How to Impress Adcoms with your Extracurriculars

Applying to College Admission Stories
621

dchow: Thanks for the input! I know the hours add up to something ridiculous but things like student govn’t is something I’m constantly doing all day at school - hence 7 hrs of school/ 5 days a week =35hrs (and that’s excluding random evening and weekend appearances!)! At the same time (during various school lunch times) I’m at choir practice or EC1 meetings and then with things like school plays, I averaged the time out, as at the start of rehearsals we do between 2-3 hours a week and come 2 weeks before the play we’re pulling 6 hours/ 5-6 days a week!

I don’t know? How many hours on average a week do you spend doing an EC?

622

mvogel - It does not matter how many hours dchow spends. Don’t try and come up with a number that you think schools are looking for. Come up with a correct evaluation of your own hours/week and number of weeks for your ec’s. Everyone will be different. Stating that you spend 7 hours/day on student government because you are in school 7 hours/day is crazy. Figure out the time you spend on each EC when you are focused solely on it. Not sitting in calculus class. Backing up DChows point, your hours and activities will only be helpful if there is not doubt about their veracity.

623

grt! dchow’s got smoda with him now!
ok dchow is correct, and mvogel didn’t understand him. so mvogel … what dchow wants to say is that you just can’t be doing once EC 7 hrs every day, its ridiculous. it’s like you are thinking about the EC when you are doing Bio, eating food, chatting … which obviously isn’t the case. so maybe 1.5-2hrs a day, 7 days a week … that’s more reasonable.

Also, everything should first make sense to you, and then to the adcom. The order of the ECs are not most impressive to last, but what’s most important to you to what you do just like that. and i would cut down the just-like-that parts.

and it doesn’t seem unbalanced.

(pardon my lack of capitalization!)

624

This thread makes me feel like I have to get rid of world hunger and cure cancer in the next month to get into an Ivy.

How do you guys have 80 Billion+ hours of ECs a week? Do you not have to do homework or study for your 5+ APs?

625

Don’t worry about other students. Ofcourse students who have astronomical hours of ECs are generally faking it or they are super-heroes. Some super-heroes do exist, and if you aren’t one of them, don’t worry. Show in your app that you LOVE what you do, even if it that is working at a gas-station. That’s most important. Many rich kids here get to do sparkly activities mostly because of their dad’s and mum’s long hands. So, don’t worry. Be honest and next September you may very well be in Cambridge, New Haven, or Hanover!

626

Hey everyone, a late starter of the CommonApp. The EC page is confusing me tons because I thought one thing and now that I’ve read through this thread, it’s something else than what I thought.

Should each section contain all of the same “type” of ECs? I’ve done a ton of different jobs for drama/theatre (stage manager, student director, music director, actor, etc.) so should I list them in one section? But then, how do I explain what I did for each? Should I include a resume?

So many questions :S

627

Guys, if there is 1 EC im especially attached to, like hospital volunteering or CSF, should i write my personal statemetn on it or simply just elaborate on it for the less then 150 word section on the common app?

628

Whichever you feel is apt. If its too special, make it an essay though an essay should not really reiterate your ECs. Some other experiences go in there. Now if you happen to have such an experience while in CSF, go ahead!

629

great post thanks

630

how in-depth should I go into my ECs in the slots on the common app if I’m going to be submitting a resume anyway which will explain all of them?

631

Hi, I’m new to obsessing about college, so just one question-

for activities like music composition (pop and electronic music in a home studio, that’s my big hobby/extracurricular/passion/mystery meat) admissions people from top universities won’t event bat their lashes at what I put in my “extracurriculars” section… will they?

It’s logical to assume they’d rather judge a sample of my work than two sentences in the Common App (yes, I am confident/stupid enough to send in a CD of pop and electronica).

At the same time, people seem to be making quite a stink about that nasty little seven bullet list. So you tell me. Will the music-related items on my totally-subjective unverifiable not-worth-half-a-thimble-of-credence extracurricular form matter whatsoever if I can provide a sample?

“I’ve played guitar and piano for the last half decade/decade, but not well enough for anyone to care” doesn’t sound too impressive. It sounds a little bit pathetic. Which is not the image I want to, er, convey.

Thank you. Sorry if my question is confusing. If I’ve confused you just tell me what admissions guys/gals will think, if anything, of thoughtful pop, reminiscent of Elliott Smith’s middle years… complete with strong, hooky melodies that hint now at catchy ragtime lilts, now at tear-jerkingly romantic cadenzas… thick driving rhythms, classic pop-crunchy guitars, intricate arrangements… just practicing my ad-copy.

But seriously, the only way I’ll EVER get into my first, second, third choice universities is by somehow catching the edge of an ad-com’s hard, flinty soul with one of the songs on my CD.

Wow, that’s a load off my chest. I guess that’s what this forum is for.

632

Guys, I’m going to have 600+ hours doing original research in an immunology lab at the NIH by the end of this year (mayish) and I might continue in the summer, paid. I am also getting a recommendation from my lab preceptor, who happens to be the Head of Biotechnology Products office at the FDA. I also have 60 hours being a Teen Court Juror, something like 40 hours at Student Academy of Science over 10th and 11th grade (I’m an honorary member in 12th grade) and 50 hours at an Estuary/Environmental Education Program (3 days straight, learning all the time).

I’m putting on my app that I want to major in Ocean Science/Oceanography/Geology, because I do and putting down that I want to major in molecular bio would be a lie - I’m not to fond of it, but I am finishing my lab internship… Will that be bad? Will they expect me to want to major in molecular biology since my biggest extracurricular is my lab? My essays back up how the 50 hr. Environmental Education Program made me want to major in that field, but will that be enough?

I really want to get into Bowdoin, Columbia, and Williams if the school matters.

633

hello! having read the posts on this thread, i’m a little confused as to the content of the common application essay. i had initially intended to write about an overseas community work experience from which had changed my perceptions on my own life and service, but it seems like quite a number of people dont really encourage writing about an EC (is the above considered an EC? it was a trip as part of a optional enrichment service learning module in school). i would otherwise write about my family circumstances, which i am far less confident of sounding like a retrospective individual. any advice?

also, under EC, “Position Held, Honors Won, or Letters Earned” - what does letters earned refer to?

thanks a lot :slight_smile:

634

How bad is it if I don’t have many ECs, but a lot of volunteer hours instead? Just I have a few ECs I really love (Math Club, Science Club, Latin Club, NHS) but that’s it. I also have 500+ hours of volunteering at a local zoo and 100+ hours picking up trash at a local beach. Would my volunteering outweigh my few ECs?

635

eftalia, letters earned would refer to receiving a varsity letter from your school for your activity. These are most often received for obtaining a given level of achievement in a sport, but some schools also award them in other activities such as theater or speech.

SharkObsessed, your volunteer activities are an EC. ECs aren’t limited to just school-based activities.

636

If most of my ECs revolve around one thing (in my case fashion) but I’m applying to study something else (economics) would the adcoms feel as if I don’t have a passion for my major? Will they think I’ll be better off pursuing my ECs?

637

Well guys i am from India and have won 1 gold medal and won silver and one broze nedal (at national level)

also i have done 300+ hours kitchen service in a religious temple(without gettin paid)

are these Ec’s good enough well i have no other Ec to specify other than these coz i have done anything apart from this coz my whole time was devoted into these 2 activites<br>
On the other hand i see People with a long list of Ec’s so i am scared that will these 2 things count will they help me or not will i be overshadowed by others’ long list of EC’s

638

delicacy–just put down what you do and stop worrying about it.

639

I really can’t find any research projects around my house. There’s a cancer society around here, but they don’t do any research projects including highschool students. I believe that I have strong ECs so far (at least from what some CCers commented on my stats..), but I do not have any research projects.. and I really would like to try one not just for the application thing but like, I really wanna try it and see what it’s all about. Could someone please help me??

640

People … please don’t be scared that your EC list doesn’t match the length of the Papyrus scroll or something. If you have devoted enough time sincerely to the EC, doing what you love, doing something different, the adcoms will understand … doesn’t matter whether its only once or two ECs … its the devotion and sincerity that counts.