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pguard
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Unique ECs 22 Dec 2008, 13:01
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As I read a lot of the profiles I'm starting to wonder what qualifies for "excellent, modest, or even average" extracurricular activities.

I believe the true value of any EC activity is usually personal so I don't think there can be any right or wrong answers to this one.
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Jerz
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Unique ECs 22 Dec 2008, 14:19
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AZCFA
As I read a lot of the profiles I'm starting to wonder what qualifies for "excellent, modest, or even average" extracurricular activities.

I believe the true value of any EC activity is usually personal so I don't think there can be any right or wrong answers to this one.
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I don't think you can say, for example, volunteering at a soup kitchen is better/worse than Habitat for Humanity. I think the quality is more whether in your ECs you have committed to something over a period of time, and what you've accomplished - leadership, creativity, teamwork, etc. As for whether someone says their ECs are "excellent, modest or average" that's purely subjective.
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Unique ECs 22 Dec 2008, 15:33
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i think its more to do with the impact you had on that organization, how did you make a differnce, what kind of leadership skills you used..
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jb32
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Unique ECs 22 Dec 2008, 16:18
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Follow this guy's advice:

https://calnewport.com/blog/2008/05/28/the-art-of-activity-innovation-how-to-be-impressive-without-an-impressive-amount-of-work/
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ko
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Unique ECs 22 Dec 2008, 16:20
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Anyone willing to share specific EC's that they included in their apps this year?
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pguard
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Unique ECs 22 Dec 2008, 16:45
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smkrn--that was my intention. I wanted to see what type of unique EC activities we were all participating in.
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Unique ECs 22 Dec 2008, 19:20
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smkrn
Anyone willing to share specific EC's that they included in their apps this year?
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I was involved in starting a non-profit school in a rural area.I think this comes under a good EC category.
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pguard
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Unique ECs 22 Dec 2008, 21:48
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Yes, fall...I would definitely think that is unique and very noteworthy.
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IHateTheGMAT
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Unique ECs 23 Dec 2008, 11:45
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I don't think what qualifies as a good EC has much to do with uniqueness. I think it's about showing commitment to something outside of work (deep commitment, not cursory commitment) and much more importantly I think ECs are about demonstrating leadership. There are great opportunities to demonstrate significant leadership through ECs and I think this is critically important, especially if you don't have great leadership at work.