ECs - the most unusual or memorable ones

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son wants to get a pilot's license. Any thoughts on that? His target major is aerospace.

My son had his pilot's license when he applied (he earned it at 17.) Lots of positive feedback from interviewers, but I don't know that it moved the needle at all. He is a finance major at a school somewhere in the T30-50.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son wants to get a pilot's license. Any thoughts on that? His target major is aerospace.

Of course that's great.

join the Experimental Aircraft Association and Civil Air Patrol (cadets) if you haven't already.
teach younger people how to fly/be a mentor.

The key with these unique activities is tying them all to something else/something larger.

You might check this out:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1107424.page

[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.

I read a personal essay about digging graves (as a pt job). Whoa. Intense.

[Anonymous]

I know a kid that shows her dog in dog shows. This is the main EC and they travel all over for it. Accepted to HYP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son wants to get a pilot's license. Any thoughts on that? His target major is aerospace.

Of course that's great.

join the Experimental Aircraft Association and Civil Air Patrol (cadets) if you haven't already.
teach younger people how to fly/be a mentor.

The key with these unique activities is tying them all to something else/something larger.

You might check this out:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1107424.page

Fly food and clothing donations to areas that had a natural disaster. I saw a teen on the local news that did this when there was flooding in NC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know a kid that shows her dog in dog shows. This is the main EC and they travel all over for it. Accepted to HYP.

Well that EC just indicates she's rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a kid that shows her dog in dog shows. This is the main EC and they travel all over for it. Accepted to HYP.

Well that EC just indicates she's rich.

And a little weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a kid that shows her dog in dog shows. This is the main EC and they travel all over for it. Accepted to HYP.

Well that EC just indicates she's rich.

And a little weird.

I think you mean quirky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Then lie to them, too. Easy peasy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son wants to get a pilot's license. Any thoughts on that? His target major is aerospace.

That's not particularly unique. Have him give free plane rides to sick kids or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid (last year) included his skills as a beekeeper among his ECs (My spouse had started keeping hives in our yard and more or less mandated DS help him, so DS learned the basics and yes, wore a full bee suit multiple times).

I don’t know if it helped with admissions.

But what was the impact with beekeeping? Or was it just included in the ECs to show personality?

Primarily to show personality and also demonstrate contribution to the “family business” (we did make and distribute some honey—well I guess the bees made it). Additionally he looked up whether there was a beekeeping club at the schools he applied to and then mentioned his interest in joining the club in the “why this school?” essays.

Couldn’t really tie it to major since he was applying to engineering. But also he was not applying to top schools so—I’m not sure how important unique ECs are in schools with a 50%+ acceptance rate.

There's an obvious connection between civil engineering and building your own behives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve got a car mechanic kid with excellent grades/rigor/scores who decided to Ed to a top 50 rather than a top 20 because he didn’t want a school that wouldn’t allow him time for his car-mechanic-y pursuits. We were thrilled to be done and have him someplace that’s a good fit.

What makes him think the T50 will be significantly less time consuming than, say, Brown?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a family friend who developed an interest in Alpaca's in middle school. By the time he was a junior, he was running a small farm with a side business for their wool. He was incredibly smart and worked hard. He was accepted at all the best schools and I imagine that no one had seen another kid who ran an alpaca farm in their free time.

One alpaca is 15k. How does a high school student afford to purchase a flock of alpacas?

[Anonymous]

There is nothing about this disgusting game that is relevant for equity. If your family has money, you use it wisely. If they don’t, you can’t play. That’s it. And that’s life in the US Higher Ed Hunger Games.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How exactly do you start doing "cartography" or mapmaking as an EC? In a class at a college?

You start playing around with GIS. I know at least one school in the area has a class or EC to get kids involved - I saw the kids on stage during the plenary presentation for a 15000+ person industry conference last year. They typically have some youth presentation each year. I can only imagine that would make a great college essay. There’s a lot of cool mapmaking you can do once you learn the software and several programs/awards to get kids involved.