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3 years ago
Admissions Advice

How to tell when my extracurriculars are "amazing"
Answered

I've seen advice all around advising to make sure your extracurriculars are amazing, and outstanding. How am I able to tell if mine are or when I have hit the point to where they are 'amazing'. For reference, I am the lead trumpet in my school, a lead tenor in my schools choir, I have played the lead in the schools musicals, I have performed for community theater, I plan to participate in a mock government for 2 years, I plan to volunteer at a charity, and am a member of two nationally known honors societies, though I don't play a large part in either. I really am not trying to brag, but am just trying to see if my extracurriculars are 'outstanding'. Sorry if it seems like I am.

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2 answers

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Accepted Answer
3 years ago

hi! i would be completely honest with you, although your ECs are great, they aren't very likely to be considered as "outstanding" or have a "wow" moment. your description is vague, first of all, so i can't really say much, but according to your words, i'd say it's pretty generic....but again, maybe you had a really special experience during these activities that can be written in your essays or in any other sections, then that's another story.

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3 years ago

The difference between good and amazing extracurriculars depends on the college, but in general, I think they value. Evidently, you have an aptitude for music. However, your extracurriculars only support that fact, they don't expand it (An example of expanding your talent might be someone who is really good at drawing and thus designs posters for a political movement.). If you plan to volunteer at a charity, I suggest doing one that somehow connects to your musical passion.

Another strategy is to incorporate juxtapositional depth. This means have multiple (usually and preferably only two) fields in which you excel. One field of yours is musical talent, but maybe you are also good at writing. In this example, you would join a writing club and submit your writing to competitions. Colledges also love it when you combine the fields. For the writing example, this could mean using your literary talents to write a song and using your musical talents to sing and produce it.

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Your chancing factors
Unweighted GPA: 3.7
1.0
4.0
SAT: 720 math
200
800
| 800 verbal
200
800

Extracurriculars

Low accuracy (4 of 18 factors)

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