I’m thinking of schools such as Vanderbilt, Cornell, UChicago (sister goes there), maybe Yale if I’m brave, as my reach schools. My main hooks are writing and CS (to an extent). I’m a rising senior. My school is VERY competitive and a lot of people go to top colleges
LEADERSHIP
-Speech team co-captain: we don’t have a coach or anything; this year my friend and I also added a lot of new people to the team which is pretty cool. We basically made the team into a thing lol (Been doing speech since freshman year & became co-captain this year) We participate in the flashy Ivy-league tournaments
-Will be editor of most renowned school literary magazine senior year (I’ve been part of the magazine for a year or two) we have a lotttt of magazines but this one is like the official one
-Will be a literature editor for the yearbook senior year
-Vice President of a coding club (since junior year)
OTHER
-I also contributed to the school newspaper this but didn’t apply for positions bc I’m stupid & missed the deadline
-Participated in the first-ever show of a cultural club, also part of another cultural club
-Throughout high school, I wrote for a bunch of magazines all throughout school
SUMMER ACTIVITIES:
Rising junior:
-Girls Who Code
Rising Senior:
-Writing internship at a well-known writing workshop place in my city. A lot of kids from my school get involved with this organization
-Going to intern for my neighborhood newspaper, writing articles and stuff
-Might work in an immunology lab (doing this only bc it’s super cool not for the resume)
-Also might work helping out with tasks in a cybersecurity company (this is also really cool but I won’t be doing any coding if this thing gets set up)
Admissions at the highly ranked school in the US is very difficult to predict. However, to me your ECs look very good. I think that you should continue to do ECs that you are interested in doing, and don’t worry about what university admissions will think.
There are a lot of very good universities in the US, more elsewhere, and to me it looks like you will be able to find a great fit provided that you (i) Spend time thinking about safeties, and include safeties in your list of schools that you apply to; (ii) Pay attention to what makes a school a good fit for you, and don’t just look at how famous or highly ranked a school is; and (iii) Pay attention to what you and your family can afford.
Your ECs are not weak but also not stand out unique either. If your grades and test scores are in the ball park, apply to a few reaches and as stated above, focus on match and safeties school.
You have speech team, 2 editor positions (magazine and yearbook), plus VP coding club, plus a couple of possible internships. As said above, fine but not standout or even “great” depending on how you describe your commitment and participation. For example, co-captain of a speech team that competes once a semester is different from a team that practices several hours per week and competes in numerous tournaments. Editor of a literary magazine that has you working several hours each and every week, and putting out several issues over the course of the year, is different than being an editor of a magazine that comes out once a semester or year.
Yeah. I’m pretty worried about my extracurriculars and I’m hoping that if I win a bunch of awards that’ll make up for it? I love writing and have submitted to a lot of competitions recently.
Don’t take my points too critically. The real gist of what I am saying is sometimes with ECs the true measure is in your description, not the label. There are many activities that sound real impressive in a short list, but in reality are fairly shallow; likewise, what may seem an unimpressive list may actually be quite impressive if you better understand the level of involvement the student made.
Your extra curriculars are fine. You have a lot to be proud of. Don’t make yourself crazy. If you win awards, thats great but your future does not depend on it. Present yourself well, make the most of your accomplishments, write fabulous essays, have great recommendations and you should have the same tiny chance that every other well qualified student has at these highly selective schools. It will probably help if you present yourself as someone intending to study something related to writing or literature rather than simply another CS major. Of course as a girl in coding that might be a factor in your favor, so who knows.
Also, please keep in mind that the vast majority of people who get rejected from these schools are perfectly well qualified to be there. If the school admits 5% than 95% are rejected. So please do yourself a favor and find some excellent matches and safeties that you would be happy to attend and can afford.