"Those ECs are weak...."- So what's good? - Page 14

kevster1001 · 11-12-2006, 06:21 PM

What about this...

I mean my ecs are pretty much garbage, lke sealedhuman77 said. But I would totally love to "start again" and join many clubs and become actively involved in college: whether it be political clubs, cultural, TV, radio, etc. I came to the U.S. for sophomore year, and was pretty much clueless about the concept of "ECs" (so basically didn't do much during Soph. year), never knew there were things like "Honor" classes, etc etc.

I'm somewhat doing some ECs, but Im worried I might not seem like a passionate and persistent person with ECs.

Would adcoms consider the fact that I came to the US for my sophomore year, hence, know why my ECs side is weak, or is this just plain stupid excuse? (well really it was hard to settle down and take a deep breath at first.. i mean immigrating to a new country is hard.. especially in a big country like the US.)

gqunit · 11-14-2006, 04:36 AM

I dunno there are a lot of people who did EC's even though they came to US during high school....

ElizaLou · 11-14-2006, 05:59 PM

From my experience, ECs seemed to have been more just as (if not more important than) SAT scores, etc. I feel that college admissions officers look for passion, as many people have already said. Maybe they even like to see some sort of common theme or focus among your ECs (like community service, arts, environmental affairs....)

Alienheat4 · 11-14-2006, 09:10 PM

So before this thread I was fairly confident that I had done enough in high school to really stand out to college admissions. However, I am starting to really doubt this and I felt like my EC were some of my strongest part. Could someone look at my EC and tell me if they see a common trend. I know what I'm trying to highlight in my application, what I love to do. However, I don't know anymore if college admissions officials will be able to. Please help, I'm getting really worried about this.

EC:

~Football(9-12): 2 Year Varsity, Starter, JV Captain 2004 Division Champions 2006
~Track(9-12): 2 Year Varsity, Division Champions 2005
~Karate(9-12): Brown Belt, Black Belt by June
~HVSA Soccer(9-12): (there are two rec soccer leagues in my area, one that is a typical low key rec soccer league, and another that is super competitive and is filled with athletes who want to play soccer in the fall but play on school teams for other sports): League Champions 2006, League Runnerups 2005, Team Captain 2005-2006, League All-Star 2004-2006
~Powerlifting(9-12): 500 pound club, 1000 pound club, squat record
~Islamic Society of Central Jersey(9-12): Graduate of Sunday School, competed in Quiz and Reading competitions and placed 2nd and 3rd.
~Islamic Society of Central Jersey(9-12): Assistant Teacher 2005-2006
~ISCJ Youth Group(9-12): Official 2005-2006, 200 hours volunteered
~Hospital Volunteer: 150 hours volunteered

Summer Experiences:
~Went to Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America conference and sat in on several seminars for those who have even a slight interest in medicine
~Traveled to Europe and explored many historical areas and was introduced to European cultures

Misc:
~Am fluent in three languages: English, Urdu, and Hindi (not sure if this helps at all)

Hera Beara · 11-15-2006, 05:33 PM

Seems to me like athletics and volunteering are the common trend in your EC's. All the athletics are high endurance like football and powerlifting so it's not all over the place.

Alienheat4 · 11-15-2006, 05:46 PM

Well the main points of my EC would be exactly what you said and devotion to my religion. What I'm wondering is if my EC are looked at as good. I'm not applying to all Ivies, but more like Boston College, Wake Forest, Lehigh, those kinds of schools. So would these EC be good for those schools or would they be looking for something more like cancer research or something.

jaynele · 11-16-2006, 11:34 AM

rather than doing things just for college, pursue what you are passionate about... and go an extra mile. colleges see your superficiality if you join a group for the name sake. but if you want to know.... "special" extracurricular activities are: crew, martial arts, acting (if you were in a famous film or something).... etc.

Hari Iyer · 11-16-2006, 06:50 PM

to respond to the value of eagle scout:

I myself am an eagle scout, and i can say that it was fairly easy to achieve this rank.
Dont take that the wrong way though, i put quite a bit of time into scoutng, and even now, after i have my eagle rank, i still participate quite a lot (im currently the senior patrol leader of my troop). BUT, as for the advancement aspect of boy scouts, almost anyone can do it.

So yeah.

Oh and for the record, just because I'm a boy scout, does not mean that I hate homosexuals, it does not mean that I'm christian, and it does not eman that I'm republican.

Im actually an extreme liberal Hindu.

An extreme liberal, Hindu, eagle scout, who would've thunk it?! =D

I just hope that the admissions officers at NYU don't think i hate homosexuals.

AndyN · 11-19-2006, 05:01 AM

Can anyone tell me which uni place great importance on ECs? Thx b4

Lzyxoxo11 · 12-03-2006, 05:40 PM

Also, I feel it is better to do fewer activities and spend more time on those than a long list with little time for each. Colleges would rather have someone who is passionate about a few things than someone who is doing too many activities just to get into college. My college counselor said that colleges are getting more and more skeptical of people with a long list of extracurriculars...

California-Bolt · 12-04-2006, 08:46 PM

Well thats good for me I guess. Most of my ECs are all within the same area.

4th house · 12-07-2006, 01:38 AM

Speaking as an Eagle Scout and a big fan of Scouting, I would just like to mention that I know of at least two Eagles that I worked with who were mentally challenged, i.e. they weren't even able to attend mainstream grammer, middle, or high schools. Needless to say, their Eagles will not be getting them into Harvard. I respect the heck out of these guys and love them dearly. I also know quite a few other Eagles who, while not mentally challenged, are barely making in through high school.

The point I'm making is that Eagle is great, but it's just another thing for the resume. It is not a golden ticket into the candy factory in and of itself. I can understand the anger of anyone who thinks it is and thus puts BSA down.

sal4004 · 12-07-2006, 03:44 PM

how signficant do you think being the sole student member of township school board is (although I don't have voting power)?

California-Bolt · 12-08-2006, 05:23 PM

"Speaking as an Eagle Scout and a big fan of Scouting, I would just like to mention that I know of at least two Eagles that I worked with who were mentally challenged, i.e. they weren't even able to attend mainstream grammer, middle, or high schools. Needless to say, their Eagles will not be getting them into Harvard. I respect the heck out of these guys and love them dearly. I also know quite a few other Eagles who, while not mentally challenged, are barely making in through high school."

Ahh yes, I have seen kids like this as well. There's a program called Scoutreach, I think it's called that, but it's for kids like that. They don't necasarily complete the main requirements of Eagle, but do as much as possible. Either way, I don't see it as a BSA put down, and I've read this forum enough to ignore any future putdowns.

Ironmomus · 12-10-2006, 01:13 PM

How strong exactly is Speech and Debate as an EC? Other than writing associated publications, some prgramming work, and Academic Honors its about all i've got. However, I do believe it is easily a 'passion', i do three different events and am good at all of them.