<p>Someone higher on the thread had mentioned it, so just putting it out there.</p>
<p>You’d be surprised how many people answer, when asked how they got into research " My uncle knowns someone at this college . . ."</p>
<p>haaha probably true…</p>
<p>One month later…</p>
<p>DITTO !!! outstanding reply</p>
<p>Do summer programs look especially good? Like internships/educational programs in the area of your interest? I’m think of applying to some sort of NASA internship.</p>
<p>I love how half the people here are talking about things that they’ve done in private or are just planning to do.</p>
<p>Can I get into UChicago if I have the power to talk to animals but I can’t tell anyone about it and no one can be within 300 yards of me when I do? </p>
<p>Like, seriously, post your real ECs.</p>
<p>URGENT Question (it’s urgent for me at least): if I have been involved in martial arts for over 10 years and I am a high rank black belt and instructor, BUT I do not get ANY community service hours from vounteering and teaching there (I thought it was only my school but apparently it’s supposed to be like that) SO I have like no hours from there and my community service hours are 100-200 hrs, is that a “good EC”? I mean I spend about 10 hours a week there, taking classes and helping out, but I didn’t know if I should continue doing so because I really need that time for school work as of now. I really love it but I don’t want to pursue it so rigoriously if it does not count for anything NOT because I’m obsessed with getting into college but because I am getting absolutely NO SLEEP. (It takes 30 minutes to go there and 30 minutes to come back) I’m involved in a lot of activities related to taekwondo at my high school as well but they’re not exactly “community service” or stuff like that. </p>
<p>Help please?</p>
<p>I was wondering if you could all give me your opinion on this.</p>
<p>If you started a business as your primary extracurricular how much money would you be expecting it to make in order to make you competitive at a top 40 school?</p>
<p>I’m talking about an online business for someone who wants to major in Computer Science. :)</p>
<p>I know there are a lot of variable factors but try to give me an estimate!</p>
<p>Unless you go to Africa to help kids, find the cure for AIDS, and get a gold medal in the IMO every year, your EC’s are weak on this website.</p>
<p>Going Africa to help kids is not even close to an outstanding EC. $$$=travel abilities=meh in the eyes of admissions officers.</p>
<p>I graduated three years ago and my EC’s were the following:
*Competitive Giant Slalom Snowboarding
*Competive Cheerleading
*Orchestral Band, Piano
*2000+ hours volunteering with physical/mental disability students
*Teacher’s aide & Peer tutor </p>
<p>I got accepted to Harvard, Dartmouth, Hopkins, and Vanderbilt so hopefully my ‘EC’s’ go into the category of ‘strong.’</p>
<p>I think the key to your EC’s is not having lots of them, but being really good at the ones you choose. For example, in snowboarding I went all over the world for international competitions, my Cheerleading team went to nationals every year I was there, and our schools orchestra went to national competitions as well. All those spoke well of ‘me’ in a few very important ways:
- it proved I was committed to working with a team
- it proved that I could pursue something and be successful
- it proved that I could ‘focus’ on specific passions</p>
<p>My volunteering experience was exponentially higher than most people, for one reason, I loved what I did and made the time for it, over the span of four years. This showed admissions that I could commit to something for a long period of time and cared for the community. My volunteering position was also in the form of leadership, so I demonstrated initiative to take control of my own interests and life. </p>
<p>My jobs as a teacher’s aide and peer tutor showed, if anything, that I could balance my life. I could do sports, school, volunteer, and work; I could obviously handle the expectations of university, right? It also demonstrated work ethic and a willingness to help other students. Hopefully, suppporting that I had good character.</p>
<p>I recommend to any high school student that they be passionate and ambitious with anything they do. It’s YOUR time and YOUR life, make it worth the effort by doing the things you love to the best of your ability.</p>
<p>To remove any speculation from my post, I must also add that I had the grades and the test scores to back-up my EC’s.
GPA 3.97, SAT 2400, SAT II (Biology-M 800, Math II 800, Chemistry 800), & ACT 35</p>
<p>I also applied to Neuroscience, which relied more on academics than EC’s. I did travel to Cameroon to work in a Medical Clinic over one summer, as well as working in Portugal for Habbitats for Humanity. Those aren’t accessible EC’s for everyone, and may have influenced admissions in some way. </p>
<p>However, my application overall was well-balanced and I think that’s what admission committees want to see. Someone who still maintains a personal life, while working through school.</p>
<p>Hopefully, this is of some assistance to you! :)</p>
<p>Wow, Videl. If I’m competing with people like you for the “neuroscience spots,” I better start filling out the matriculation paperwork at my community college soon.</p>
<p>Oh gosh.</p>
<p>@collegeinfo1994</p>
<p>It may be encouraging to know that I ultimately went into Health Sciences, not Neuroscience. 
My graduate degree will most likely be in neuroscience or neurotoxicology, but for undergraduate, health science gave me a well-rounded education. All my undergraduate research has also been in neuroscience and psychology, so I don’t think I missed any oppertunities with a different degree.</p>
<p>As I said in my post though, as long as you’re passionate and ambitious in your pursuits, I thoroughly believe you’ll get into your program of choice. Know your limits, you don’t want to chase after something that you struggle to be successful at. There is obviously a difference between struggling and being challenged though! I found a helpful tool was scheduling (I love to plan and organise), if you can live by a time-table without going crazy, it’s amazing how much you can fit into a day or a week.<br>
Grades/tests depend on how well you know your strengths and weaknesses. The better you know yourself, the more effective you’ll be. :)</p>
<p>I do Track and Field in the spring, Yearbook committee year round and Cross Country in the fall. Are these enough EC’s or should I look at more?</p>
<p>Is membership in Rotary International’s Interact Club worth anything? How about national competitions from countries other than the US?</p>
<p>I’m just a freshman, but how would you rate my ECs so far?</p>
<p>-Writes editorials for 2 local newspapers (one of them since 8th grade, the other just started)
-Neuroscience Society (most likely will become Co-President by Junior year)
-Viola: AYP, also perform in assisted living centers for community service
-Debate (might drop)
-Lead writer of an independent, artsy magazine
-Sound Technician-in-training for school performances</p>
<p>Also planning to do later:
-School literary magazine
-Job shadow a neurologist/get an internship
-Chemistry Team
-Bioengineering Projects for the Future</p>
<p>The thing is my school is extremely competitive, and also I feel like my ECs are not focused enough on neuroscience (because that’s what I really want to get into) so I’m not sure if this would make me stand out from your typical Asian student.</p>
<p>I’m in my 11thgrade interested in a bfa design course
these are my ec’s</p>
<p>-interned in design studio which makes movie poster.
(the poster I made got selected and was used for a block-buster movie yayy!)
-Worked as a freelance designer(designed t-shirts for college fests,company websites,logos,posters)
-4 Exhibitions in in diffferent as a part of an art festival.
-My art work got published in an art magazine twice and i got interviewed in a newspaper.
-Member of school basketball team
-I played a key role in organizing and participating in intra-school debates in my school (school doesn’t have a debate club)
-interviewed prominent people in my city and prepared documentary like videos about topics which affects our state(eg: destruction of an old dam which might affect and help two states.)
-participated in inter-school quizzes,design,oratorical competitions.
-member of school’s cultural committee ( incharge of organising for inter-school competitions,preparing questions/rules/topics)</p>
<p>I’m planning to take up community service during the summer.
how would you rate my ec’s? how can I improve them? THanks! :)</p>
<p>A good list of ECs is not just a bunch of random things, but it should be of things that you are focused on, care about, and show a passion of throughout your entire application (in addition to volunteering, if they do not overlap). For example, I had “weak ECs” but I made the focus of my entire application and essays about my passion for economics and finance (though I did write my short-CommonApp essay on my volunteering experience, which I suggest to change it up a bit xD). I think that helped my overall application because colleges knew that I was a hard worker who knows what he wants to do and achieve, and that is generally looked upon positively. So my advice is not to worry if you don’t have the longest list of ECs, as long as you have something you really care about that you would want to continue (or at least can tell the colleges you want to continue…), then use that to your advantage to overshadow your short(er) list of ECs.</p>
<p>Colleges and universities like to see commitment (probably why they ask you for the years you participated).</p>
<p>Good EC’s IMO really are any leadership positions. Colleges and universities love applicants with leadership positions. If you have a sport that you have played a few years, that’s a good EC. I don’t see how any EC is a weak EC TBH.</p>
<p>Being awarded at the state or national level of course means a good EC. Hell IMO even regionals is a good thing to have on the application. As long as your essay / supplement reflects on WHAT you care about (this is extremely important). You can’t have your essay topic be about something that isn’t on your application. Colleges and universities want something that you have done that has changed you and made you a better person. Even if you have a few EC’s, make that part of your essay and show them that you are committed to that activity.</p>