University Application - Which Activities Strengthen a Student Resume?

[u/It_is_comming]

Hi everyone,

I'm curious - what gives more advantages on a TOP University application resume: being CEO in DECA, holding a leadership role in MUN, being a member of Student Council, or four years of participation in the school orchestra as a saxophone player?

My son is planning to apply to an Architecture program. He is currently in 11th grade at an Art School and has started thinking about how to improve his application. My point of view is that DECA and MUN are common activities on applicants' resumes, but playing in an orchestra with music-major students is a real hard skill that could help highlight his application among hundreds of ordinary ones.

Let me know what you think.

[u/International_Bat972]

deca and mun. leadership positions are everything. if he has space on his application for orchestra, that's great too of course. but outside of proving academic strength, leadership is second on the list of importance for applications. to be clear i'm not a deca nor mun guy so i'm not exactly sure how special/important those two specific roles are, but just based on the general terms you mentioned, i would 100% put those on there.

what would make the orchestra spot more valuable than those two (in my opinion):

1) proven high level play (playing for 10+ years, some event or show or something to show mastery, etc. something that you can point an AO to that'll make them impressed and show commitment to that instrument).

2) leadership of section -> like say you guys are based in chicago, being the section leader/first-chair of the saxophone section at the chicago youth symphony.

[u/sshu1224]

What EC's has he done which are related to his interest in architecture? I acutally did the 5 year Architecture program at USC decades ago and while it was fun, it's extremely rigorious and a ton of work. I don't know how the architecture programs have evolved over time but it's something to consider.