Do I have enough extracurriculars?

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm a sophomore in high school and everyone is saying to make sure you have enough extracurricular activities. I'm not really into sports and probably couldn't make any of my school teams even if I tried. We only have 6 teams that girls can play on, 4 of which are ranked in the top 5 of the state... I have no chance. </p>

<p>My academics are very strong- 3.9 unweighted and 4.8 weighted GPA, and I plan to have around 12 AP credits by the time I graduate. I haven't taken the SAT yet, but my PSAT scores are strong. </p>

<p>To make up for not playing sports, these are my extracurriculars:
School Jazz band (hopefully for all 4 years)
Local Youth Orchestra (Started this year, hope to continue)
Pit Orchestra at school musical (Freshman Year)
Pit Orchestra in a different school's musical(This year)- My school didn't have parts for my instrument
Lead tours around the school to perspective students and families
I am one of only 10 students in my school to be selected to go on an educational trip to Europe this summer, and I will be attending.
I went to 3 summer camps with the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (Starting in 7th grade. I'm still eligible to go, I just don't have time this summer)
75 community service hours between last year and this year (Only 25 were required) </p>

<p>As you can probably tell, I really enjoy music! I'm undecided as to whether or not I want to pursue it in college, though. </p>

<p>I know that the most common extracurricular activity is probably sports, so I'm a little bit worried because I don't play any. I enjoy and am passionate about the activities I do, and I know I would not enjoy sports, if I could even make the team. </p>

<p>How do my extracurriculars look? Do I have a shot at good schools?</p>

2

<p>quality > quantity</p>

3

<p>

The most important thing to leave HS knowing? Maybe its not to put too much faith in what “everyone is saying” without putting a little effort into making sure it bears some resemblance to reality. A lesson that will serve you well thru life. A lot of the stuff you hear in the lunchroom is either quite a stretch from the truth or a complete fabrication.

That’s probably because each sport has lots of kids taking part. What you probably don’t know is that just being a member of a team is about as meaningless as it comes when we’re talking about ECs that matter in admissions. </p>

<p>Keep in mind that out of the 3,000 or so 4-year colleges in the US EC’s are important for admission at only a small fraction. Perhaps the most selective 100 or so. You can see what factors matter in admission at schools you are considering by looking at their Common Data Set filings. Most students worry needlessly about EC’s when they’ll play only a small factor or not even be considered! So all your friends that are taking part is sports in the belief that they “need” them for college - in all probability they’ll end up at colleges that don’t even look at ECs or give them barely a glance. If they did it for fun then it was worth it, if they sucked it up and did something they hated just to satisfy some adcom that didn’t even care anyway…</p>

<p>The question about impressive EC’s comes up regularly on the forum. There is a thread with several posts by Northstarmom, a Ivy alum interviewer, about what constitutes impressive ECs from the point of view of the most selective colleges. The post is at <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/210497-those-ecs-weak-so-what-s-good.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/210497-those-ecs-weak-so-what-s-good.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>As you will see from that link, at the most selective colleges they are looking for depth more than just participation. Stanford, for example, says

</p>

<p>2 very interesting articles about ECs that stand out and how to get them (same author, different examples) are at [How</a> to Be Impressive](<a href=“http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/05/28/the-art-of-activity-innovation-how-to-be-impressive-without-an-impressive-amount-of-work/]How”>The Art of Activity Innovation: How to Be Impressive Without an Impressive Amount of Work - Cal Newport) and [Save</a> This Grind?](<a href=“http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/09/12/case-study-how-could-we-save-this-ridiculously-overloaded-grind/]Save”>Case Study: How Could We Save This Ridiculously Overloaded Grind? - Cal Newport) I don’t buy into his underlying explanation of why they are impressive, but take a look at these 2 articles and I think you’ll get some original ideas.</p>

<p>But to sum up what turned out to be too long a post, if you have an idea of the type of colleges you are thinking about go and look at their Common Data Set filings. If they give little attention to ECs then keep doing what you love at the level you want. If you’re aiming at colleges that care about ECs then use the links above to get an idea of what you can do to come up with impressive music ECs.</p>