<p>Hi. I'm a sophomore in high school. Lately, I've felt that the amount of ECs I have are lacking (and I know its better quality over quantity, but even then I feel like I don't have enough to show my passion for the things I love).
So far this is my list:
-Playing Piano since I was seven (I think I've gone to county or something eight years in a row and have been qualified to some state competition for those eight years...)
-Community Service Officer of the Chinese Club this year (member for two years, trying out for VP next year); also in National Chinese Honor Society
-Member of the Animal Care Club (but we don't do anything in it)
-Volunteering at my local animal shelter four times a week for an hour (started last month but I'm determined to continue this for the rest of my high school year)
-I took a class in Creative Writing last year, Advanced Composition this year (required), and I took journalism in MS (but do classes count as ECs?)
-I've taken Photography classes at school for two years</p>
<p>The thing is that I want to show that I love writing/reading and animals/biology. I have considered making a Creative Writing Club, but most people at my school don't take clubs seriously. So I think a lot of people won't join anyways except for my friends that want to help out :( Do colleges get to see how many members were in a club you joined/created? There's also an ASPIRE program at my school which is basically a class where you leave an hour earlier and go to a research institute. You have a mentor and a research assignment that you have to do a complete science experiment/board/presentation for the Science Fair. However, if I were to do this, I'd be coming home really late every day and I'd have to give up going to the animal shelter. So I'm not really sure what to go for.
Besides that, I don't really have any ideas as to what else to do either. Any ideas/suggestions? :)</p>
<p>Classes that take place entirely during the school day aren’t ECs. An EC is anything (or more narrowly, anything productive) you do outside of school.
Stuff you did in middle school doesn’t mean anything for college admissions (unless you took a high school class for HS credit). </p>
<p>“Do colleges get to see how many members were in a club you joined/created?”</p>
<p>No, but if no one’s going to join you may as well not waste your time. </p>
<p>“You have a mentor and a research assignment that you have to do a complete science experiment/board/presentation for the Science Fair. However, if I were to do this, I’d be coming home really late every day and I’d have to give up going to the animal shelter.”</p>
<p>This sounds like a good idea if you’re interested in biology.
Is the animal shelter open on weekends/other hours?
(People on here say you can also contact college professors and see if they’ll let you come in and work with them, but I’ve never done it.)</p>
<p>You could also look for creative writing or photography contests to enter.</p>
<p>im gonna start some club and hopefully it wont be too much work</p>
<p>Thank you for replying!
I’ve been thinking about the science fair program for a while, but the only downside is that I won’t be picking my research topic, it will be assigned. So it might not even be biology related. The animal shelter I work at is open from Monday to Saturday. However, its Saturdays are always full, so that’s why I try to volunteer as much as I can throughout my school week instead. I really want to show that I have a passion for caring for animals (I want to become a veterinarian in the future). Are there any other ways to show that?
Also, thanks for the contests suggestions. I’ll be sure to look for some to enter! :)</p>
<p>bump…any animal-related EC ideas?</p>
<p>taking classes, unless they’re outside of school, doesn’t count as an EC. but I think that you have enough good ECs already. just keep going with them, and dedicate yourself to them. if you want to do a bit more in writing, write some things and try submitting them to high school journals 
you never know</p>
<p>@stressedouttt: Thank you! I’m hoping that I can continue all my ECs and hopefully show people that I am dedicated to what I love to do. 
Also…I was wondering, what is a high school journal? .___.;;</p>
<p>^
I would assume it’s like a literary magazine that accepts submissions from (possibly exclusively from) high school students.</p>
<p>Since HS classes don’t count as ECs, would my school’s literary magazine not count either? Or is that alright? Although I guess striving for more competition is better…</p>