<p>What would you say constitutes a "well-rounded student" and how many clubs/ec's do you think is too much? If I was in say 16 clubs, honor societies, sports teams, and outside volunteering programs, etc., would that look like too much even though I'm really, REALLY involved in each and every one of them? </p>
<p>i’ll answer by way of example, which is purely fictitious and exaggerated to make a point. Mary is president of the French club. Mary proposed to the club that they should focus on bringing French culture to their high school. After a discussion led by Mary the club decided on two activities: to introduce the school to modern French cuisine, and to modern French theater. She created two subgroups. The first researched the cuisine of France and decided on 2 related activities – a French market and a French lunch. Mary led both groups. She worked with faculty and a local business etc. etc. She obtained a venue, oversaw food preparation etc. etc. And executed the lunch as planned. She did the same with the theater. The first activity took 20+ hours per week of her time for 8 weeks. The second was harder etc. etc.</p>
<p>Is your involvement at this level for any of the clubs? Quality, depth, leadership, and execution is what counts. Not quantity.</p>
<p>You are kidding right? You can’t be in 16 clubs, I don’t care what you say by being involved.</p>
<p>@DrGoogle not 16 clubs, there are honor societies, which aren’t as labor intensive, outside volunteering (red cross type thing), and academic clubs; sorry the way i worded it may have been misleading</p>
<p>oh and sports</p>
<p>Ok pick the activities that are important to you. Lump them in like volunteer: Red Cross, etc. if you have sport, also lump them in. For some applications like the UC app, you can only list 5 activities. </p>
<p>@fogcity
thanks, I understand what you mean. If you don’t mind, I’m just going to give you an overview of what I’m involved in. I’m also only a sophomore. I guess I kind of thought “involved” entailed leadership, contributions, and winning. I just don’t know if it looks like I’m taking on too much for no reason, but I really do genuinely enjoy each thing I’m in…but it probably doesn’t seem that way right, since there’s kind of a lot? I can also definitely to take on leadership positions in debate and model UN. Maybe some more, but that’s just a maybe. And with that I would try to contribute as much as possible.</p>
<p>Freshman Yr.
-debate (awards at state tournaments)
-model un (distinguished delegation)
-science olympiad (regional awards)
-tennis team (regional awards)
-literary team, which is essentially a debate competition (team regional and state winner as well as individual regional and state winner)
-volunteering 73 hrs at a neuroscience clinic over the summer</p>
<p>Sophomore Yr. (since it’s only started, no awards yet)
-beta club
-mu alpha theta
-volunteen board (community service)
-sci national honor society
-debate
-model un
-sci oly
-literary team
-tennis team
-history bowl
-spanish club
and later on i will be in national honor society, this thing called teen court, and next yr more honor societies and science bowl and math team, so it may potentially add up to 16.
also am trying to get a research opportunity over the summer</p>
<p>My main concern is looking like I do a lot just because. I really don’t…but I don’t know how to seem like I do them all because I like it?</p>
<p>@DrGoogle
Thanks so much! Does the common app have limited space? I don’t really understand how to lump my things together though. </p>
<p>Try anyway. How you organize your activities and present to Adcoms makes a difference. One kid got into Stanford with SAT 1700+ and good GPA. I remember parents on CC commented how good he grouped activities and present himself and not listing a gazillion activities. Something to the effect that if Adcoms can identified you by a few adjectives then that’s better. </p>
<p>Wait you are only a sophomore? Why are you worry too early?</p>
<p>Oh I figured it’s best to be able to plan out high school early if that makes sense. </p>
<p>Colleges don’t necessarily want “well-rounded students”, they want well-rounded student bodies which they achieve by selecting students who are very good at what they do in their areas of specialization, not students who do a lot of different activities, none very well. They’d rather have a champion debater, master amateur chef, and all-district football player than three students who showed up for debate, rode the bench in football, and can boil water.</p>
<p>You can do whatever you want…you don’t have to report everything.
But like others say, it might be good to focus on certain areas.
So Debate, MUN, literary team are all Debate type activities. Perhaps you focus on those the most plus some community service.</p>