<p>---I KNOW THIS IS LONG BUT PLEASE READ IT. I NEED HELP.-------------------------------Hello. I am going to apply to this summer program called COSMOS and I was looking at some old threads of people who got in and they had lots of good extracurriculars like being president of a bunch of clubs, founding a bunch of clubs, traveling to Ghana with the foundation they started, qualifying for the USAMO, volunteering 1000 hours in a hospital and stuff like that. I don't have ANY extracurriculars! The only thing that might qualify as an extracurricular would be MATHCOUNTS, which I only did for one year, and my team only made it to state.The problem is that my brother is severely autistic and my parents both work(a lot) so me and my sister are stuck taking care of him any time we are off from school. So I can't just go volunteer in nursing homes or take a plane to Ghana in my free time. I have stuff to do! Plus I have a form of social anxiety called selective mutism, which stops me from doing a lot of social stuff. So what do I do?</p>
<p>Your accomplishments will be considered in the context of your circumstances. You’re not expected to have the same ECs as people more privileged than you (and travel generally indicates privilege way more than it does merit). It’s an expensive program, so a lot of the applicants are going to be well off. Also keep in mind that the most impressive applicants are probably the ones most likely to brag about themselves on the Internet. </p>
<p>Why is it so important that you get into this program anyway? Expensive programs aren’t particularly impressive in college admissions. Finding local opportunities would be just as good.</p>
<p>What do you mean by travel indicating privilege? Also, it is important for me to get into this program because I can’t really do anything else. I can’t just go find some professor to do research with or make up some physics theory and write a book about it. My parents aren’t just gonna drive me around town to do “educational” things just because I say so, but they will drive me once to a camp and leave me there for four weeks, mostly if they get financial aid.</p>
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<p>Travel is expensive. Kids who get to travel to foreign countries aren’t necessarily more meritorious than kids who don’t get to travel…a lot of times they just have richer parents.</p>
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<p>You’re only a freshman, so what you do this summer isn’t going to matter a lot compared to the next two. An expensive program is better than nothing, but it’s still not terribly impressive. Are you only applying to this one program or do you have some backups?</p>
<p>If you don’t get in, is there anything you could do at home within walking distance?</p>
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<p>You’re not expected to, especially not as a freshman. Keep in mind that colleges care way more about GPA and test scores than they do about ECs anyway, and outside the top few colleges in US News (maybe the top 20-30ish) you can get into a lot of very good colleges with high numerical stats and average ECs.</p>
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Yes. I couldn’t find any others in this price range that accept freshman and are at the right time. (I am going on a cruise at the beginning of the summer)
I could do something on the internet, like a class, or I could maybe volunteer at the library, but I would have to bribe my sister to take me there. Or I could volunteer at my mothers elderly care facility, but it isn’t a nonprofit, so according to my school, it doesn’t count for volunteer hours. Do you have any ideas?</p>
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<p>It doesn’t matter if it counts for volunteer hours at your school. Basically anything productive you do outside of school (other than really passive things like reading) counts as an EC.</p>
<p>Well okay if you say so. I guess it won’t be the end of the world if I don’t get into COSMOS. What if I made a website to collect donations to buy Ipads for nonverbal autistic kids. My brother could use one too. That would be fun, right?</p>