How important are extracurriculars

radyland · 07-19-2007, 03:43 PM

A lot of the people that end up going to MIT are just super geniuses that don't get out much and I'm wondering did they have good EC's in school? like clubs and volunteering and crap?

mootmom · 07-19-2007, 09:09 PM

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A lot of the people that end up going to MIT are just super geniuses that don't get out much

I think you're starting with flawed assumptions. This does not match any of the roughly 50 admits I've met in the past 3 years.

Did they have good ECs? Yes.

(Shouldn't this be on the main MIT board rather than MIT2011?)

dally · 07-19-2007, 10:27 PM

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I'm wondering did they have good EC's in school? like clubs and volunteering

Mmm...yeah. I started a club, for instance.

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and crap?

Yup, that too.

Sklog_W · 07-20-2007, 04:06 PM

I had 12 seasons of sports, not much else. But a lot of people have volunteering (I put down none), and clubs (I put down two for one year each). EC's are important, but not to the extreme. If you have an absurd amount you look like a fake person.

And no, it is rare to find a person who did nothing besides work in school, although I know one person who does fit into the no EC category, but he's not a genius, he's just really lazy.