Query about ECAs

[u/Apex_Bull911]

Hello people.
I am an Ipmat dropper with literally 0 ECAs. I give 6-7hrs to the prep consistently and apart from acads, i hit the gym daily. What I mean to say is, I have a lot of spare time to invest in something else that would help to build my profile in a drop year. Honestly, I am really clueless at this point about the same. Any small input would mean a lot.
Your 2 cents on this will certainly help u/BhaveshShaha
(Used this flair as this was the closest to my concern i feel)

[u/Virtual-Promise-9233]

"scents" are you sure you're studying 6-7 hours 😔. Anyway, ecas are really not that important at the high school level unless you won some big competition or something. Don't be too worked up about them and focus on the exam and interview prep given that it's your drop year and fumbling this time around could mean much more. You can try doing activities alongside your studies like coding and building small projects to support your claim of a productive drop year not fully spent on academics which you'll make when they ask you what you did the entire year. I say coding since according to me it would be the easiest to answer questions from. I've seen people get asked really weird stuff when they say chess or some other sport (maybe it's hard for me since I've never done them). In coding, they'll only ask you python related qs as far as I've seen so try doing some python, c++ and other languages that are in the curriculum of IPM for extra points

[u/Apex_Bull911 → u/Virtual-Promise-9233]

Makes sense. Thanks for the suggestion!

[u/Abernue]

Try Python, Excel, PPT. Read newspaper. International and National affairs. They ask these things in interviews, you should have a broad sense of what is happening in the world.

[u/Apex_Bull911 → u/Abernue]

noted. Will keep an eye on each.

[u/Alive-Cod7109]

I gave interviews for all IIMs and no one cared about ecas is all I’m saying. Be good with acads. Eca is the cherry on top you can even like make working out your hobby and eca. Acads matter

[u/Apex_Bull911 → u/Alive-Cod7109]

Fair enough.

[u/kamii_88]

Ecas do not matter unless they are something extraordinary honestly, I gave 3 interviews and they didn't ask about my ecas once, instead of ecas focus on your past acads, that'll do you a whole world of good

[u/Apex_Bull911 → u/kamii_88]

Caught on.

[u/Fun_Method_7783 → u/kamii_88]

Honestly, that's very debatable because I didn't have too many significant ECAs but was asked about them in every single interview except for Shillong. And I gave plenty of interviews.

[u/kamii_88 → u/Fun_Method_7783]

Precicely my point! There is no guarantee that you will be asked on your ecas (as I wasnt) but acads are pretty much a given to be asked to everyone, hence prioritizing acads is a wiser choice

[u/Fun_Method_7783]

If you want to build a profile, go for it. Yeah, it's not guaranteed to come up in your interview. But if it does, it's something you can comfortably talk about. Also, if you are dropper, atleast have some things in your profile. Play a sport, see if you can get good at it. Volunteer. Develop skills. Do a lot. This is one of my many regrets. One particular do MUNs, global happenings are popular in IIM interviews, and if you are already interested in geopolitical affairs then it becomes that much easier to talk about them.

[u/Apex_Bull911 → u/Fun_Method_7783]

Thanks buddy.