Hey everyone! I’m getting ready to apply to a few Ivy League schools, along with a couple other schools, and I was wondering if my ECs are good enough. I see that quite a few applicants to these schools participate in things like Mathletes and some science teams, winning awards and whatnot, and others are musical prodigies who have also gained recognition in state or national competitions. I haven’t done any of that stuff. I’ve participated in a few clubs in my school, but the main EC that stands out in my application is the community service I do each weekend. I volunteer at a small shop that donates all of its money to animal shelters. I’ve been doing this 4 hours a week for 6 years, about 40 weeks per year. I’m a manager here and I get to meet so many great people every week, and it’s truly a unique experience. I also personally tutored two students, volunteered at a lot of church stuff, and maintained a job through all this. Is it bad that I haven’t done any research or participated in competitions?
Sure, I’m an AP Scholar with Distinction, but I don’t really have other “awards”. I have an above average ACT score and an above average GPA for the top school I would like to attend, but can the lack of awards be detrimental? I haven’t had much time to participate in anything else because of my workload from school and everything else I was already doing. Sure, awards would certainly help, but I want to know how much this hurts. I thought that my time would be better spent raising money for the well-being of animals than joining a science competition that wouldn’t really do much for me or the world around me. Will top universities see it my way, or are they looking for awards in particular? The leadership I’ve demonstrated in running a store by myself every weekend is enough in my belief, but I want to know what others think.
Thanks for the help!
I think you could probably “sell” your one major EC since you’ve done it for so many years. It shows depth and commitment and accomplishment (since you’re a manager) all of which schools like to see.
My bigger concern would be “above average” grades and scores. I don’t know what you mean by that (you might be just modest) but keep in mind that the Ivies and similarly selective schools usually attract the very top students. Are your academics up to par?
ECs are honestly often the tipping point for top schools to pick between many highly qualified candidates. Go ahead and apply to a couple as reaches, but make sure you have a solid set of matches and safeties that you would like to attend and are affordable. If you get into a reach, great! If not, you still want to have choices in the spring you are happy with.
It is impossible to chance for schools with under 5% - 15% acceptance rates as they do not have enough room to accept all of the qualified candidates. Just be sure you have match and safety schools that appear affordable and that you would be happy to attend on your application list.
Thanks for the answers everyone! And I have a 35 ACT with a GPA “well above” a 4.0 (this is according to my guidance counselor, as the weighted averages aren’t out yet so I am not able to view everything), so I believe I’m good with that. I’ll just try to sell that EC as suggested-there’s really nothing else I could do at this point anyway.
You can’t calculate your own GPA?
No, I cannot. The grading system in my district changed just last year so none of the students know the weighting scale yet or how it affects the grades before the new system. Regardless, GPA is not an issue here at all.