I have heard that a lot of time spent in one or two EC is viewed more favorably that just doing a ton to stick on your transcript.
I see where y’all coming from, but you can’t take such a hard stance on people with great EC’s just because you didn’t know about or pursue them. I made a Science Fair project with $200 that I earned working a full-time job and won 1st Grand Award at Intel ISEF. People who achieve aren’t always Northeast kids that are spoonfed EC’s because it’s a requirement. It is definitely not necessary to have outstanding extracurriculars, but I don’t think you should just assume that because someone does it was just “gifted” to them. That being said, I totally agree that the “super students” on CC are truly intimidating and that EC’s are definitely not readily available for everyone.
To get into a good school, it is absolutely required that a student has cured at least 1 disease, has been the CEO of at least 1 business, and has won a Nobel prize.
I have a question, and i’m sure a lot of you guys are thinking of the same one:
Quiz bowl as an EC is becoming oversaturated with people becoming the captain of a team, but not doing much from there. Say someone starts a team, becomes the captain, and brings the team to the top 20 in the nation in the first year. Does this look better than the guy who simply became the captain of a formerly established team and got 8th at the local level? It just seems that people are trying to impress colleges with an EC without anything to back it up, and for those who truly love these activities, will colleges keep a blind eye towards it because they’re sick of seeing it? Take it away, commenters.
all the honor societies are week ECs, a good Ec is habitat for humanity
Somebody please chance me http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1853375-is-this-profile-good-for-the-top-30-schools-in-usa.html
This thread puts makes me wonder if college is even worth it. Anyways, can anyone critique my EC’s?
Club/Varsity Soccer- 9-12 hopefully captain by senior year
Volunteer at Non-profit - 9-12 don’t wanna explain but big leadership position
Science Olympiad-10-12 chapter founder/president
Beta Club- 10-12 hopefully officer in future
FBLA- 10-12 hopefully officer in future
Is it possible to get into top premed program with minimal EC. i dont mind voluntering in clinic starting now, but i was told i have to wait until i turn 16. currently i am in 7th grade and i just took act few days ago and feel good about it. I should be able to make 34-36 in act by 9th grade. I dont think 4.0 gpa would be an issue or close to it. Any suggestion what Top premed program i should be looking for?
How strong of an EC would debate be? For someone who is ranked nationally/internationally and is the captain of their school team.
@xcgal17 HAHAHA, thirty people show up for a yearbook picture for extracurriculars they never participate for, That should be worthy of a Meme 
@zindabad 7th grade? Relax, become a person, do the things you like; colleges will like that a lot more than a character-less applicant with wonderful ECs.
@AnExcellentSheep Thanks for your suggestion, will definitely try to balance play with work.
I’ve been volunteering at a zoo for three years now because I want to work with animals, and college counselors practically drool when I tell them about it. My advice would be to connect your desired future career with volunteer opportunities and stick with it for awhile
Deleted.
This is a joke, right?
And here is where I think CC’s expectations start to become a little too much. Not everyone is a nationally known author, athlete, or musician. In fact, I can’t name a single teenage prodigy like this that isn’t an actor, actress, or musician in Hollywood that probably has no intention of going to college. Not everyone Harvard or Yale or Princeton accepts has these walk on water-type EC’s, and I really do not believe for one second that they’re needed. Here’s MY EC’s:
Couple dozen hours volunteer work at a soup kitchen
Head Delegate of Model UN team, including 4 outstanding delegate wins
3 Year Service Counsel Class Rep
3 Year varsity tennis player
3 Year school newspaper writer
President of Film Club
Organized my school’s blood drive for two years
Governor’s Honors Nominee
Rotary Speech Contest Regional 3rd Place
Along with some other various academic awards I’ve received, this list is solid. I am 100% confident that if you do a little more than I did, maybe start up a volunteer service in your school, you’ll be perfectly fine applying to your dream school, assuming you have exceptional grades, too.
If you’re not hellbent on HYPSM, you don’t need to be a piano prodigy, star athlete, or be a nonprofit founder. I was accepted into a few top 20/30 institutions with only “weak” ECs, such as officer for one club and member for a few others. Just be yourself!
Our daughter is a ballerina. She’s been en pointe since she was ten years old and has had many leading roles in her ballet company’s performances. Her teachers are former Russian principal dancers. They’ve taught her the merits of hard work and dedication to her craft. She just loves it. She’s in eighth grade and headed to high school next year.
Between class and rehearsals, she will continue to be at the studio 25-30 hours a week. The problem is that this EC leaves no time for anything else. She gets out of school at 3:00, does an hour of homework, and is at the studio by 4:30. She returns home by 9:00 to dinner and more homework. Weekends are packed with dance and homework. She’s tested into all honors at our local competitive high school and we don’t want her to take any less. She has friends at ballet who are older and have found this schedule to be, at the very least, extremely demanding. Very little sleep ensues, especially when you get to junior year and a load of APs.
How much does such a passion like this count for college admission? We don’t want to ask her to quit as she loves it. Of course, we will keep a close eye on her stress level and her grades but I’m wondering if anyone else has a son or daughter with just one EC that is very time consuming. Is it worth it? Is it a problem if she can’t do much else other than ballet and school?
She will not be majoring in dance at college. She’s ok with that. She’s a bright girl and doesn’t really want to dance professionally but can’t see herself stopping while still living at home. She has other interests - loves to write and cook and loves animals.
Any advice?
I doubt that most of the users of CC are admissions counselors. You do you