<p>Just wondering, what do you guys think are the most cliche activities (outside of school) that people do for college apps? </p>
<p>The best I can think of are:
-Went to a program (cost thousands of dollars) that helped build houses in a 3rd world country
-Did research at a local university
-Taught kids English in a different country</p>
<p>Now I’m not saying that these activities are useless or anything like that. I’m just commenting on the fact that a lot of people have probably done them before.</p>
<p>Play piano and/or violin under orders from your tiger mother?</p>
<p>hahahha ucbalumnus that is beyond true.
by the way, i think if the research actually has merit to it, then it makes a difference. Now, this could just be my bias because i spend my life doing research, but I think theres a significant difference between “worked at a local university in the psychology department” and going into detail about a specific project that you completed at a lab and will be using in competitions.</p>
<p>that being said… anyone care to chance me? if you think research is cliche then perhaps dont bother haha</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1214197-chance-me-upenn-ed-cas.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1214197-chance-me-upenn-ed-cas.html</a></p>
<p>Smart kid–chess club, cross country, academic team, volunteer at soup kitchen, play violin, robotics…</p>
<p>JV track.</p>
<p>Almost every freaking kid at my school joined.</p>
<p>Playing violin, volunteer at hospital, science bowl, local research, building houses in Africa, national honor society, tennis, etc.</p>
<p>Key Club, NHS, most volunteering like this in general</p>
<p>I caution you with calling activities cliche simply by the category they are tossed into- people can find their own niche or truly enjoy these activities, no matter how trite they seem. </p>
<p>I’ll give you an example- working at a soup kitchen. There’s a large religious organization in my area dedicated to helping the homeless and addicted, and they have a rescue van program which I am a part of. I go out with a few other people on Saturday nights in a van to places with large known homeless populations and hand out food/supplies and talk to them. It is so gratifying and the people were surprised when I refused community service hours. It means so much more to me than “showing compassion” to colleges, and it’s taught me so many lessons about life (I bet that’s supposed to be cliche too). It’s what I love to do on Saturday nights, more than anything else.</p>
<p>^yeah I never said they were BAD or anything. By cliche I just mean that those activities are probably seen a lot. Hell, my main EC is piano and I’ll have to admit that it’s really common (especially for an Asian like me). I do it because I like it though, and IMO any EC is good if it’s done because of genuine interest instead of college app padding.</p>
<p>^ I agree, there’s just a connotation with cliche that makes people question their authenticity/motives or overlook them. In the quest to be unique to colleges, I think we try too hard to scorn these things in favor of “fencing” or “competitive yo-yoing”. Having a personal connection with the dredges of society has given me a new humanistic perspective that I take with me, and I don’t care how much people think feeding the homeless is a posture to colleges. I applaud you for doing what your enjoy most.</p>
<p>I can see this being argued over, but any SGA position. No one ever gets elected because they’re competent, qualified or actually care about SGA. They just want to be voted in every year to put it on a college app. And it’s always the same kids. It’s more like a popularity contest, really. I’d rank it closely behind homecoming queen in superficiality.</p>
<p>At my school, Key Club for sure, kids only join to fulfill community service hours for NHS.
-___-</p>
<p>Key Club is definitely one of them at my school. It’s way too overcrowded. I doubt the advisers even know half the people in the club, and some people don’t even get to do the community service because the spots fill up too quickly. </p>
<p>I’m going to be one of those “paying thousands to build houses in a 3rd world country” kids next summer, but it’s something I’m really passionate about.</p>
<p>^^^ I have a funny story about class office… I had always noticed that the popular people always won, but I wondered why. At our school, only the popular people run and they obviously win. But Andrew Jackson won by appealing to the common person, and I had a good reputation among the class at large by being friends with everybody. I decided to run for a position with 2 spots for the heck of it against 3 other people, all in the “popular cliques”. I campaigned to all the people I knew but couldn’t give a speech to the rest (gone for DECA Nationals) and I actually got the most votes. Just my interesting experience with class elections and popularity. By the way, class office is really fun.</p>
<p>^
I’d definitely do it. I really wanted to but it cost too much for my parents, but the experience itself is probably really great.</p>
<p>What sucks about ECs is how general they are. “Volunteering at a soup kitchen” could mean so many different things. It could mean genuine, passionate service for the underprivileged in the community. Or, it could be that useless club we have at our hs where everyone joins so they can put it on their application, and then attends meetings like 2x a year.</p>