Is paid work a good EC?

Sikorsky
Sat, 03 Aug 2013 22:48:00 +0000

Hmm…so if I’m an avid tennis player, #1 on my school’s tennis team and good enough to win some open tournaments in my area, but I plan to study economics in college, playing tennis doesn’t count as “passion”? Or if I’m a prize-winning Irish folk dancer, but I plan to major in chemistry and go to medical school, my dancing doesn’t count as “passion”? I would not have guessed that.

“Passion” is overrated, and I strongly suspect that most of the “passions” that 17-year-olds claim to have are bogus.

To be perfectly honest, most colleges and universities aren’t all that selective, and they don’t care about your extracurricular activities at all. If you meet their academic criteria, you’ll be admitted. At the ones that do care, they’re not really asking about your passion. They’re asking what you do with your out-of-school time. If you’re a busy and productive person, who’s managing to get good grades in demanding classes and to accomplish other things besides, then you’re probably a person who’ll be able to juggle the demands of college successfully too.

Admittedly, at the insanely selective colleges (HYPSM, Amherst, Swarthmore, etc.), it’s a little more complicated than that. But at most places, I don’t think it is.