fhimas88888888

If you have to ask it - I would say no. No. 1 definitely does not count. If 2 actually challenged you personally (as I'm sure it did), you could use it. However, I don't know how it would help your app.

The Brian

it'd mostly help at ucsd where they give up to 500 points for personal challenges.

plus, i think it could make it the focus for an essay.

pastariffic

My most impressive ECs, which I think had a significant impact on getting me in, were all on teams of at least five, and we didn't even make it past the state level. Don't pay ANY attention to these people who try to tell you that your ECs have to be stunning to get you into college ... it's completely unrealistic.

fhimas88888888

^ where are you going to school?

chocaholic0029

does anybody know of any prestigious essay contests that would qualify as great ECs? any help would be appreaciated, thanks!!

pepsiholic

A lot of people have been mentioning how adcoms hate if you're involved in "too many" activities that aren't related and "resume-whoring." I have a question...
I'm heavily involved in 4 different clubs, 2 of which are related to my passion - international relations. I'm President of Model UN, Amnesty International, Editor-in-Chief of the Newspaper, and VP of Science Olympiad. Would this be a negative thing? Honestly, I love all 4.
Another thing...I know some positions are obviously just positions where no work is involved. For example, president of Model UN could be perceived as a pretty lame one - but I have to organize everything for 60 people. Where on the application can I show this? I'd rather make my essays more personal (like they say: "Use your essays for something that your application can't show"), so I was thinking that I could write something for the "What Else Would You Like Us to Know" section. Thoughts?

kE-

From his previous posts, pastariffic is going to princeton; however, I do not know if he is a URM or not.

OVB

Are good sports ECs the best shot for getting into HYPSM?

BandTenHut

Band: Whatever.
Marching Band: Significant time investment... but meh.
Section Leader or Drum Major: More than worthwhile to add to your resume.

One thing I wonder, if you were part of a sports team or such for 4 years, and you planned to list it, is it worth more and worth adding if you, say, won the state championship? Or something of the like?

fhimas88888888

Hmmmm - it all depends on what sport it is. You could definitely be on the Varsity soccer team and win the state championship, but YOU could be cooking eggs on the bench using your body heat. In those situations, you'd need to say you were a starter for the state championship to mean anything. In all scenarios (all sports), it seems necessary that you describe your role in winning the state championship. Colleges care about YOU and not what your team did.

BandTenHut

Well how about this.

Varsity Soccer, Team Captain.

Varsity Soccer, Team Captain, State Champions 2007.

The second looks better. But does it matter? And as captain you had an influential role in your team's growth and performance.

Marching Band, Drum Major

Marching Band, Drum Major, Open Class Champions 2007

That's a big leadership position (and in our circuit that would put you first among over 25 bands from two states), but does anyone really care when it's on an application?

fhimas88888888

There is absolutely no reason NOT to throw it on there. Adcoms will not count you off for simply being thorough.

Nixxi

At least 95% of students take at least an hour to get to school and 50% take an hour and a half (myself being one of them), thus despite my enthusiastic attempts to do everything I would like to do, I am simply unable.

If I continue on this track would these ECs be sufficient? I know that a few of the schools to which I want to apply really like debate. Northwestern offers full scholarships to people who clear into octofinals round at THE national tournament of debate. Wake Forest U offers debate scholarships also. I have to travel a lot for debate (States include Georgia, Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, Conneticut, California, New Jersey, Massachusettes, Minnesota, etc. Debate season starts before school starts.)

-Speech & Debate Team (Secretary for 06-07) (Will run for
~Quarterfinalist at Novice Nationals for Debate
~Foreign Extemporaneous Speaker
~Congress Competitor

-Crew Team

-Student Council
~Organised carnival, Valentine's day

-GSA Member

-Animal Room Squad (I have no free periods/lunch and am relying on my secreterial status to take 15 minutes off from Forensics class to do this)
~Take care of abandoned animals or animals the science classes don't need any longer

I'm interested in starting a Paintball Club because it's one of my passions and a lot of people seem to be into it. I would drop GSA for it, should I take my chance?

fhimas88888888

Nixxi - yeah I know how that time thing goes (my pillow thinks I'm cheating on her)

As long as you continue to demonstrate that your time spent in forensics is worthwhile (as in you're doing well in competitions), you should be fine. Good job on quarterfinals at nationals - but work to get to semis. Although I'm not familiar with national circuit debate, I know that competitiion at quarter finals at speech nationals is never too impressive.

bjfcool

Would getting tutored in arabic and knowing the language at a decent level be a good EC?

(i'm a white, mid-western, male, so no i'm not from the middle east)