Reply to A reality check on "strong extracurriculars"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Strong ECs means:
1. school president
2. first chair in audition orchestra/band
3. elite-level athlete
4. multi-year (3+) community service commitment at the same organization
5. multiple awards won at top tournaments/conferences: speech and debater/Model UNer
6. steady job of any kind (McDonald's and the like=bonus)

Strong ECs does NOT mean:
1. president of many clubs 
2. started a non-profit
3. did research with a professor
4. participated in any or all of the "strong ECs" above but not with demonstrated commitment (i.e. many years) and/or significant recognition (i.e. varsity athlete but not top individual stats, on student council but not president)

This list is not comprehensive but there is a great deal of misinformation here about what "strong ECs" means. [/quote]

HYP interviewer here. I have no special insight into the inner workings of the admissions office, but I do see who gets in and who doesn't. From what I have seen (from the few that got in vs. the dozens who didn't) "strong ECs" would include two classes: 1) being a recruited athlete or 2) truly national recognition, like some of the free math camps or the (probably now defunct) State Department study abroad programs. That's not an exhaustive list, just what I've seen. I have seen multiple kids with your "strong ECs" be denied or wait-listed.

5 and 3 on your list are the only ones that make sense to me.

Also, McDonald's? Wtf are you thinking?[/quote]

I am an employer at an elite law firm, so I have to clean up the messes that you and others make in the undergraduate screening process on the back end, and this is exactly what I am talking about - people who have worked minimum wage service jobs early in their lives and who later obtain superior academic success are often the best-positioned people to excel in competitive job environments.  So if colleges have not been taking that seriously --  or not viewing that as superior to the resume-puffing extracurrics that are generally of no consequence -- it explains a lot of the garbage we're seeing out of elite universities when they come to or through law and business schools.
[/quote]

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