How to Impress Adcoms with your Extracurriculars - Page 6

hypergreenbean · 11-13-2005, 09:05 PM

What if you are really passionate about a form of dancing that isn't really too popular at the big colleges' dance programs?
I do many different kinds of ECs but my main passion is for hip hop dance as well as breakdancing. I've done a few commercials in the dance industry and I'm a national as well as an international champion (world championships aired on ESPN) in hip hop. But my ballet, modern, etc skills as a dancer aren't good enough for their dance programs. Will the colleges still accept it as my passion?

Can I still apply with immaculate grades and test scores and use my achievements in an unordinairy passion as a hook? I remember hearing about a smart girl being accepted into Harvard or some other college because she was an exceptional belly dancer...

Shark_bite · 11-26-2005, 10:58 PM

that is awesome, colleges will love that you are good at that style of dance. it doesnt matter that your style is different. i mean, some ec's have nothing to do with anything (like the famous example of the toy model collector)

Ok i have a problem. In my frosh year, i was in 2 ec's Track and Tae kwon do. In my soph year, i added forensics (speech) i won a gold medal in state and am a black belt in TKD. This year as a junior, i went insane with almost 10 clubs that im actively involved with. Im the president in one club, and i founded/am president in 2 clubs. im an active member of a bunch more that dont give out awards. basically now i have a bunch of ec's and have an award or leadership in a lot of them, but i didnt have much in the first 2 years of high school. Do you think colleges will look negativly on this or what? will they say that im just doing it for college? i hope not because im pretty active in all of them and really like doing them.

One other thing to talk abou is my fave and most impressive EC. I ran a marathon. Im hoping that the adcoms know that this requires 6 months of hard training for each one. It is my favorite activity and im pretty good. (im not fast, but in marathons, which aren't competative at all its not a big deal) Im planning on running another in about 6 months (again it's a minimum of 6 months to recover from the last one/ prep for a new one. this is the fastest i can do another one without injuring myself, at least according to my dad.) If its worth mentioning, i was the youngest one to run it this year-16 is the minimum age requirement, i was 16yrs and 1wk. also, there were only 19 other 16 year old finishers. (this was the chicago marathon, and its pretty big-40,000 people ran it.)

So basically what do you think of my marathon and, will colleges frown upon my lack of ecs in 9th and tenth grade and sudden explosion of them in 11th grade? Will they think im doing them just for college? (im not) Thanks for reading all that!

xxkiwixx · 11-28-2005, 05:31 AM

What I have gathered from these posts and other info is that colleges would rather have you be involved really in depth with a few EC's and do those justice, rather than pages of EC's in which you have made only a small contribution....hope I've got that right!!???

I dont have many EC's but I have been involved with Soccer and Underwater Hockey from 8-11 grade at my high school, and have had leadership and fundraising roles involved with them.

Does it matter if you begin new EC's in your senior year??? Or would they prefer long term commitment???

Reykjavic · 11-29-2005, 07:36 PM

umm... underwater hockey? elaborate please, it sounds intreguing (i'm a hockey player from Vermont)... anyway - they want passion and commitment - starting something senior year won't show much except you want to impess them, not that you necessarily are passionate about something which you've been doing forever.

Reykjavic · 11-29-2005, 07:44 PM

i wrote a really cool essay about road bike riding - it's present tense, which is Jawesome (street sharks anyone??). anyway - i'm not particulary good at road bike racing, but I do it, and I love it, and i portrayed taht through my essay - so if there's something you really like to do, even if it's not heading some committee, you can still fit it into your application as a major part of your life - and (hopefully!) the adcoms will respect that...

ijflexi · 12-11-2005, 09:48 AM

I have a legitimate question....no joke...I am one of onlya very few Jewish people to be personaly blessed by Pope John Paul II. Should I list this

quiltguru · 12-11-2005, 11:24 AM

If this was an important moment for you personally, I would suggest that you address it in one of your essays. If you mean to list it in your activities, honors, etc, it doesn't really fit.

ijflexi · 12-11-2005, 08:51 PM

hehe

AJD878787 · 12-14-2005, 11:53 PM

Hey i just wrote a message and i dont know where it went.
Anyway, it said the following.

I graduated froma French high shool in Quebec, Canada with excellent grades. I dont have any ECs unless sports that are part of school "ECs". I played basketball for 2 years, played Sax in an Orchestra and played 1 year of football. then again, these werent anyhting great that changed my life.

Im now living with my father in arizona and am currently enrolled in a community college. Id like , for fall 2006, to transfer to a good school for undergrad business. Wharton, Harvard, and possibly McGill (Montreal, Canada)

I was wondering if any of you would know anything about my situation.
I have no SAT or ACT scores since im canadian, i basically skipped grade 12 and went straight to college and so far i have good grades, ( 4 A's and 1 C)

So if anybody knows anything about how i could help myself in this transfer application, please let me know.

Also, i was wondering if the essay is very important. In my head, its the most important thing besides the grades and test scores. But as i mentionned i dont really have any crazy ECs so im thinking of making a good essay about myself, and make it stand out and show them my views on whatever.. nothing to impress them, but let them know hwo i think , where im going, and where im from.

please help.
im scared

parikhs · 12-27-2005, 12:22 PM

I made a Resume or "Brag Sheet" and used it for my ED school because I used the school's own online application (Not the common app)...now I'm using the common app for my RD schools and there isn't a place where I can upload my Resume. What should I do? I can't copy/paste it into Additional Information because its organization in tables and formatted w/ style.

kevster1001 · 01-02-2006, 12:06 AM

Wow this thread will definitely help me in the future! It gives more information on ECs.

Question here: Would someone consider this very important?

--- I am cleaning my city (with couple other friends). I am the leader in this mini group. Every saturday we go out and clean areas that need a bit more cleaning. Received an award by the city and met the Mayor. Appeared in the city's newspaper.

Keeping our environment clean is something i am very passionate about.

In the future, maybe I could write in my essay about my passion on environmental awareness and what i learned from cleaning my city.

collegecanwait · 01-02-2006, 03:49 AM

definately a good thing. I also was very frank with my councellors, teachers, and optional reference about what ECs were particurly important to me and that I would be talking about in my app, so they coudl mention my passion for them also. In addition, there were a couple of ECs I could not mention to do space issues, so I had a councellor mention them in his letter

kevster1001 · 01-02-2006, 01:11 PM

thank you for your opinion.

i recently heard that having lots and lots and lots of ECs is not that important. although you have 3-5 (=few) but you are certain you are passionate about one of them and show evidence of your passion towards the specific EC,for ex. in your essays, then you have higher chances to get admitted. am i true?

parikhs · 01-02-2006, 01:37 PM

I wrote a resume and it came out to a page and a 1/2 - not many EC's but definitely a lot of passion I showed...I showed how much $ I earned for some community service activities as well as companies I had.

However, my GC didn't mention how much $ I earned...it shouldn't be a problem right? She just emphasized my passion for all the activites I listed on my resume.

kevster1001 · 01-02-2006, 01:52 PM

i'm so jealous at people that have amazing stats - with scholarships, tons of national and int'l awards, superb essays, being presidents of different things, instruments blah blah blah. i think i should do more stuff (?)

i would like to convince admissions officers with my passion toward community service (the one mentioned above_).. dunno if it will work...

amazing stats from other people make me feel im at the low bottom right now....