Reply to What are “top notch ECs”?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Music and art in national recognition.
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NP. Stop with the "national recognition" crap.

[b]National recognition/competitions etc. in any field, music, art, sports, etc. is rare.[/b]

Any college worth attending is going to know that, too.

OP, your kid needs to do ECs he or she [i]wants to do[/i], activities which engage your kid enough that they're taking a real interest and showing commitment with their time and effort. And then, crucially, your kid needs to be able to write essays where they articulately talk about why those ECs are meaningful personally; what those ECs have taught them about themselves and other people; how those ECs have prepared them for college and/or helped determine their chosen major/career; how those ECs have made your kid into a person who would be a contributing member of that college's student body.

Sure, it's great to have a resume with national awards etc. Some colleges will indeed see those and toss an application onto the pile for further consideration, or a firm "yes." But it is utterly foolish to push any kid (who doesn't want to do it on their own) to compete like crazy in order to [i]maybe[/i] win awards for the sake of college apps. Instead, students should do things that matter to them as people and should be able to talk and write about how those activities affect them.

Please do not stress a kid about "You need to WIN STUFF to ensure admission to college X." If that's the feeling, then maybe college X isn't really the right place for that particular kid. [/quote]

DP. Which is why they were indicated as "top notch." Of course they're rare. That's the point. [/quote]

Right. But they are just one type of top-notch credential. The point isn’t that winning these types of awards (or doing significant research or being national poet laureate) isn’t a great credential; it’s that they are one type of credential and—most importantly—not one that is required/necessary for admission to the most selective schools. The faulty premise many seem to buy into is that these sorts of national/international awards are table stakes for admissions consideration to a Harvard or a Yale. That just isn’t so.[/quote]

PP here. True that you don't need one of these for admission,  but to have one (one of the truly exclusive ones) along with great grades, rigor, essays, recs, it's not such a lottery anymore. [/quote]

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