First place at the international tournament. |
Not equivalent.. ones that require time and talent invested are more valuable than passive ones. Winning debate tournament is morenvaluable than being a member an honor society. Playing a sport for 15 hours a week is more valuable than going to baking club for an hour once a week. |
Now I am curious to know where this kid is going to college. |
What tournament? Trying to understand an example of an international HS tournament. |
So it is intensity, not necessarily what the EC is. Is winning a Guitar competition equivalent to winning a debate tournament? |
I am sure in the world of guitar there are prizes that are more meaningful than others, and the same with debate, or ice hockey, or writing, or science, or theatre, etc. |
No way. Everyone wants a guitar playing friend in college. No one wants the douche-bag debater around, no matter what national competition he won. |
There are plenty of them. One example is robotics championship: https://www.roboticseducation.org/2021-live-remote-vex-robotics-world-championship-winners/ |
I’m a college counselor. To the best of my knowledge Georgia Tech doesn’t practice yield protection just as UVA doesn’t. The big state schools don’t have the resources to delve into each application and figure out if a kid will go elsewhere |
UVA offers ED. ED is the personification of yield protection. To the best of my knowledge, UVA is the only highly ranked public university who has ED. |
ED,SCEA and REA are completely different practices compared to yield protection. And you are wrong about big universities and ED. |
OK...got it. I guess I was thinking of individual international awards, like winning an international chess tournament or an international piano contest (or the Olympics, which of course is the epitome of an international competition). Basically, things where there are probably no more than 5-10 kids (if that) total in the world in any applying college class. Funny as I am familiar with FRC robotics which stops at the national level (though Canada participates in the National contest). |
ECs are but another "black blox" aspect of college admissions. You say they are not equivalent, but I will posit that you don't really know. I guess I don't consider an Honor Society as an EC, but rather an award/recognition...maybe some kids list them as ECs so I am right there with you. I am not sure how much college admissions cares that you play a sport if they are not actively recruiting you. Also colleges are all about unique kids, so while the Baking Club is a bad example for GT and STEM, they may very well find the kid that was Captain of the Baking Club that won top prize at the MD State Fair, way more unique and interesting vs. the umpteenth debate kid where they hand out a bunch of awards. I see the results from my kid's HS Debate contests and somehow 1/2 the kids win some placement in some random category (of which there are many). Seems like that detracts from the kid who won Best Overall (or whatever they give in debate)...basically, the kid who really won. Again, I just find it odd when people say their kid had "stellar" ECs...which I see all over the place in these college discussions. |
Whether to put these recognitions or activities in awards or ECs can be confusing. In any case...if they are time consuming..indicates that.
In our HS some honor society memberships require a certain amount of tutoring hours that must be verified by the teachers running the tutoring center. |
Stellar ECs probably means there was some recognition or success outside of the students own claims. Maybe recognition from a science competition like regeneron or the debate competition mentioned above or an athletic award, a music awards, etc.
500 cello players apply every year and if the university will only accept one, they may decide to choose the one that has had demonstrated success beyond just the orchestra teachers recommendation. |