Okay so I have a 15-ish hour family responsibility per week and then I do ~30 hours of extracurriculars. To be honest, I don’t sleep much or have a ton of free time in order to do all of those, but will colleges look down on this?
A 15-hour family responsibility is an extracurricular activity.
The only concerns I have are: (i) Are you able to stay healthy (physically and mentally); and (ii) Can you keep your grades up?
If the answer is no to either of these questions, then cut back on your extracurricular activities. You do not need to do any ECs at all to get into a very good university.
Agreed, your family responsibility is an EC. And in terms of your 30 hour EC commitment – what you actually do is more meaningful than how many hours/week you spend on an EC. For example if you just sit in various club meetings for 30 hours/week it will not be as valuable as spending time on an EC and being able to point to specific accomplishments. Use your time wisely.
And yes, be sure to get enough sleep even if you cut down on ECs – health and academics should come before ECs.
Please continue posting on the OP’s earlier thread:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/2155467-is-family-responsibility-valued.html#latest