doctorjohndorian

varsity team captain = debate team captain?

hk416

i understand that many people take "impressive" summer internships/jobs without substance. as for me, i interned at the National Human Rights Commission of Korea over the summer, and though I initially took the job with the primary intent to "impress", I learned so much more than i thought i would throughout this valuable experience. Working as a translator to foreigners who felt that their human rights had been violated, I met many people- immigrant workers taken advantage of, helpless wives who were neglected by husbands in a foreign nation- and dealt with many issues outside the scope of my ordinary, protected life in suburban california.
if i were to write about this experience in my essays, how would i be able to avoid the preconception that this was just another internship done to impress?

also, i have been involved in the school marching band for 4 years now, and during two of those years I have been a section leader to a clarinet section of 45-55 (a size comparable to many bands in the US). i have devoted anywhere from 8-24 hours per week to band, and have treated this as my primary EC. however, when i visited a "reputable" college consultant last week, she emphasized that involvement in band was meaningless because so many student applicants were involved in the band. even after i told her that i had participated in the 2000 inaugural parade and will be participating in the upcoming year's rose parade, she told me that it was nothing special- even with the two years of leadership experience- and that i should not rely on it to be of significant worth on college apps.
band, of course, is just one of many ECs for me, but it is one that is very important to me as it has shaped most of my high school career. i'm just curious to know if this opinion is indeed shared by most colleges.

bobaboy

Are they just limited to clubs or community service?

Would owning your own website that you earn money off of count as a form of EC? Would that be a bad EC?

Sheed30

yes, owning your own website would be an EC.... and a good EC at that...

Choi

Hey guys...
I'm a first-degree black belt at taekwondo, and I want to know if that puts me on par with varsity athletes. If you think about it, getting a black belt in taekwondo takes as much time (if not more than) getting into a varsity team.
Also, there are more varsity sports players than taekwondo black belts, not to mention a black belt is...well.... "different'.

On the downside, lots of people say that getting a black belt is too easy.

What do you guys think?

Sheed30

Better than a white belt is what i think....

Rutgers Hopeful

I will agree that when reading CC it kind of gives a skewed view of what college applicants are like. I have said in other threads that where I live, people think that getting into the state flagship U is the best thing that can possibly happen to a kid (and Ferny, I think you know what I'm talking about being from Texas). Most top students don't even consider the ivies or some of the other top schools, except maybe Rice. I don't think it is that they are afraid, it is just that they either don't really know much about them or don't really care. But, reading CC too much can make one feel extremely stupid or provincial. Not all hs kids out there are obsessing over their SAT's and AP's. It's much more likely that they are obsessing over what is going on this weekend. And, they are certainly only doing the EC's that they enjoy doing, not because they will look good on a resume.

HisGraceFillsMe

I'm going to say something that will upset possibly everyone on this board: I think the ivies are getting too much "awe factor". I understand that they're great schools, but you can get an amazing education lots of other places for a lot cheaper. I've just never understood the whole "I've wanted to go to Harvard since I was 2 and if I don't get in I will kill myself" thing (Yes, I know that's an exaggeration but you know what I mean).

That being said, I think ECs are pretty important, but not so much offices and such as dedication/focus/passion. Colleges can tell if you're only doing it to get into college, so keep that in mind.

Rutgers Hopeful

This thread is honestly inspiring suicidal tendencies in me. The whole of CC does. It makes me not want to apply to college, because I'm already convinced I won't be accepted, and then I might as well die.

I don't do anything. I participated in Math League and Community Design Club my junior year. I've been in the county Interacademic League and Science Olympiad for two years and I'll be captain of both next year. I'm tutoring kids to play musical instruments this summer. I'm volunteering at a secondhand bookstore for the Literacy Volunteers this summer, and I can't tutor there because I don't have a high school diploma yet. I've never had a job because my mother likes to have me around the house to take care of my sister and otherwise do her bidding.

If I wanted to be inspired to apply to top universities and keep my pride, CC is the last place I would go. I come here looking for advice and find out that colleges are going to hate me. What's the use...

Ailey

I think it's important when comparing anything (SATs, grades, ECs) etc of admitted vs non-admitted applicants to recognize what the real 'supply' of slots is at the most selective schools vs the apparent number of slots. For instance, take a typical Ivy, or one of the small very selective liberal arts colleges, and here's what you can expect to see -

10-15% of the slots to recruited athletes
15% of the slots to legacies
15% of the slots to targeted minorities (eg: black, hispanic, native american but not Asian)
10-15% to International applicants
5-10% super-stellar applicants whose academics alone guarantee them admission (Intel winner, Math/Science Olympiad winner etc)

That leaves considerably less than half the slots (maybe only 25%) for standard-issue bright, accomplished, high-achieving students, which is most of the applicant pool. Hence the very low admit rates for this group.

And when comparing the stats/accomplishments of who gets in vs not, you should first know if they fall into one of these categories, before thinking they are indicative of anything.

Keshira

What kind of ECs did your friend have, fhimas888888?

mj93

Ailey, interesting, but where are you getting those numbers?

RootBeerCaesar

^ hes obviously just estimating. No College that wants to continue having people apply there is going to publish what spots in their class is 'reserved'.

Castel

This thread makes me want to go back to freshman year and do the things I couldn't do.

Sheed30

Yea, it makes everyone want to do that.