A good combo of EC's

carolyn
Sun, 22 Apr 2007 16:03:22 +0000

I’ll give you a few examples, based on the students I’ve worked with as a counselor who have done well in admissions:


While volunteering at a medical facility, a student became interested in a specific medical condition. She then contacted the local chapter of a national organization related to the condition in order to learn more about how to work witht he patients she was encountering. She ended up working in the office of the organization, assisting in various capacities, including fund-raising and answering caregiver questions. But she didn’t stop there. She was a dancer, and decided, on her own, to plan a series of fund-raising performances that raised a substantial sum of money for this organization. While she did do the initial volunteer work at the medical facility “for college,” she did the other things simply because she had found a cause she believed deeply in, and because she truly wanted to make a difference.
Another student didn’t have many “traditional” EC’s - he wasn’t a joiner. But he did enjoy writing and literature. He arranged to do an independent study with a school teacher on a particular author (not for school credit), had some of his poems published in small literary magazines, wrote for his school paper, and attended a very prestigious creative writing summer program. He sought out author lectures and poetry slams in his local area, and never missed one. He included an extensive list of books he had read outside of class in the last six months with his applications. He did play a sport, but what got got him into an Ivy league school was the consistency with which he’d pursued his interest and love for words.
Another student’s EC’s seemed all over the map, but when she looked at what she’d enjoyed doing most in all of those activities, she realized that she had somehow used her art talents in every one. She created an activity sheet that pulled her varied activities together by explaining the art projects she’d done in supporting those clubs (i.e., designing posters for one club, helping with graphic design of the yearbook, helping the school set up its annual art show every year, etc.) and the art activities she’d been involved with outside of school (taking museum classes, doing crafts projects with kids living in a local shelter, etc.).


What three did that made them stand out is pursue their interests – none of them had activity resumes longer than one page, but the activities they highlighted in their essays and interviews and applications were somehow tied together, showed initiative, and showed the spark of pursuing something for reasons other than “college applications.” I want to stress that none of them did the majority of what they did to enhance their college applications - they simply followed what their interests.

Of course, these also are not YOUR interests, talents, or passions – to find those, you have to spend some time thinking about what you really love doing, or where your strongest interests lie – no “list of EC’s” done by other people will fit you. So, I’d encourage you to think about what you really LOVE doing, or what you really have a STRONG interest or talent in, and then look for activities that you enjoy that will build upon that love, interest, or talent. If you do so, you will be fine.