You should definitely explain anything you find relevant.
College application is not so much about how good you are, but how good you make your application look. Just sell yourself and show them every good thing you’ve got on your application and make sure the adcoms get the importance of your competitions and awards.
If you want, you can write about your passion for debate in your essay
(or if you’re writing about something else in your main essay, attach an additional essay or write about your awards in “additional informaton” section)
so we’re not allowed to list ECs we did before HS?
i represented my city/ country in an international/billingual speech competiton the summer before 9th grade (before i moved to the US) and I won. so i can’t even mention that at all ??
YAY !!! thanks. that was a huge thing for me as i moved back to Taiwan unable to speak/read Mandarin at all and i managed to keep my English and become fluent in Mandarin at the same time.
One note about ECs when applying to Ivies or their peer institutions. They are looking for things that distinguish you at least on a State and even better a national level. ECs and academic achievements that don’t go beyond the local school or community don’t carry as much weight with the Ivies as they do with the second tier schools. This is especially true for athletes if they want to be recruited.
I’m really interested in going into business [Wharton is my dream school.. ] and am starting an FBLA at my school this year [it has never had one]. I hope to make it really active and maybe even participate in some competitions this year.
I don’t know how much of a difference this will make? Will it be impressive or more of a “Oh, another one of these…” type things?
If you are on the national level for something, and have done a crapload of actually notable achievments, is it prudent to emphasize that it’s beyond the local level on the application? Such as most people in a resume would just put like “— Club” when in reality it’s just their “— High School — Club”, and so if I put something like [USA] next to it, would that be prudent?
Mike3yo @ I am not from USA, and being a boy/girl scout isn’t a popular activity in my country, so I have no clue what kind of achievement an “eagle scout” would be. But since you mention it, I’m sure it’s quite an achievement. (but I can’t help you here, sorry)
Demonstrating passion and exploring it on a deeper (higher?) level (and, if you will, for a longer period of time) certainly helps as it shows commitment and hard work. So you should mention ANY kind of achievement you think that could help you. (I am sure adcoms know what Eagle scount means, but if you have some activity or an achievement not really known to many, you -or your counselor- should DEFINITELY write an explanation to make it clear about what it means)
Or if you’re not sure how much eagle scout means, write about it in your essay: how much it means to YOU, or what kind of better person you have become thanks to it.
Catalysis @ from what I’ve gathered:
initiative is a big plus
doing activities related to your future major is a plus
winning awards in things related to your future major is a plus (plus+plus if it’s on national or international level)
Your activity certainly won’t be the one that will stand out (especially so if you apply to Wharton) but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. You should definitely do it, because adcoms love seeing initiative (leadership, blah, blah) and through your activities you’ll show that you’re that passionate about getting into business that you even founded a club – and even lead them to competition!
Your initiative, dedication and success should impress adcoms (if you manage to do what you planned to do with it, of course. But even if it fails miserably, you should write about what you got out of it in your essay. One kid who got into Yale wrote about a club that he founded but eventually had to be shut down because of lack of interest from his peers - it’s on Princeton Review’s “Eye on apply” section from few years back. I think he said something like “Everyone will write about their big success, but I will do something different - I will write about my failure”)
So I say, go for it, good luck!
Infinite_Truth @ You should definitely make it clear that it’s beyond high school level and explicitly note what level it’s on.
ANY notable achievement should be named in your application (it can only help)
Great post and apologies that I haven’t read the entire thread (but will, I promise). Eagle Scout… for sure that’s something that shows commitment. Hopefully your Eagle project is something you can expand upon in an essay or interview.
So here’s the question. My son’s EC has gotten a fair amount of media exposure. We have film clips, newspaper articles and the like. Any way to play this up or does it all need to be explained?
^^ Many schools explicitly ask you not to send in certificates, proofs etc. of your awards and the like. So I think you should check with each individual school on that.
Since I don’t think admissions office has a time to read all the newspaper excerpts, watch film clips etc. of each individual applicant that sends those in, and if you think those articles/clips would be really important, I’d suggest you pick only one (or two the most) of those that shows the worth or meaning of your son’s EC.
One award that I got (after I already submitted my app though) got a fair amount of media exposure, so I basically quoted the part of the online article that explained what kind of competition I was in, and named the source.
Can an essay about an activity/EC unrelated to your potential major but that you tie back to the major be as good as an essay written about something directly related to your major?
For example, if I wanted to be a lawyer but didn’t write my essay on my depth in debate club but instead on a quality necessary for lawyers that I acquired through an unrelated EC…could this essay be seen as on par with essays directly related to a future major?
I’m just worried that an indirect topic (not exactly related to my potential major) might show them the wrong idea- like, they might question my true interest in that major or something, if I wrote about something else…
] and am starting an FBLA at my school this year [it has never had one]. I hope to make it really active and maybe even participate in some competitions this year.