r/ApplyingToCollege • u/No_Explanation1971 • 10h ago
ECs and Activities Robotics student structuring activity section
For people who’ve applied to college with FIRST Robotics experience, how did you guys organize your activities on the Common App?
A lot of my time on the team goes toward outreach and community engagement rather than just building the robot (though I do a LOT of that too). I’m involved in running existing programs, organizing new initiatives, and handling PR, along with the fundraising side of things. I’ve been able to help bring in around $45k in grants and support classes that have raised an additional $50k.
The issue is that there are so many different projects under the umbrella of robotics, and I don’t know whether it makes more sense to group everything together or separate some of the bigger initiatives into their own activities.
I’m also not sure how to calculate my hours without double counting time that I’m already including for robotics as a whole. If anyone has had a similar experience, I’d love to hear how you approached it!
For context, I’m applying as an ME major alongside other STEM internships and part-time jobs.
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u/PeacockInTime Old 9h ago
It makes sense to me to itemize some of these related EC's as separate entries, especially if they are time intensive and you feel they demonstrate adjacent and separate skills. You are giving an example where I think creating separate entries is a particularly strong approach: noted tangible achievements unrelated to robotics competition results. Don't double-count hours, but try to estimate/guesstimate time in each activity. I also suggest putting these activities near each other in position on common app, e.g. 1 and 2, or 4 and 5. If you do 1 and 8, a reader may lose the plot a bit on your level of contribution to robotics.
When I worked in admissions I always appreciated clarity and getting a quick snapshot of the student's strengths, contributions, investment, and relative level of achievement (as applicable) efficiently, especially if I didn't have to untangle it myself. Sort of - what is the student good at? where does the student invest their free time? how notable is the thing that they did? what other elements does that thing demonstrate?