How to Impress Adcoms with your Extracurriculars

Applying to College Admission Stories
861

Absolutely. First and foremost, because having many ECs means you’re constantly jumping from one to the other, allowing only superficial involvement. Club memberships and honor societies mean little without significant participation or accomplishment on your part.

And, as Cal Newport (Study Hacks - Decoding Patterns of Success - Cal Newport) puts it, accomplishment is exponential rather than linear. Meaning, if you are heavily involved in one activity, you will be exposed to opportunities to grab “low-hanging fruit” and will end up with a list of related, impressive activities–a list so impressive that it would have been impossible to accumulate unless the awards were connected. His example was his research at Dartmouth, which earned him publication in journals, a grant to research during a summer, etc, but it holds true for high school students as well. The writer who spends hours a week on her poetry will eventually become good enough for publicaton in literary magazines, win national awards (Scholastics Art and Writing awards, for what it’s worth, do a great job of making several awards out of one piece–you can win a regional award, a national award, and publication in Best Teen Writing with one piece), become editor of his school’s lit mag, etc. The writer who is also student council secretary, French club treasurer, takes piano and saxophone lessons, and is taking an online class doesn’t have the time to garner truly impressive accomplishments.

That being said, there are those truly well-rounded individuals. NSM has mentioned a young man who was president of the national NHS and had organized several major fundraisers, alongside a slew of other, disparate activities. But these kids are rare birds, and more often than not, having multiple activities means either burnout or unimpressive involvement.

In your specific case, your many activities could leaveyour application looking cluttered an unfocused. My recommendation (as a high school senior, so take it with a grain of salt) is to pick those activities which are most meaningful to you. (CommonApp only has room for seven activities anyway.) Personally, I am leaving out superficial club memberships (French club, writing club) and activities that have no relevance to the composite my other activities form (mission trip to Costa Rica).

Best of luck!

862

In no way, shape, or form are you expected to participate in high school sports. No college expects that of its applicants. Indeed, the time you save yourself by not participating seems to have given you time to pursue your real interests, something athletes (at least at my school) lack.

863

So talk about the activities you were involved in and what you learned or how you didn’t mind spending 100 hours, last quarter, working on it, and juggling homework and sleep (something you will get very little of in college).

Maybe discuss how difficult it is to choose an activity out of so many when you have to pick “the one” (for financial or any other reason).

You can do many activities in college without having to pay an arm and a leg. Do a short essay on what really interests you and how you are going to work it into your college life (this may take some research on the school’s website).

Also - It is much better to have progressed through a single activity: Fresh. year:Joined, Soph. year: Figured out you liked it, Junior year:Secretary, Senior year: President (or whatever). The idea is progression and taking on more responsibility and learning skills somewhere other than in a classroom. You also show you can “stick to it” over a long period of time. This also goes for those who have worked during high school.

Long lists of activities raise many red flags: Student is burned out before they get here (no one wants to spend time and money on a burned out student - or even one who “Might” be burned out), Student can’t seem to commit to anything; or the student was “padding” their list.

Tell the truth. Whether it’s a lousy gpa one year because you were sick or stupid, or have committed to “only” one activity, or have tried many things (list here) and although you have learned a lot (what your learned here), you haven’t found “it” - but you’ll keep trying (that’s what college is all about).

Good luck!!!

864

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865

What type of EC’s impress universities more?

866

^You clearly haven’t read the thread…

The CC rundown: It is not the particulars of your ECs–or the length of your EC list on the CommonApp–that matters. It is the depth of accomplishment that matters. And, more often than not, valuable accomplishments will follow real passion (note: passion means all-consuming near-obsession–a version of infatuation–rather than superficial interest), but I think the value of passion is overrated. Create passion; don’t wait for it to clobber you over the head.

867

I am a 9th grader and hoping to get started on the ec’s I will be involved with in high school. I go to a rural high school that I don’t feel offers that many. I run cross country, and I will throughout high school most likely. I am not that good, but I will improve. However, I will never be fantastic/amazing/captain of the college xc team. I also plan to get involved with the school’s debate team and hopefully push to make it more active (in competitions and such).

<pre><code> I played in the band, but, while I am good at it and have gotten several awards from it, I have decided not to take it in high school because I just dont like it. Just a little side note lol :stuck_out_tongue:
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I am also interesting in joining the academic team and making it more active (because apparently they do very little, and the current sponsor is not doing much) because I was the captain of my middle school’s Beta Club quiz bowl team (same as academic team) that won 2nd place nationally.

These three things I am very passionate about and hope that I can become an integral part of. Volunteer work/ Community service is mentioned a LOT on this forum. I really don’t know where to turn for that. My school doesn’t seem to offer any solutions to that, and I was wondering where to find some options for that. Any ideas would be appreciated. Also, tell me what you thing of my ec’s. I can’t (and won’t) get involved with a TON of them, because I’m just not that passionate about that many things (and there aren’t many things offered by my school). Still, like I said, advice is greatly appreciated.

868

^Start your own volunteer club, tutoring center, or whatever kind of community service you would like to do.

Anyways, in response to the first post on this thread, where on the common app should you be focusing on one EC? Because in this years common app, there’s the regular essay, a “elaborate on one of your activities” essay, and of course the additional info.

869

"These three things I am very passionate about and hope that I can become an integral part of. Volunteer work/ Community service is mentioned a LOT on this forum. I really don’t know where to turn for that. "

The easiest way to do this would be to start a community service project with an organization you’re already involved with: your cross country team, your academic team, your church, etc.

For instance, your cross country team could offer a workshop that would teach younger kids how to improve their times or it could sponsor something like a walkathon or race to raise money for charity.

870

^Agreed. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Or consider not making community service a part of your app at all. It is not necessary for admission to top schools.

I’d also reconsider your goal to make two clubs more active. I’m not sure about the specifics of academic teams, but as a debate team president, I can assure you that the effort it takes to create a successful team (and to be a successful competitor yourself) is enormous. You have to convince your coach (and likely an assistant coach for speech) to sacrifice most of their Saturdays to tournaments, get a Booster club together to subsidize the cost of tournaments, register with the NFL, and practice/research several times a week. There are, of course, teams that aren’t quite as together as the my own or as the debate powerhouses, but these aren’t the teams that win.

My point: It may be easier to join teams that are already active and successful. Leadership positions might not come as easily (several of my equally active/successful friends didn’t get a leadership position, even though it’s their senior year), but you’re more likely to win awards on a team that is already successful.

871

I would consider joining teams that are already successful, but, to be brutally honest, their aren’t that many successful teams at my school, in anything. Let alone things I would want to be a part of. Sadly, my school isn’t a “powerhouse” in anything. So I really don’t know what to do. My school offers very little as it is.

872

Where exactly on the common app do you talk about one EC and how it impacted you? The 150 word limit Short Answer is only enough to elaborate on what I literally did in one of my EC’s. Should I be talking about what I learned about myself, and showing my personality and everything associated with the activity in the Personal Essay or Additional info? Or - should I do this in supplement essays?

873

“It may be easier to join teams that are already active and successful. Leadership positions might not come as easily (several of my equally active/successful friends didn’t get a leadership position, even though it’s their senior year), but you’re more likely to win awards on a team that is already successful.”

I have to agree with your statement about small debate teams, since mine is very small and the students at my school are interested in other things. Although I haven’t won any awards yet, I have been steadily improving and I expect to make it further into the competition by this upcoming school year. I have learned a lot about which qualities of prose are easiest to work with, and which qualities judges look for, and I hope to bring this knowledge back to new members. No matter how small the club is, it does not completely prevent you from doing well at tournaments.

Of course, if you’re looking to win awards, joining a larger, more organized club would be better. At the same time, if you love an activity such as debate, don’t let the size of the club discourage you. Also, don’t let pessimism drag you down. If you try your best, you might be surprised at how much you accomplish by your senior year.

874

My point is just that trying to rehaul two teams will be very time consuming, if not impossible, and the responsibilities you would take on in coordinating everything may eat up the time you would need to get ready for tournaments. But there are some students from non-powerhouse schools that latch on to more successful teams for rides/sense of community and do well for themselves by doing large amounts of independent research.

Honestly, though, I think it may be more valuable for you to participate in ECs outside of your school (or to pick one activity, like academic team, to absolutely throw yourself into).

875

Thanks for posting this!

876

You answered your own question–you discuss your most important EC in the 150-word box. You can use this to elaborate in any way you choose, whether that’s how it impacted you personally or a more general description (perhaps a “day in the life of a cross country runner/debater/whatever”). Whichever tone you take, you should make sure adcoms know why this activity, not your 80,000 other leadership positions or club memberships, is the most significant to you.

For descriptions of the activity, this can either go on a resume or in the description box on the CommonApp under each activity. Keep them short and to the point (ie, the literary magazine is an annual collection of poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction, not the literary magazine, which comes out yearly, involves lots of effort and has a staff of 20 people)

877

what are some ec options outside of my school that fit my interests?

878

My recommendation is to read Cal Newport’s new book to get some ideas. It’s hard to suggest activities without a more specific idea of your interests and the opportunities available in your community.

As a writer, I’ve been able to establish relationships with local poets and the poetry society, participate in readings, attend writing camps, enter my work in regional/national contests, and pursue publication.

Others build robots or research cancer in their spare time and enter their work in science competitions. Math geeks may read up on theoretical math in their spare time and participate in math competitions and camps.

Community service works well outside of the school community. Almost every interest can be taught or tutored. Perhaps serving as an assistant coach on your middle school academic team would be a nice complement to your own academic team, if you choose to join.

879

Hey there, anyone have any tips about what to do to get into a college like Stanford University aside from having good grades and all?

880

^ Nope. There’s not a single thing you can find on this website about that. You’re out of luck.