Help with ways to work around not great EC's

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Bio:
-Citizenship: US
-State of residence: New York
-Class: Upper-Middle
-Race: White
-Gender: Male

School:
-Type (Public/private & size): Public, 400 per class
-Graduates (How many go to Ivy’s/top 20): 20% of each class
-AP’s Offered: A fair amount

Academic Profile:
-Unweighted GPA: 4.0
-Weighted GPA: 4.3
-AP’s: World history(4), Comp. Politics(5), Bio(4)
-ACT: N/A
-SAT: 1540
-SAT II: Chem(750) World History(760)
-Rank: School doesn’t release but at least top 25%
-Course Rigor: Very rigorous

EC (In order of importance/commitment):

  • 11 years of karate, 3rd degree black belt, practice 4 times a week plus running 4 times a week
  • 7 years of Viola, in schools audition only symphony orchestra, gone to all county 4 years in a row, 3 years in a row of area all state and 1 year of all state
  • 3ish years of varsity rowing, competed in state and national competitions
  • MUN, help run one of the biggest conferences in NY, also chaired at it

Other Notables (College courses you’ve taken, papers published, created own website, TAing a class, ect):

  • SUPA Personal Finace, SUPA Economics
  • I run my own stock portfolio that has had a 47% increase over the past two years

Honors:

  • All previously mentioned All county and Area All state and All State orchestras
  • Best delegate at MUN

Work:

  • 9 weeks of my summer are spend working 24hrs a day 6 days a week at a over night kids camp on a lake, teaches me leadership with lots of kids aged 7 to 14

Schools I’m looking at:

  • Notre Dame (I would be a 3rd generation legacy)
  • UPenn
  • Duke
  • U of Chicago
  • Northwestern
  • Harvard (why not??)
  • Yale
  • Vllinova
  • Cornell
  • Case Western Reserve
    ***The list is more or less in order of preference

Intended Major: Fiance/Economics
Intended Minor: something with International Politics

Thanks!

2

Your SAT and GPA are great.

I would however disagree with your title of “not great ECs”. You have 11 years of karate and a third degree black belt. That is a huge commitment to an EC that you obviously care about and have excelled in. You also have 7 years of Viola. Frankly to me a violin is a bit screechy, and a viola has a beautiful rich sound. More importantly, this again shows an ability to commit and excel at an activity that takes a lot of practice and concentration. The point of ECs is NOT to have the same ECs as everyone else. The point is to show commitment to a few ECs which you care about and where you excel. You have nailed this too.

Make sure that you have safeties, but I think that you will do very well indeed.

3

Thanks, I said not so great because I don’t have any leadership positions which I know are a very important part of EC’s.
@DadTwoGirls

4

Can you get recruited for rowing?

5

I’m right on the edge but I don’t really know if I would want to because It is such a huge time commitment.
@Studious99

6

Especially for the Ivys, athletic recruitment is a tremendous hook for admissions. Obviously you would need to be very good, in fact great in your sport in order for the coaches to give you a spot in their recruitment slots. Once that happens, with your academic stats you with have a far better chance of admissions. Therefore, it goes without saying that one will need to commit a tremendous amount of time to the sport in order for you to excel and be noticed and recruited. Otherwise, if you are just an “average” athlete, then it will just be another EC as far as the adcom is concerned. Something to think about… (if you think you have the potential to excel as a rower).

7

That’s a very good point at most other schools I diffenatly could row but all of the elite school academically are the most elite at rowing but I think it’s definitely worth looking into
@justverycurious

8

MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Closing thread. The original poster created an additional account to ask this question, which is a ToS violation.