ECs - the most unusual or memorable ones

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid who started a beekeeping initiative (already was certified master beekeeper from Cornell) with a local jail, and eventually inmates mastered beekeeping and made honey.
Kid packaged and sold the honey for them. Think inmates created a garden too and kid did same with that.

There's more to it, but that's the gist.
At Stanford.

That’s funny because I live on the west coast and kid beekeepers are kind of a dime a dozen out here. That and selling eggs from backyard flocks are both common crunchy educated kid activities in my area.

Once it worked once for someone, it's out there and is getting replicated a million times.

Truly unique ECs: no pain, no gain. The kid really had to go through a lot to accomplish something amazing.

The best thing is just to make sure your kids have enough free time to think, create and master something.

The reality is that most kids don't have that talent. The discussion here really is focusing on how to manufacture one. If the kid truly has talent, they won't be here asking ... But they still want to send the kid to a T20.

Sometimes people don’t see a kids weird interests as talent?
I don’t know. My brother in the 90s was really into watches. Loved taking them apart. We thought it was a weird quirky habit.

He ended up going to Virginia Tech and is now a doctor. I’m sure the watch hobby was nowhere in the EC list. It should have been.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been harping on my sophomore for 1.5 yrs to join something at school. Keep telling her on paper she looks like not that interesting. Then I was so ashamed that I told him kid she wasn't interesting! She is in almost year-round club sport and piano lessons and other than that, she seems to only care about her hair and makeup - no cap as the kids would say.

But, she works hard at her grades and I've decided to leave her alone. We will just try to ensure her essays convey a sense of her quiet confidence and creative interests. I've actually really come around to deciding that -screw the resume-building - I think it is cool she is happy opting-out. And now we have peace in the home. I've told her some doors may close but if she doesn't have the drive rn to jump through hoops for other ppl, a non top-tier school will be just fine.

She is smart and creative and has nice friends... She will get a part time job this summer and at least get some real life skills and have her own Starbucks money. As for the college stuff, we are just going to roll with it and see how it all pans out. I'm sure it will be fine.

This forum is filled with crazies. Kids like your DD are far more common. She'll find her place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been harping on my sophomore for 1.5 yrs to join something at school. Keep telling her on paper she looks like not that interesting. Then I was so ashamed that I told him kid she wasn't interesting! She is in almost year-round club sport and piano lessons and other than that, she seems to only care about her hair and makeup - no cap as the kids would say.

But, she works hard at her grades and I've decided to leave her alone. We will just try to ensure her essays convey a sense of her quiet confidence and creative interests. I've actually really come around to deciding that -screw the resume-building - I think it is cool she is happy opting-out. And now we have peace in the home. I've told her some doors may close but if she doesn't have the drive rn to jump through hoops for other ppl, a non top-tier school will be just fine.

She is smart and creative and has nice friends... She will get a part time job this summer and at least get some real life skills and have her own Starbucks money. As for the college stuff, we are just going to roll with it and see how it all pans out. I'm sure it will be fine.

For your wonderful makeup-loving daughter, a gift, courtesy of this college counseling guy I see everywhere!
https://www.tiktok.com/@tineocollegeprep/video/7423531655656230186

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been harping on my sophomore for 1.5 yrs to join something at school. Keep telling her on paper she looks like not that interesting. Then I was so ashamed that I told him kid she wasn't interesting! She is in almost year-round club sport and piano lessons and other than that, she seems to only care about her hair and makeup - no cap as the kids would say.

But, she works hard at her grades and I've decided to leave her alone. We will just try to ensure her essays convey a sense of her quiet confidence and creative interests. I've actually really come around to deciding that -screw the resume-building - I think it is cool she is happy opting-out. And now we have peace in the home. I've told her some doors may close but if she doesn't have the drive rn to jump through hoops for other ppl, a non top-tier school will be just fine.

She is smart and creative and has nice friends... She will get a part time job this summer and at least get some real life skills and have her own Starbucks money. As for the college stuff, we are just going to roll with it and see how it all pans out. I'm sure it will be fine.

For your wonderful makeup-loving daughter, a gift, courtesy of this college counseling guy I see everywhere!
https://www.tiktok.com/@tineocollegeprep/video/7423531655656230186

Okay, that's actually pretty cool!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been harping on my sophomore for 1.5 yrs to join something at school. Keep telling her on paper she looks like not that interesting. Then I was so ashamed that I told him kid she wasn't interesting! She is in almost year-round club sport and piano lessons and other than that, she seems to only care about her hair and makeup - no cap as the kids would say.

But, she works hard at her grades and I've decided to leave her alone. We will just try to ensure her essays convey a sense of her quiet confidence and creative interests. I've actually really come around to deciding that -screw the resume-building - I think it is cool she is happy opting-out. And now we have peace in the home. I've told her some doors may close but if she doesn't have the drive rn to jump through hoops for other ppl, a non top-tier school will be just fine.

She is smart and creative and has nice friends... She will get a part time job this summer and at least get some real life skills and have her own Starbucks money. As for the college stuff, we are just going to roll with it and see how it all pans out. I'm sure it will be fine.

For your wonderful makeup-loving daughter, a gift, courtesy of this college counseling guy I see everywhere!
https://www.tiktok.com/@tineocollegeprep/video/7423531655656230186

Okay, that's actually pretty cool!

i wish someone would create a place to share more of THIS kind of stuff.

[Anonymous]

Sheep herder

[Anonymous]

A D1 athlete I saw online mentioned she didn’t have a ton of time for ECs beyond her sport, but did have time to raise hospital-badged certified therapy rabbits that she took to visit patients every week. I thought that was really specific and an activity that could balance week with an intense commitment. Plus, cute bunnies!

[Anonymous]

LOL! Any of the T20 schools are going to see right through this. Former AO's keep warning about these things. For schools outside of T20, these do not matter much.

[Anonymous]

Construction work. If the kid is Engineering focused, and into woodworking, they will be naturally good at it and WANT to do it.

Great pt job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL! Any of the T20 schools are going to see right through this. Former AO's keep warning about these things. For schools outside of T20, these do not matter much.

Most of this is not new (beekeeping? crocheting? origami? -- all old and people are doing it already). The key is for it not to be done in isolation, but part of the larger narrative so it makes sense for that kid, in your context, and aligned with major. The kid has to want to do whatever it is though, because its their EC and their time. No one can make their kid do this stuff, especially if its a lot of time.

Some of these are unusual though and not what we typically see in our circle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mean you can bet everyone would know your kid as the obituary writer if that was their PT job/EC.....

I actually think this would be a really hard job for a kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I started a running list of memorable ECs (from this site's old posts and what I hear from our school community or see on reddit). See below. Please add on!

STEM RELATED
Working as a car mechanic;
Restoring pinball machines or vintage arcade games;
Getting licensed as a HAM radio operator;
Clock repair/watchmaking;
Working with a glassblower or in a scientific glassware repair shop;
Telescope making - esp if interested in astronomy; and
Working on model trains (modernization and automation).

CS RELATED
business founder for computer repair
"Hobby Engineering" (independent projects)

HUMANITIES RELATED
Letterpress printing and bookbinding
Cartography and mapmaking
Puppetry and marionette making

OUTDOOR HOBBIES
fishing, rock climbing, archery

OTHER HOBBIES:
origami, coin collecting, birdwatching, crocheting, blacksmithing, woodworking, master reseller on FB marketplace

PT JOBS:
car mechanic
oil repair/oil change mechanic
seamstress
butchering
makeup artist
obituary writer for local small-town paper

In our school kids with these niche ECs (fabricating a car engine, etc.) did not get into T20 schools. Most of them went to state schools.

Car mechanics, for example, was cool when someone first uses it as EC. Once it's known and replicated, a dime a dozen.

If your kids are truly interested in these and enjoy doing it, go ahead.

I know 2 car mechanics in my non-DMV city this year. I don't know if its that common, or maybe not in our area?
One ED into Northwestern.
One REA into Yale.

Have heard the manual labor kind of ECs are the best ones to do nowadays.

Manual labor has been popular for many years. Clique. Have to be a truly unique manual labor.

My daughter got into an Ivy and spent the past 3 summers as a short order cook, operating a deep fryer and griddle for 40 hours a week. Otherwise she's an upper middle class kid with top grades. Her essays were really interesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of these ECs listed are called "texture". Have you heard of it?

It is texture (term was coined by a former Stanford AO: https://www.instagram.com/admitium/). Texture appears VERY important at Stanford.

Texture = "your personality pops off the page through novel interests and endearing personal qualities that show you're humble, authentic and have moxie" (source: admitium Masterclass - no the MC wasn't worth it.)

[Anonymous]

I kept wondering, how easy it is to fake these nonsense ECs. All you need is just writing this bs in your essay. A short order cook? A sailor? A bunny raiser? I can walk on the moon! It’s not like AOs will actually verify that you have done all the bs!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I kept wondering, how easy it is to fake these nonsense ECs. All you need is just writing this bs in your essay. A short order cook? A sailor? A bunny raiser? I can walk on the moon! It’s not like AOs will actually verify that you have done all the bs!

They sometimes do call your CCO. And some T5 do spend the summer "verifying" ECs.

But yes, below T10, probably most don't verify. But your teachers and counselors would have to know about it?