Are MUNs useless? I know that one should do activities that are actually interesting to them but there are people who say that its a waste of time and thry such for college admission as they are a glorified ec that is not even important but I am actually good at them and I have oppurtunities to participate in them. So ps give your opinions.
What is a MUN?
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Model United Nations.
I used to teach in a private school, and MUN was a big thing there - the coaches and students were all taking it quite seriously. I teach computer science and know next to nothing about MUN; however, any EC that gets the students that excited and invested is good in my opinion.
Does MUN make your resume look good? nobody knows, and I don’t think that’s important. It is important what you learn and how you grow from participating. I only remember two MUN students in my classes, and I remember liking how they would approach problems from multiple perspectives, which was definitely a good trait to have.
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Of you enjoy MUN and can make a valuable contribution then it is worth doing.
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It’s a good EC. And if you are good at it (and are winning prizes at competitions), even better. Is it a stand-out EC, like winning multiple medals at the Olympics, no. But it shows that you have interests outside the classroom, are part of a team, etc. All good things. Not so different from debate, robotics, etc
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Adding: In your other thread about ECs you noted that opportunities are limited in your developing nation so why wouldn’t you do MUN when it is available, interesting, and enjoyable?
Best to think of ECs as a way to cultivate interests, expand horizons, develop personally, etc. and not just as a line on a college application
I thought you settled on your ECs in the other post. No reason to second guess your choices.
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I think you need to stop listening to “people who say…”
If you like MUN, do MUN.
If you want to submit a good college application, do things you enjoy and to the best of your ability. Be authentic. Understand that the odds of you getting into any of the most selective colleges are against you, which you have been advised of in your other thread. Don’t be a person who looks back on high school and wishes you had spent more time exploring your interests and less time fretting about what you can do to get into Harvard, et al.
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100%.
There are lot of people giving “advice” about highly selective US college admissions who clearly are not actually in a position to know whether or not that is actually good advice. Indeed, as in many areas, there is clearly an “echo chamber” effect going on where lots of people who don’t really know whether some claim is true nonetheless repeat it to each other, and it becomes seen as authoritative through repetition, as opposed to being traceable to an actual authority.
Interestingly, even when you can point these people to things that the admissions officers for these colleges have actually said and which contradict the claims of the echo chamber, some people may choose to believe the echo chamber and not these AOs! This is rationalized by a sort of conspiratorial mindset where the idea is these AOs are hiding the true secrets to successful admissions from the public, but some clever outsiders have hacked the system and are prepared to share those secrets with you . . . .
I would strongly advise the OP to understand what is going on here and learn to simply ignore people who do not actually have a demonstrably authoritative basis for what they are claiming. Their confidence in what they are claiming is not in fact warranted, and the advice they are giving is often more likely to actually hurt than help.
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You’ve already answered your question 