC section. I read somewhere on the UC Davis website that you shouldn’t “reiterate information listed elsewhere in the application”. So I’m wondering, should I delete the ECs in that section?
Isn’t there some other aspect of who you are that you want to show?
No, don’t delete the ECs. Hopefully the essay shed some new light on your personality, and maybe how the EC has changed you. The point of the instruction is that the essay is to reveal something about you that they can’t tell otherwise – something more personal, unique, unusual, interesting.
building on @bjkmom and @intparent’s very useful posts: an EC listed in the EC section is simply a fact. Your essay about the way that the EC has played a part in the person/applicant that you are now should add substantially to the fact
2 caveats:
- be sure that you are *showing* who you are now through the experience of the EC- not *telling* the story of the EC and ending with a bit about 'this is how I learned X life lesson' and
- think carefully about doing it twice: for many students a particular EC is formative and core to an important part of who they are- but it is not so common for there to be 2 ECs like that in a student's life.
Remember that the point is not the EC: it’s who you are and what you have done with the experience of the EC
@bjkmom yeah of course. my essays are about who I am and the specific interactions I made during those ECs. I think the little anecdotes I give in the EC essays are representative of who I am. I answered the two questions about leadership/community service because that has always been a big part of my life.
It’s fine to have the EC’s listed and then also write about one or two. Unless your essay includes a list of EC’s!