How to Impress Adcoms with your Extracurriculars - Page 47

dchow08 · 02-18-2009, 09:51 PM

I don't think that you should worry so much about what will impress the colleges you're thinking of applying to because I think that colleges want to see you doing what you genuinely enjoy doing, rather than trying to impress the colleges. If you find piano boring, then you don't have to continue playing it. Being good at an instrument won't really help you at all. If you enjoy making your own art, then continue doing that.

Ivybound11 · 02-21-2009, 02:48 PM

this helps me greatly.. A LOT and i would have never learned that if it hadn't been for you. Thank you Eternity_Hope2005.

marvellousaln · 02-26-2009, 02:35 PM

So i didn't feel like going through all the pages of responses on this topic, but does going to nationals in debate look really good? would it be something that ivy leagues look for?

dchow08 · 02-26-2009, 04:56 PM

It probably looks good, because it shows that you're really involved in an activity you really enjoy, but I don't think colleges are specifically looking for someone who has won national awards.

xiaohyolee · 02-27-2009, 03:18 PM

so i posted a separate thread about this but is being captain of a varsity sport WAYY more impressive than just being a member (but a member with an award for ABILITY in swimming and not just ability to cheer and bake nice brownies)?

thankss

blackdarkeye · 02-27-2009, 07:04 PM

yeah i have took only 2 ecs in high school (track, tennis) but i have tried very hard in tennis and got the most improved player award in my team ( my team has like 50 people), and i might even make varsity in senior year, do you think that if i add the comment that i got the award, i would impress them a little bit?

Btw the i started tennis in junior year.

dchow08 · 02-27-2009, 09:43 PM

Probably not way better, but at least being captain shows some kind of leadership. Doesn't captain here just mean the best player?

If you find those awards important to you, then let them know. I don't think it'll help you much though.

sqdwfe13 · 02-28-2009, 02:48 AM

Random question: If President Obama wrote me a personal letter of recommendation, would I be guaranteed to get into any college?

This doesn't even pertain to me, I have no connections to the president, but I was just pondering...

smarteeangel101 · 03-17-2009, 03:53 PM

i have a question. most/all of my ECs [volunteering] are related to education/kids/the like. so would it make sense to 'market' myself in that way? as in, to mark 'education' as my major on the application [idek if that's possible actually

].

& would it make no sense to also have some medical-related interests in my ECs, like volunteering at a hospital & stuff? or does that throw the first part off :/

haikumarukuchan · 03-17-2009, 04:33 PM

^ I actually think the ECs with kids and ECs with medical= possible pediatrics person, lol

But no, it won't throw off the 1st part. If you can tie all your ECs into your passion I think it'll show something unique about u.

StrangeCamus · 03-24-2009, 06:32 PM

What are some examples of good ec's? Are regional/state/national ranks that important? or can things like...positions in clubs, etc be good enough? i'm scared i might not have enough ec's ...

Alucard00 · 03-25-2009, 08:54 PM

Good ECs DO include prestigious positions in contests etc. especially national places.

For example, applying and winning the Business Contest NOVA CHALLENGE or winning another similar contest (there are a lot out there) will be sure to impress college adcoms.

For example, the winners up there on the web site: Delos Chang, Igor Akimenko, Muaz Siddiqui will probably get into some very good colleges because they placed 1st in National NOVA Competition.

But, there are a LOT of contests you can do. but leaderships dont hurt. But since there are so many competitions, you should really go out and compete in some!

Why? Because only you have won it and you have competed against many other applicants for the title!

gapin'it · 03-27-2009, 01:53 PM

imo ECs are all about showing what's important to you, what you're passionate about. and quality is much more important than quantity (that's more than just an opinion). i didn't have a laundry list of ECs but what i did have showed a clear focus and dedication to a specific area. and that wasn't something i planned, it just happened that way because they are in fact the kinds of things i care about. BUT i would emphasize that you should just focus on what you care about rather than what will look good to the adcoms. because if you just do ECs that have value to you then it'll show when you look at them as a whole and the adcoms will see what matters to you and get a better sense of who you are as a person.

quality will always trump quantity

^xiaohyolee: i've swam competitively, yr-round since i was 8 and that was by far the biggest thing in my ECs. being a cpt might help a little, but in all reality quantifiable accomplishments will be much more relevant because you could be a cpt on a powerhouse HS team or at a little school with a small team that isn't nearly as competitive and the adcoms can't really tell. but if you can say you qualified for HS state or US swimming junior nationals or were all-state or hs all-american, those things carry weight.

ttan · 04-02-2009, 03:12 AM

Impressive ECs were my plan to get into a top school, but I went too far and had it backfire on me with rejections to almost all of my schools.

Like many CCers, I'm one of those people that pushes hard, runs into setbacks, gets fatigued, and only pushes harder. I've inherited an incredible work ethic from my ancestors, and often surprise myself with how much I want to work.

As a result, I have become:
1) One of my state's top leaders and speakers, with the honor of being elected the President of my state's largest student organization (10,400 members, to be exact)
2) One of my state's top swimmers, a finalist in one event and team captain the year our team won 2nd
3) One of my state's top musicians, qualifying for All State, being a part of one of the state's most outstanding octets, and being THE cellist people ask to perform with for cultural events around my city (i also recorded over 300 hours of community service just from cello)
4) One of my state's most outstanding competitors, qualifying for a national and two international competitions, placing 4th in one

The downside? My academics. Balancing those ECs with APs proved quite the task. Facing tremendous sleep deprivation (like all of you), my GPA hovered at 3.9 UW with a few A-s. I scored in what would have been among the top percentile on a practice PSAT, but a series of unexpected events and unprecedented stress plunged me down to a "so-so" score on the real thing and subsequent SAT, as compared those who would be applying to the same universities as me.

I'm not one of those people looking for comfort or "oh you're so good i can't believe you didn't get in", but I am trying to give valuable advice from my personal experience. Even if this only helps one person, I'll be more than happy. I can see how some would consider my EC imbalance a mistake (in relation to getting accepted into a top school), but I have no regrets. I did what I loved, whether it was for college or not, and had an unforgettable high school experience. Sure, I may have been "good enough" to get into a top school, but I simply just wasn't what many of them were looking for.

Impressive ECs are great, but it's all about doing the right ones.

So, if you take one and only one thing away from this post, take this: Work SMART before you work HARD.

ctyankee · 04-07-2009, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Case # 1) This kid named Jill has her list of ec activities and talks about how she is very versatile and yada yada.... She also relists most of his ec activities in an essay of its own.

Case #2) This kid named Jenny has the same list of ec activities. Instead of listing all the activities over again in another essay, she picks one activity that she felt the most passionate about. Jenny than goes very in depth and talks about her feelings and experiences about that one activity. She even talks about how it has helped her be a slightly different person in life. How it has helped her to look at things in a different and more optimistic perspective and than Jenny backs this up by listing the specific events in that one activity that really impacted her.

To me, Jenny shows much more of his personality than Jill. I really didn't need Jill to re-list all her ec's and I feel that Jill is trying to FORCE IT. She's trying too hard to get the admission's admiration and that is just pathetic. Goodbye Jill.

Jenny on the other hand has done a superior job of conveying her personality and experiences. She did not seem like she was forcing it across. It is clear that Jenny is not trying hard to capture anybody's attention; she is simply speaking about who she is and how she feels about life. This person has much more of an impact on me than Jill.

It depends. The only difference between Jill and Jenny is that Jill is the most boring essay I would ever read. Jenny's essay may be the second most boring essay.

The O.P. mentioned that the essay is the one area of the application that allows an applicant to show his or her personality and interests is absolutely true. At the very least, it CAN help. Don't waste your opportunity to set yourself apart by telling someone how much you like the sport you play, the instrument you play, the charity work you were involved with. Don't tell them how it impacted you deeply as a person. Don't tell them how it helped your character or leadership development. An admissions officer may be 'first reader' for 700+ applications and the second reader for the same number of applications. He or she sees these type of essays all the do-da day. And each day his or her spirit just dies a little bit more from the effort of reading yet another one.

A college admissions officer told us about an essay that stood out. The Dairy Queen franchises had a free slurpee day. So the kid pulled together a group of friends and they took off on bicycles having mapped out a route to take them to the most Dairy Queens in that day. I think they hit 15 Dairy Queens.

What did the college admissions officer learn other than the kid likes slurpees?

a. The kid has friends
b. He was able to organize a group and lead a rather worthless yet fun activity to conclusion.
c. It's impossible to take part in such a worthless event for any of those participants not to remember it for the rest of their lives. How would such a student impact those around him on campus?
d. Rather than guessing what interests admissions, the student told them about what interested him.

End result is a kid comes across as refreshingly interesting and not another drone spitting back an essay his equally boring parents encouraged him to write.