Hey guys, so they’re offering this class at my high school next year called Student Mentoring Program. Basically, you apply to get in to be a person who will help struggling students with low GPAs, attendance issues, etc. It was originally going to be a lunch time optional thing, but now they’re going to offer it as an actual class that fulfills elective units. You also get community service hours. My question is, is this worth doing? I’ve already been accepted, just need to know if I can count this as an EC or get any other recognition on my future college app.
Sure, but it doesn’t tell me much about you.
I’m not a many-ECs-person. I’m not an EC person at all, but I spend my day with research about my two passions: Philosophy, ethics and Japanese language/culture. The last is my biggest passion. Shall I include an analysis on all three research subjects when applying to college?
Hi,
I want to fundraise money to help kids who can’t afford to go to schools and those who want to go to good colleges but they can’t afford them. Can anyone please give me some ideas how to fundraise lots of money ( other than car wash, bake sale,…)?
Thank you very much.
Bluedolphinx, I’ve also done something of the kind.
SImply organize event people will come to ! Charge a high prace, say it’s on humanitarian purpose, you and your friends take care of the entertaining part and you should raise some serious money.
My question is :
I do not have any REALLY SERIOUS extracurricular.
I mean … in my academic courseload I’ve been passionate about French. I am vice president of the French Association, I went to the French Theatre Club. Now I’ll go into a new school and I’ll go to the French Club.
I really liked volunteering with children and I did a pretty good job with it - organised some events, coordinated other volunteers etc. I will also be joining some kind of club on this at my new school.
I really really like debate. I’ve been to some national competitons, I got awards, I was elected ambasador for the youth parliament, things of the kind. I will also be in the debate club at my new school and hopefully go to some other competitions.
I also like chem and maths so I’ll just start a fun schience club and I will join the Math Club and the Math Team.
I’ve also done some other things - such as organising all kind of events. I’ve went to summer schools - leadership summer school, project management ss, public speaking ss, history ss.
Basically I loved everything I’ve done and I look forward to seeing it how to improve them. But I am really worried that I do not have one STRIKING passion, both in academics and in ec’s. I simply do not consider myself prepared enough to commit myself to only one ec to only one subject.
When I’m swamp in one, I miss the other and so on.
Will the admission officers think that I am not passionate about anything ? Because I really do not do these things for the sake of it .. I’mm really enthousiastic about it.
Thanks in advance ! Cheers
I think if you have 2 or 3 things your really passionate about, maybe it is better than one. I am in the same situation. I have more than 1 thing that I am devoted to, so maybe it is best to focus on one the most-the changing your life and whatnot- and give the rest ample, but less review. That is just me however. I have a few questions in turn. One: How do I make independent research “count”? Like say you are interested in a certian obscure particle. You know all about it, and spent hours looking up info(for fun, I wasn’t thinking admissions). Do you do a paper on it and just tell the college? Two: What if you have lived several places and have passions, but some aren’t consistant for four years. Or you only find your true passion junior year?
You can change passions. Colleges aren’t expected for you to make a lifelong commitment to your interests.
That is great. Thank you for your reply. Cool, but what about the research. I have just moved to a new place, so it might be tough to get a mentor. Also, I’m confused by what they actually mean. Do I do an experiment, or a report on it, or what.
The research students do often is done for things like Science Fair, History Fair, or as part of summer research programs, which students can apply for in their cities or elsewhere. Students also may do research as part of their regular high school course work such as the research IB students do for their extended essays.
Students who do an impressive amount of research often have gone above and beyond what’s required for their school’s science or history fair or the papers required for high school classes. On their own, they’ve sought out mentors, traveled, interviewed experts, and have done other things because they were so interested in the subject, not because they were trying to impress colleges.
Unlike what many students erroneously think here, students who do research don’t just show up on some random professor’s doorstep and ask the professor to help the student do research. The students already have started doing research on their own, and if they approach a professor, it’s for specific assistance, not just to latch on to whatever research the professor happens to be doing.
I have a 3.35 weighted GPA which is preety much a B+ and my SAT score was a 1460, a 520 on critical reading, 490 on math, and 450 writing. I am in many clubs including: Chess Club, FBLA, DECA, MUN, SHS, MHS, Apple federal Credit Union, Cross Country, Track, Basketball, and I volunteer a lot for track. I have one more year of high school and I was just wondering if I can get into schools such as JMU, VCU, UVA, Vtech, ODU, or any of these well known Virginian Schools. I also would be needing financial aid so which college would be the best fit for me?
I would seriously love any advice.
Hey Leebantheman,
This might have been better posted in the Chances forum!
You have many EC’s, but your scores are very low for UVA. They are low for the other schools as well, but since UVA is so prestigious, you might want to raise those scores. When i interviewed there, they told me anything below a 650 in every section was a bad score. JMU and VTech are reaches too, but VCU is within range. You have good EC;s but I’d try to bring up the GPA and the test scores- higher numbers never hurt. Keep studying, and maybe try the ACT? Good luck!
Its really (superficial)weird why colleges ask you to specify HOURS of ECA participation. I don’t count how many hours I spend on an ECA I’m passionate about. Frankly because I don’t care, and it doesn’t matter to me if I spend an average of 6+ hours a day on a particular ECA. I don’t get a moment to “calculate” the number of hours I put in to my favorite activity. Heck, I don’t even “plan” my hours of ECA.
Okay, maybe some times I do, but thats just with social service/volunteer work (like NGOs et al).
But still. I’m truly against the idea of specifying a time stamp (especially in terms of hours) for an ECA. It just feels so superficial, which is something colleges seem to hate.
^ I wholeheartedly agree. However, in their defense, colleges do need a way to gauge how much time one spends with an activity to see his/her level of involvement.
^I agree. Except it is way too easy for some people to exaggerate their hours and lie. 
Colleges can identify many of the liars when their hours don’t make sense such as claiming to volunteer more hours than would be possible if one were in school and living a normal life. And, yes, students put lies like that on apps.
Is the number of hrs more important than awards ?
Let’s say: X has this club in his school. He isn’t really crazy about the thing that that schools deals with, he only does it for the sake of it; however, he spends an average of 4hrs/week, let’s say.
Y LOVES that thing, but he doesn’t have this club. So he only goes to competitions, before which he prepared really hard, his skill also come in handy so he gets an award. However, as he doesn’t have a club, he would most certainly spend a much lower number of hrs on this thing.
The difference/year wouldn’t be that great, but in 4 years of high school it would get pretty significant. Would being part of a club and having tons of meaningless hours be more important than some national awards (for all yrs of hs) ?
For me, obvious the 2nd version, but haha I’m subjective.
“Is the number of hrs more important than awards ?”
No. Results are far more important. A person can spend lots of hours in an activity, but accomplish very little with that activity. That won’t impress the few colleges that factor ECs into admission.
They’d prefer to admit the student who spent 25 hours developing and organizing a successful fundraising project than to admit a student who spent 1,000 hours doing random community service, but has nothing to show for their efforts. Having something to show wouldn’t have to be an award, incidentally. It could be, for instance, a recommendation letter from a parent saying how much a kid’s reading improved as a result of the tutoring the college applicant had given.
It could be an essay reflecting how much participation in the activity changed the applicant’s perspective or helped them decide on a career.
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Is there ever a case of having too MANY extracurriculars? I’ve got seven or eight EC’s (volunteering at different places, school clubs, work) that I love and do, but I’m wondering if after a while, it just looks like a laundry list.
At my school, sports are the most popular and most demanding/developed ECs at my school. However, there are also smaller clubs like Newspaper, Debate/Forensics, and Literary clubs which athletes can’t actively participate in because both practices and meetings happen at the same time - afterschool.
I have never been interested in sports, so I stayed away from those; I know that doing any sport now will only be an extra item on my list of ECs and will only benefit my college application. Instead, I choose to work diligently within the smaller clubs that I am sincerely interested in as well as a few activities outside of school.
Will colleges view me in the context of my school and wonder why I never took advantage of the opportunities (in this case, the sports) my school offers? Will I be at a loss for not doing any sports if I strengthen my other ECs?