asdfjkl1

Just a hint out there for all you in MUN, it's not about how many conferences you go to---it's how you do at the conferences + leadership. So, instead of focusing on joining the club, focusing on excelling.

_Silence

I don't rthink I properly understood the whole concept of EC?
What I basically want to know, do

-self-study Japanese with now real proof of proficiency so far
-Drama-class(in my school we can only take it as a class, and get graded for our performance. Still it requires a lot of after-school time for rehearsals and stuff)
-Choir(Same as with drama, though not that time-consuming)
-Writing(I write poems and stuff since I'm 13, mostly for myself, didn't really publish anything, am still waiting for the outcome of europa-wide writing-competion)

count as ECs?

On some threads I saw others asking similar questions, yet they got different answers. Could somebody maybe answer my question or explain to me, why they do/do not count as ECs?

sushifureak

@ _silence
while your activities are interesting, I think only drama class and choir count as ECs only IF you participate in shows outside of the class period (ie. your class puts on a production for the school)
studying jap and writing aren't really 'ECs' but more like hobbies. I dont think they're ECs because they dont really 'benefit' others except yourself. [I know that the definition of EC doesn't necessarily mean something that helps others, but that's what it usually is] You can make your passion of jap and writing into ECs by starting a club at your school or teaching Jap to elem. students or something. However, they are good topics to write about on college essays.

_Silence

@sushifureak
Yeah we the whole point(or part of it) in Drama and Choir at my school is to have something, that can be presented at the end of the school year, at one or two nights. Normally for everyone who is interested.
Yeah and I thought that writing and self-studying japanese are probably just hobbies, well whatever, that doesn't make them less likeable for me or something.

Thanks a lot.

sw_haldar01

To reassure any obsessive people (especially students in their summer before senior year--because I remember how that was) who think they need to cure cancer to get into HYP, I got into Princeton and Yale and was wait-listed at Harvard--and I'm from the urban Northeast, not a URM (I'm Asian) and come from an adversity-free middle-class background.

My extracurriculars mostly involved officer positions at school clubs and one or two local pre-established community service programs. I didn't do any selective summer programs and wasn't in student government. I had a number of B's on my report card.

It's all about the essay. Take an ordinary academic or extracurricular experience you've had and make it extraordinary and memorable. Or alternately, try to turn a weak point in your application into a strength or at least, an interesting, memorable quirk.

latenightworker

I'm kind of a special case - I'm not in any clubs or organizations at my school, but have won quite a few honors in activities that I'm involved in OUTSIDE of school. I dedicate a significant amount of time to them per week. But will colleges necessarily view my lack of participation in school-sponsored activities as a bad thing?

paki786

^ I second that question.

rohin

^ I third that question.

Poseur

To the three above posters: distinguishing yourself in outside-of-school activities is great, and these activities count as "extracurriculars," too. I don't think that it will be a huge disadvantage that you're not involved in activities in school, but are you sure there aren't any school-sponsored clubs in areas of interest that you would enjoy and to which you could contribute?

Here's my unrelated question, x-posted from a Brown thread because I'm lazy:

What if your extracurriculars don't demonstrate passion in one area, just... dabbling in several areas of interest?

My ECs are all over the place and I haven't done anything extraordinary with any of them. I join clubs in my areas of interests and have very few "leadership" positions (none as of now, but a few potential ones have been offered to me senior year. I hate the idea of getting leadership positions just for the sake of having them, but especially as a senior, I'd love to be a part of keeping clubs organized and active.) I'm on Math Team and in Art Club; I participate in computer programming competitions and was a member of Photography Club and Literary Magazine for two years (until the meeting dates conflicted with other clubs); I'm part of a program that donates computers to needy students and helps them learn to use them; I'm in the French Honor Society, Art Honor Society, and NHS; I've taken classes over the summer in areas of interest; etc.

I know that colleges in general hate to see a "laundry list" of extracurricular activities, and at first I planned on focusing (in my applications) on one or two of my more important activities (PCs4Kids is very rewarding, Art Club is a fun way to practice my love of art and use it to help out in the community), as seems to be the preferred method according to the general consensus in this thread: elaborate upon one or two passions and what you've done with them. But then I decided that it would be more honest and representative of me to present myself as having used my spare time to participate in ECs in all sorts of areas of interest to me. I want to write my extracurricular essay about how participating in all sorts of activities, even though I didn't pour a bunch of time into any particular one, has been rewarding because I've used my HS time to explore my (multiple) passions.

My biggest passion relevant to my studies is cognitive neuroscience -- but as I just decided in the middle of last year (my junior year) that this was what I wanted to study, I haven't done anything in that field. This summer, I'm taking a two-week course at Summer@Brown on the nervous system; also, next school year I'm going to secure an internship (my school system has a great intern-mentor program) with a scientist who does at least somewhat-related work. But besides these two things, I'm not gonna have any activities that demonstrate my interest in the subject.

Anyways, I just want to know what you guys think about the whole not-doing-anything-big-but-having-lots-of-interests thing. :/ I hope I haven't screwed myself over for college admissions by, you know, spending my spare time doing things I like! -___-

sw_haldar01

What if your extracurriculars don't demonstrate passion in one area, just... dabbling in several areas of interest?

I don't think most schools are expecting high school seniors to know exactly what they want to do in life--some level of dabbling is probably expected. However, I think it would be to your benefit to find some kind of overarching theme to your interests, academic and non-academic. This theme doesn't necessarily have to be art or business or something career-focused but you should seem to have some kind of direction.

For example, my ECs were all over the place too but because I decided before applying that my interest was journalism, I tried to relate my different experiences (none of which were organized around one theme at all) to communication. For example, I wrote about how an internship I did at a psychology lab helped me develop a more scientific understanding of how people communicate. Use essays, the common app question on your most meaningful EC and other short answers to demonstrate how your maybe scattered and unambitious-seeming list of ECs (I'm not saying yours' are but mine's were) have helped you discover your interests and skills.

Sesquipedalian

lala 10 chars

nemz1e

how do my ECs sound?

Varsity Cross Country
Varsity Track
Hospital volunteer (200+ hours)

I think I don't have enough ECs, but running is my passion and I dedicate a lot of time and energy into it and I usually only have weekends to do community service. I'm also a member of several school clubs and hold a few leadership positions. would my ECs be viewed as "too weak?"

also, I really can't do much this summer such as hold a job because I'm going to the philippines for a month (my first time visiting my homeland since birth =]!!). will that hurt me?

cptofthehouse

Northstarmom, your post is a keeper. I am copying it for my files.

highopes

I'm not sure if this is the proper place to ask, but do colleges have any interest in accomplishments you made during middle school? At my school, there were many school-sponsored EC's offered in middle school but not in high school. For example, I won the school spelling bee in 7th and 8th grade, and was runner-up at the regional spelling bee in 8th grade. I was a member of Power of the Pen, a writing contest, in 7th and 8th grade, but there is nothing similar offered at my high school. Should I even bother to list these pre-high school accomplishments on my college application?

Poseur

Yeah, Ses, just whining as per usual. xP