Thanks guys! You’ve made me feel a lot better!
I just see so much about people who are already senior executives of companies, and part of the united nations, etc., all of which are amazing, but I don’t care for.
I love music and dramatic arts, and that’s what I want to do. I just hope that the admission officers can see that.
My core essay isn’t related to my activities, but it’s really humorous, and really speaks a lot about me. Is that alright, or should I rewrite another about chess or science, which are my passions (National Level for both of those things.)
“My core essay isn’t related to my activities, but it’s really humorous, and really speaks a lot about me. Is that alright, or should I rewrite another about chess or science, which are my passions (National Level for both of those things.)”
Anyone can join the chess club or participate in science activities - you’ll just be obscured in the vast sea of applicants. Stick with your humorous essay - colleges want to know more about your personality, your character, not your accomplishments (though they do help, to an extent).
Oh I see. I’m sure if the admission officer reading my essay has experienced the topic I’m writing about, I’m almost positive he or she will LOVE it. My councilor was laughing really hard at it, and really loved it.
And, getting to National Level Science Contests and National Level Chess isnt something anyone can do, especially someone from my background with low income.
I also won awards like “Environment Innovator” for creating something that can help clean our water systems.
These aren’t impressive where I’m applying though. (Ivy league)
I’ve seen a bunch of posts about how a bunch of ‘insincere’ volunteer hours doesn’t count as much as a ‘real’ EC, but I got early acceptance to Georgetown with 2 of my main 5 ECs being volunteer jobs that I’ve done. Volunteering a few times over your high school is different from volunteering steadily with one or two organizations over a few solid years. Volunteering is a GREAT EC and a fantastic way to help others!
Absolutely. The problem is that most people don’t treat community service this way; they treat it like a prerequisite for college admissions. This results in a smattering of insincere gigs at soups kitchens and Habitat builds rather than a serious impact on one cause. When CC-ers bash CS, they are bashing the transparency of resume padders, not the act of serving itself.
My D’s passion is music . She is into learning and performing rock music, is exploring jazz and blues(vox) as well as Indian classical music (also vox, 10 yrs now). She does reasonably well and has a few accolades to show, but nothing national.
The commitment to these lessons, practice and the corresponding shows, is roughly 15-20 hours a week. (lessons 5 days a week).
She’s a sophomore in a large, competitive public school, and takes a mix of honors, AP(independent study) and standard curriculum.
The combination of school work and music commitments does not seem to allow her to take on another activity. We are reluctant to ask her to switch out of music because she is genuinely enjoying this.
Questions:
- How big a problem is it that she does not have memberships in school clubs ?
- I see lots of posts in this forum with mutiple activties that seem to need many hours of work. Can one of them please give us tips how they manage this.
I’m wondering if the variety of volunteer “fields”, so to speak, will hurt an applicant. For example, is an applicant who dedicates all of his or her time to volunteering in hunger or homelessness-related fields looked upon more favorably than a student who has volunteered at all sorts of different places?
Yes, because the applicant who has consistently volunteered with one organization or one cause is more likely to have made an impact–to have helped one underprivileged student significantly raise their English grade or to have raised tens of thousands of dollars for MS, etc.
I’ve spent countless hours in rock bands throughout high school. Being a musician is my passion, so that’s probably why i only have a 3.8 instead of a 4.0. Unfortunately, everytime my bands were about to get anywhere, creative differences arose and we, well, disbanded. Would colleges look down upon putting my passion into such a cliche thing as a high school progressive deathcore group? I’m worried that I’ve wasted my career… Though the band I’m currently in now has gone farther than any other band I’ve been in. Maybe if we become more successful, would adcoms look favorably upon it?
I was not into so many volunteer works which have credits, like by this organisation that organisation. I feel more passionate about helping those needy in my country (Im now a scholar studying in Singapore) and hence did more volunteer works home. However, it is not much due to the short holidays and compulsory school time in Singapore. Some voluntary trips, like 5-day trip to help out needy families and teach children simple maths and music, are organised by me. I know these are not impressive enough for EC, but the importance id the passion and dedication right?
Im also worried abou the fact that since these works are self-organised, they have no ‘credits/names’ and hence cannot win over adcoms. Not to mention we don’t have such tsystem to record number of volunteer works in Vietnam.
Can anyone shed some light on me for this dilemma? I really really really want to go to Cornell next year and hence need to plan serious stuffs from now.
Thanks alot!
I don’t think that not having hours recorded is a problem, as long as you talk about what you organized in your application. I have 70 hours recorded. But my app shows that I spend something like 400 hours per year.
@Ordinaryparent: Since music is what she enjoys, that’s what she should do. Even though it might not be stressing many areas, it shows admissions officers that your daughter is interested in music and has done a lot with that area of interest. Usually, a few strong interests is far better than a laundry list of things that a student hasn’t really invested much time in and that aren’t well-connected.
Q1: ECs aren’t just school clubs - they’re the ECs outside of school, too. You can have a strong list of ECs without any school-sponsored clubs.
Q2: There’s a limit to everything, so it’s really about picking and choosing as much as you can. I’m an IB Diploma candidate, which takes up a lot of my time. In addition, I lead my school’s mock trial organization, so I spend a considerable amount of time on that each week (an average of about 8 hours). I volunteer one day per week, do horseback riding one day per week, and have German Honor Society meetings 2-3 times a month. While that may seem like a lot, it pretty much fills up my schedule, so I’ve chosen to have a few major ECs instead of having many ECs. I don’t have time for any other major EC commitments, nor do I have time to hold a job. Basically, it’s about picking the things that are most important to you and filling your schedule with them. It’s important that the things you pick are the things you enjoy, because you might not have much free time besides what you spend on ECs. My biggest tip is to know your limits and stick to the things that are important to you. Working quickly and efficiently is also an important skill to master.
I’m very interested in both the medical field and history. Sadly, history does not offer much in the way of EC’s, but I did an internship/I volunteer at a local historical museum, I’m doing an independent history study next year, and I’m going to be a TA for the AP American History class. For medical, I’m going to shadow a couple doctors, volunteer at the local hospital, and do an independent study in Neuroscience. I’ve got a lot of other EC’s as well (I’m the costume director for my school’s drama society, I take piano lessons, I’m in NHS, I’m the assistant music director for my Church, etc.)
Basically, my two “passions” aren’t very related at all. Is it possible to highlight them both properly, or will it seem like I’m not as passionate in either?
What if you have an EC your passionte about but no matter how much you do it doesn’t show on your application (ex. not getting officer position even after tring every year, or not getting an award ect..) won’t colleges see it as just another EC even though you worked hardest at it? Can an essay really help you seem like your passioniate about an activity that your application might say otherwise?
Similar to a few other people here, I am in love with music and it loves me. I play many instruments, mainly the guitar and viola but also the drums and a little piano and a little electric bass. I spend about 20 hours a week playing all of these instruments, have even played in front of live audiences before. I haven’t been a part of any band because, well, there just aren’t many good bass players in my school. Many of the ones that are good I’m not really friends with and I have one friend who is amazing, but he is in multiple bands at a school for gifted musicians. I refuse to make a band without a bass player because I feel that it is essential to have one for a rock band. My main point is I don’t have much to show for music outside of my basement other than my orchestra concerts and a few talent shows (for fun they weren’t a contest or anything) and I’m wondering if colleges will recognize this. It’s not that I don’t want to get involved in music outside of my house, but it is difficult to find a place for my talent. Between sports and music I haven’t found any time for a lot of volunteer work and work experience (I have some experience in both, I worked at camp for a summer and will work there again and I have volunteered at my great grandfather’s old age home). Are my ec’s okay with just the music and sports? I know it is quality not quantity, but I didn’t get any awards for sports (Varsity Football and Wrestling) and my music never really left my basement and I’m just not sure they will see the quality in my ec’s.
take your music to local nursing homes and play for one or two hours once a week…they will not critique you and you will be a welcome relief. I think that would look outstanding to any college admissions.
@Smile, I tried doing what you said, twice. It’s so difficult to choose songs to play for them because well, I love classic rock. This is pretty much all I know on the guitar. I know how to play from led zeppelin to pink floyd, and like these bands they are based around 1960s to 1970s. The people at the nursing home are uninterested in the beatles and any other classic rock band, and I am uninterested in learning songs from the 1940s. I like to think of myself as pretty accepting of all genres of music (except Alt rock and metal). I like techno, rock, pop, R&B, Funk, Country, etc. I cannot stand the music from that far back, so what should I do?
I think it will be very difficult for colleges to see real depth in your ecs without awards for wrestling or taking your music outside your basement. But there are ways to give back–giving music lessons, for example.
you want to show a period of commitment into whatever you do. I volunteered in the nursing home for years ever since the summer before high school (yea, I started to plan for college that early). Its not really about if what you do have to do with what you want to do with life (over 50% people in college change majors) but about how much sincere you are. if you are into art, look for contests starting in freshman year. if you are into music, volunteer in nursing homes and start a “program” where you entertain the old people with your music (shows caringness and leadership). no matter what you do, show commitment over at least a period of 2 years. remember, whatever you do, it’s always about how you word it on your app.