Hi,
I’m a sophomore in highschool and have started joining clubs, which I’m planning on staying in until I graduate. I enjoy all of them and are wondering if they’re any good on college apps.
-Journalism (10-11 or 10,12): Hoping to be editor in chief or editor of a section
-Yearbook (9): Copy Editor
-Key Club (10-12): Planning on staying in it throughout highschool and possibly trying for elections next year
-Red Cross (10-?)
-Theater Usher (10-?)
-Interact (10-?): Possibly try for elections
-CSF (10-12)
-NHS(10-12): Possibly try for elections next year
Sadly, I don’t do any sports or orchestra/symphony related extracurricular
I am worried that although I enjoy these clubs, they won’t be any good on college apps. Are there any clubs/work/volunteer/ internship etc I should try? Any advice?
you enjoy them all— do you magically have time in your schedule to add more? That seems unlikely. Narrow down – truly focus on what you enjoy and shed the others.
If ANY of them (even ALL of them) affect your GPA, then drop them without hesitation. Even drop ALL of them if needed. Your GPA and eventual test scores are MUCH MUCH more important than every single one of your ECs/voluntarism/jobs, etc.
Your other post about not taking any APs? THAT’s critical. It tells colleges you aren’t pushing yourself academically. You really need to turn that around. All these ECs and “leadership” positions pale in comparison to a weak transcript – which is where you’re headed. I’d advise you to drop half your current ECs and focus on your schoolwork – not look to expand/try out more ECs.
Colleges focus on GPA/transcript/scores first and foremost. They aren’t hiring summer camp counselors. Good luck to you. Don’t buy into the myth about ECs’ over-importance.
@T26E4 I find that many of the clubs I joined require community service hours and that it overlaps, so I don’t feel like it takes up too much time as of now. Plus, I really enjoy doing community service. However, if I find that it affects my GPA later on, I will drop the club as you advised.
For the APs, they weren’t offered in freshman year and this year(sophomore year), I took journalism and japanese(3 years foreign language recommended), which caused my schedule to be full. None of my other required classes could be AP, which is why I’m taking 2 honors. For junior year, I’m thinking of switching journalism 2 with AP Bio, which I originally planned on taking senior year. This would make it that I have 3 APs in junior year, along with 2 honors. Would you advise me to take journalism 2 in senior year instead? Then, I would be taking 5 APs(AP Gov/Politics and AP macroeconomics are semester long courses) my senior year. I’m also planning to self study AP Chinese, AP Chem (possibly), and AP Psychology to take the AP exam. I AM trying to push myself academically but I don’t know if the colleges will see it.
Thank you for the advice! I find it really helpful to see what other people think.
“Logging community service hours” is a waste of time. It’s not about how many hours of service you do. It’s about what impact you have, what you contribute as a result of your volunteerism. If you enjoy them, then fine. That’s a good enough reason to do them. But don’t do it for college applications.
You could also drop both clubs (frankly no one cares if you do them or not) and find an organization with a mission you care deeply about: animals, the environment, homelessness, education, the arts, healthcare, local politics on any issue…it doesn’t matter what it is. It matters only that you care about it and are interested in doing more than ‘logging community service hours.’
And by the way, many kids get into top schools with absolutely NO community service hours. They had an EC or two that they were very committed to and demonstrated a high level of achievement in that area. If they did anything else, it was just a fun way to be with friends.
@N’s Mom I completely agree with you on the fact that it’s about what impact you have. I guess by taking those two clubs, I get more opportunities to know about services and I enjoy doing community service anyways. I’m not sure what organization I would go for with a mission I care about, since I just like helping in general.
I think most of the kids that get into top schools with no community service hours do ECs related to sports or music, in which they’re very passionate about and have many achievements. I, on the otherhand, am not at all athletic as I never tried for a sport as a kid. I like music, and I used to play the flute and piano and sometimes play the guitar, but it’s more like something I do for fun and not completely invested in.
What would you suggest I do? Would internships or working be good, while gaining experience? Are there any organizations etc that you know of?
Lots of school clubs with leadership positions, which actually raises a red flag about the amount of time invested and the credibility of these, and also appears too diffuse; she notes “where’s this student going; what’s he interested in?”. And for all that, she concludes that they are completely not memorable. Rather, the student’s time spent self-studying German and short story writing (with publication) are what stand out.
Languages, creative writing, app development,
@scha626, your activities are spread all over the map. The impression it leaves is of someone without a clear focus and interest who is “logging hours” and accumulating ECs under the false impression that it will impress adcoms.
Here’s what I would suggest you do:
Think about where your true interests lie, and what matters to you. It sounds like you are mainly a humanities / social sciences person. But really work on refining the message you want to send about who you are. Is your passion journalism? Advocacy? Theatre arts? Creative writing? How do you want to make a difference?
Eliminate meaningless activities that don't really contribute to your growth and "cluster" activities that are thematically related. You can have more than 1 theme, but you can't have 10 or 12. Journalism and yearbook fit together. It's fine to keep a couple of minor activities that you do "just for fun", but it should be clear that these are secondary and don't conflict with your focus. Right now you show no focus, so you're not even at this point yet.
Add depth to one or more of your thematic areas by pursuing opportunities outside of school and/or summer opportunities. If journalism is your thing then try to write for a local paper. There are applicants who write for the Huffington Post. Take a summer program. Spin it in a different direction - take a film program to complement written journalism. Or if creative writing is more your thing then take a summer workshop and submit to Scholastic Arts & Writing and to literary journals. The more you can thematically link stuff you do, the more it will give the appearance of depth and avoid the appearance of being spread all over the place.
The more focus and depth you have, the more opportunities will open up. If you are known to be passionate about journalism and invest a lot in it, you will build up expertise and contacts, and opportunities may become available that aren’t right now. But if you spread yourself too thin and never have a clear focus or develop the expertise, then you’ll miss out on those opportunities.
The good news is you have lots of time. But you need to completely re-think your approach, in my opinion.
