<p>Anyone have any ideas on what looks best? Where I am there aren’t many options. If I formed a club called like OCC Achievers or something, made myself president and founder and got 100 people to join, made a website with a list of all the members and had no membership or participation requirements other than signing your name somewhere and didn’t actually do anything, would that improve my ec’s? How far do colleges look into what your ec’s actually mean, I know I’ve seen a lot of “whatever honor society founder” things on peoples applications. What does it mean to actually found an honor society? And what consititutes leadership? Could you just form a club and ask 50 kids you know to join to help you out with your transfer chances and give it some pretentious name? Also, how hard is it to do research with professors from a school you don’t goto? How good does research experience look on your transfer app? What else can you do as far as ecs with regard to a community college experience? Would participation in a political group help? How much participation is necessary to really make a difference at a top 25 school?</p>
<p>I think they give credence to it of course, but for the reasons you mention they don’t give TOO MUCH credence to it. But I have to say, being able to organize 50 people for a club is NOT EASY regardless of how unimportant the club’s goals may be. </p>
<p>One of the ways that ECs are actually extremely important is through the personal statement. That’s really your opportunity to reflect on the ECs and how they affect you as a student. That’s where you can actually talk about specific accomplishments and the work you put into it.</p>
<p>AND you shouldn’t engage in any ECs JUST for the sake of college apps.</p>
<p>yeah, i totally agree with gabew42. doing EC for the sake of college application was so tiring to me, and i think the colleges can tell if you were doing it just to put it down, since they have thousands upon thousands of people doing that. getting involved in things besides school is its own reward.
and yes, the personal statement is a good place to write about your experience with EC. just be careful about sounding like the rest of the applicants and writing in what you think ADComs want to hear. basically, try to think of an experience that is unique to you.</p>