T20 Schools - What does Depth in Extracurricular mean to them?

[Anonymous]

I have read a lot about T20 admissions and they say do fewer activities but go deep. What does depth of ECs mean to them?. It is very subjective.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it's subjective. Therefore, there's no right answer. Let your child explore their interests and be involved in the world. That will lead to better results (and greater happiness) than trying to shape themselves into a model recommended on an anonymous website.

[Anonymous]

Sustained, meaningful commitment, as demonstrated by time spent on the activity and/or leadership and/or evidence of excellence/accomplishment

[Anonymous]

Mine did fine just dabbling with various EC's (1 year here, 2 years there) and doing only one EC sustained for many years (between 8-17 years old.) Regional Awards (Not National). And then doing one activity outside of school aligned with career interests/major.

[Anonymous]

look on Reddit-A2C and chanceme for hood examples

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine did fine just dabbling with various EC's (1 year here, 2 years there) and doing only one EC sustained for many years (between 8-17 years old.) Regional Awards (Not National). And then doing one activity outside of school aligned with career interests/major.

Where all did he/she get admission and where did he/she go?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:look on Reddit-A2C and chanceme for hood examples

Can you put the link here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:look on Reddit-A2C and chanceme for hood examples

Can you put the link here?

o

No

[Anonymous]

I don't think you should make your kid do something just for college admissions, but I think the idea is something like:

the kid has STEM interests and will be math or computer science major so

they do coding outside of school
they won a math competition
they are a counselor at a coding camp
they tutor kids in math or computer science

So it's not just one thing but all the things kind of tie together.

[Anonymous]

Agree with PP in that if they can tie their interests together in some way, that might be interesting to a college. Admissions are crazy, though, and there's no guarantee that whatever "depth" someone has, develops or forces will be interesting to a school.

Not sure if this will help but my DD (currently HS senior) was into all kinds of ocean sports since she was little, and had a strong and demonstrated interest in wilderness medicine and emergency preparedness developed due to participating in such sports. And on the other hand she had 3 foreign languages (from immersion elementary school to high school AP), time spent living abroad with us and also in virtual and in-person exchanges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree with PP in that if they can tie their interests together in some way, that might be interesting to a college. Admissions are crazy, though, and there's no guarantee that whatever "depth" someone has, develops or forces will be interesting to a school.

Not sure if this will help but my DD (currently HS senior) was into all kinds of ocean sports since she was little, and had a strong and demonstrated interest in wilderness medicine and emergency preparedness developed due to participating in such sports. And on the other hand she had 3 foreign languages (from immersion elementary school to high school AP), time spent living abroad with us and also in virtual and in-person exchanges.

Outcome??

[Anonymous]

Is getting a Honorable mention certificate in USABO (Biology Olympiad) good?. It is top 20% of test takers but that is hard too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is getting a Honorable mention certificate in USABO (Biology Olympiad) good?. It is top 20% of test takers but that is hard too.

I've only seen USABO Top 20 Finalists with excellent outcome. Many attend MIT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Outcome??

Accepted to Cornell, one of the Columbia dual BA programs, GW, various UCs. Rejected Georgetown. RD everywhere, didn't want to commit to ED and will probably be "still thinking" at 11:59pm on 5/1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is getting a Honorable mention certificate in USABO (Biology Olympiad) good?. It is top 20% of test takers but that is hard too.

Yes, it's good. It's not an extracurricular, though, it's just being good at school.