<p>I'll list some right now that I've done, doing currently or I'm going to do 100%</p>
<p>Red Cross Club (Started in 11th)
School Newspaper (9th-current, will continue to 12th)
Donor walk of some sort, I forgot (10th)
Gift of Life House (Only 1 day, 10th)
Doing Carver Science Fair (11th)
School Musical - Tiny Role lol (My school is a music school) (9th, might participate again in 12th)
High School Concert Choir (9th- current, will continue to 12th)
And finally I am going to apply for NHS, hopefully I'll get in (Most likely), my school takes it very seriously</p>
<p>No sports...I hate sports.
I loved doing all of these ECs, especially the School Newspaper because I wanted a place to express my opinion, I wrote SO MANY articles.
I love to be in Concert Choir because I got in and I love it lol.
I'm currently starting to do a science fair project, I want to see if I could make something magical happen!</p>
<p>I also did community services hours at my old middle school, like 20-30 hours, but that's only to fill up the hours I needed for NHS.</p>
<p>So can anyone explain to me what I need to do? I want to apply to Ivy League..or at least UCLA or NYU. My school is a mix between middle and high school, only 250 HS students. There's only 2 AP classes, AP Bio and AP Music Theory, I'm already in AP Bio but the teachers pick whether or not you're in AP Music Theory, and I'm not.</p>
<p>I take it you’re a high school junior? My impression is that colleges want to see sustained, serious involvement in activities over a longer period of time in something that really matters to you. In that regard, you are at somewhat of a disadvantage if you are only taking up something new now, with a year to go before college applications. Your work on the newspaper and involvement in concert choir are very good. See if you can attain leadership positions in these activities.</p>
<p>Yup, my school is a small school, and Philadelphia’s school budget, I hope the colleges I apply to will understand, it’s REALLY bad, everything’s getting cut.</p>
<p>I also want to know, are the things I listed ECs? I can’t do Science Fair project for whole 4 years, so I’m doing it this year. I was just getting use to things in 9th grade lol.</p>
<p>Things you can barely remember or do once are not EC’s. An EC is something you did, or do, on an ongoing basis for a substantial period of time. Your newspaper and choir activities certainly qualify, and they are meaningful to your application because you clearly have a serious interest in them. Membership in a club is only worth mentioning if you have a leadership position or other significant role in the organization–for example, if you regularly helped run blood drives for the Red Cross club. Participation in a science fair is not going to add much to your applications unless you win an award, so only do it if you really like the idea, not just to pad your resume. Bottom line–colleges don’t want to see a laundry list of everything you’ve ever done outside of class. They want to see where your serious interests lie beyond academics and how passionately you’ve pursued those interests.</p>
<p>Honestly? You are not working with much. Combine the choir and school play…stress the newspaper and try for some sort of “position” next year. Have you entered any writing contests? Do you submit your articles outside of the school’s publication? Skip the volunteer stuff because it is insignificant. You will need to win something at the science fair for it to matter. Run for NHS President? Okay, I understand you come from a small school that doesn’t offer much in the way of ECs and you are not interested in sports…but what do you DO? As in what are you interests, passions, things that you spend time on outside of school? Do you have a job? What did you do all summer? What do you do on weekends? As for colleges understanding about your school? It is Philly, not a rural farm town, so colleges will find it hard to believe you can find no opportunities to be involved in SOMETHING on a significant level.</p>
<p>Yeah well I don’t think there’s any writing contests or anything like that and the most I can find is volunteer work for community service which doesn’t really last long and seem insignificant. I really don’t know who I should ask because my school doesn’t have a counselor anymore.</p>
<p>Hey Pariah, I know lots of girls from Central who do Irish Dancing. They also volunteer in their church youth groups. One’s in Scouts and several of them are in musicals. You obviously like to sing. If you’re a boy, you can tryout for a play at one of the all girls’ schools (e.g. Girls’ High, Little Flower, Hallihan, St. Hubert’s). If you’re a girl, there are plays at Father Judge, St. Joe’s Prep, and Roman. Can you join a church choir? If you don’t belong to a church, I bet lots of them would be happy to welcome you. Call a few of them in your neighborhood. </p>
<p>You’re in the fifth largest city in the United States. Don’t blame your lack of EC’s on budget cuts.</p>
<p>United Way has a long list of local volunteer opportunities.</p>
<p>Somewhere in your neighborhood is a Free Library branch with smart, resourceful staff members who specialize in finding information.</p>
<p>Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance has hundreds of members, from art institutions to zoos. What do they offer fir a high school student? Check their websites.</p>
<p>No writing contests? Try Philadelphia Young Playwrights or Mighty Writers.</p>
<p>If you’re in a neighborhood high school, have you investigated Philadelphia Futures? They have lots of help.</p>
<p>If you’re at Carver (as your post suggests), you’re in a special admission school that should have connections to internships and opportunities.</p>
<p>I don’t really have the commitment/time to do plays anymore, and church choirs, not really lol. So you guys are saying my EC is really really lacking? I’m not at Carver, I’m just going to participate in the science fair. So the Cultural Alliance and Young Playwrights, both I’ve heard of… but the problem is I’m not interested in neither of them, the things I’ve listed are things I’m willing to do, and most of time I love. Even though I don’t have much EC, everything in there is passionate. I’m more preparing to study for SATs because I still have a few hundred points to go to that Ivy League score, I’m aiming for a 2100, and I still have subject tests. I’m not aiming for Harvard or Princeton college-wise, but Cornell, Penn (maybe), NYU, UCLA, etc.
I’ll still have NHS if I get in, isn’t that good?
And I’m still worried about AP classes, there’s only 1 AP class that is available to me at my HS, even though there is 2 -.-</p>
<p>If you did one play, that’s fine. Even though it’s not an ongoing activity, most of these require more hours than, say, a one-time walkathon.</p>
<p>My advice is usually this: 3 prongs. 1. What you do to pursue your own interests or goals. 2. What you do for your group (hs, culture, church, whatever.) 3. What you do for your community, because you see a need and can commit, over time.</p>
<p>Figure it out. Some colleges don’t care as much about activities. </p>
<p>See, this isn’t really about what you find boring or the few things you are willing to participate in. The more competitive the college, the more they want kids who CAN engage, can do for others- and what that says.</p>
<p>I’m really not interested in anything that you and the other person listed. For the amount I’ve done, does it seem enough? Someone in my school last year got into Penn with a 3.9 unweighted GPA and 2030 SAT, he played tennis and played an instrument or two, but it was easier for him because his classmates were mostly dumb and he was the valedictorian. My class has a bunch of Asians (I’m one myself) that are super smart, and they’re all applying to Penn…</p>
<p>How about Scholastic Writing Awards? Watch the deadlines, though – sometimes you need a teacher’s help to submit, it is a multi-step process, so don’t wait until the last minute to submit.</p>
<p>I would say your ECs are light for Ivies, but fine for a tier below that. Basically you have concert choir and student newspaper (sounds like you are very involved in newspaper, so that is good). Gotta break it to you, though, NHS is usually pretty meaningless.</p>
<p>What is your financial situation? NYU and UCLA are not going to be cheap. NYU has notoriously poor financial aid, and UCLA is going to be out of state tuition.</p>
<p>I would suggest you get a Fiske Guide to Colleges and look through it for more ideas. You seem to only have “name brand” colleges in mind, and there are tons of other great colleges where you can get a great education. Don’t just mindlessly follow the crowd in where to apply, figure out your own preferences in terms of major strength, size, location, affordability, etc.</p>
<p>What could help you are some leadership positions. If you get into nhs maybe run for an office–president or vp would be good and then do the job really well–new ideas, increase member interest, raise money for a charity or coordinate charity work days.
You like choir any contests you compete in? All state choir is a nice honor to receive. Organize an annual outing for the choir ti sing at a hospital or nursing home. Another hint at leadership.
Colleges look for consistency. You like the newspaper and choir build on them. Write an article for a local paper. Try to win some awards for your paper.
If you could look at a college ap you would see how bare it will look if you can’t find some things to fill it in. My daughter’s friend got a 35 on her act. She did scholar bowl and nhs. She was not accepted to wash u and others because her ec’s were weak. They look for well rounded students. My daughter has volunteered at a food pantry every month since middle school. It shows continuity. In nhs she organizes food drives. She appears focused on feeding the hungry. She actually is. Her activities help to describe her. That should be your goal. Start with what you enjoy and go from there. The newspaper could offer many opportunities just think about it and good luck.</p>
<p>One other thing. The student who got into penn state – he was judged against other penn state applicants. It is not a given if your first in your class. Plus a sport shows a commitment and hours of practice and tournaments. Same with musical instruments. His achievements show a long term commitment. That is vital on college applications and scholarship applications. Good luck!</p>
<p>Yes, but you can show real commitment with activities other than sports and music. It is certainly possible to do so with newspaper. Is it possible for you to have a leadership role on the paper next year if you don’t already? Our school had an editor and the specific page editors (I was the opinion page editor for my high school paper – in retrospect I could have written a bang up college essay on the incident where we stirred up a hornets nest by doing a restaurant review on the high school cafeteria!). One of my kids was very committed to Quiz Bowl. The other had a particularly deep commitment to speaking Finnish (and we are not Finns… also a good essay topic :)). There are tons of ways to show commitment.</p>
<p>If I were you I would brainstorm more ways to expand on your newspaper interest. Can you find a way to write for a local newspaper or publication next summer? Even on a volunteer basis, some bylines would be great.</p>
<p>Yeah maybe…but I don’t know how that would help. The schedule of my school doesn’t allow me to be in newspaper club since I have to be in AP Bio (the only AP available in my school to me). So I couldn’t write many articles so far this year for the newspaper. But the last 2 years in 9th and 10th grade, it was mainly me and a couple people that wrote so many articles each issue, oh my god lol. I’m just worried that I barely can write a few articles this year, if it would affect my resume…in 12th I’ll be back writing more, it’s my passion lol. </p>
<p>I’m most likely going to do the Scholastics Writing Award thing, but how would that benefit me?
My school takes NHS as the top elite thing that the best students get into, but 1/4 to 1/3 of the class gets in each year though. What about Science Fair Project if I win an award or not? </p>
<p>And I don’t wanna go to Penn State, but something around NYU or UCLA, and my family is poor with my mom taking care of me and my dad in another country, but I don’t know any colleges that are not ivy league that is like these two schools…well NYU and UCLA are two places my mom and I could move to…and I don’t want to go to colleges in my area like Temple and Drexel, I think I deserve much better.</p>