EC crisis after seeing responses to korean boy with cancer

Applying to College
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<p>I'm a junior and here are my current EC's until now and planned EC's. Please bear with me, the list looks long but it's actually not. It's the exaplantions behind each thing. Also, keep in mind that my school offers no EC's save basketball MUN (which I am not interested in) and this political conference thingy which is a total joke (i went last yr). Now they have these "clubs" which are an improvement. I've been puishing for these since day one and they just started them last year. Last year, we got a new principal and she instituted these things except that they replcaed math, englih, and (for ap bio people) which was not so good. Plus they were not serious at all: computers = playing computer; art = play-doh time (i was in this and finally just decided it was a total joke after i asked to learn about watercolor and the teacher handed me a tub of water and a palette of atercolor and was just like "go for it"); drama = serious but didnt put on a play; yoga = serious, i think. so i just decided to use my time as a study hall which was much more efficient than sitting in art class and making a splatter painting which i titled "nosebleed." :p. This year we have a few serious and a few not so serious. Serious = newspaper/lit magazine/creative writing (im in this one and loving it!); karate; yoga; drama. Art - still a waste of time - is overlaoded with students ho are looking to have fun but not really grow art-wise. Oh and also remember this: I'm Jewish so friday nights and saturdays are pretty much off limits. All that said, here are my EC's:</p>

<p><strong>NOTE: School offers NO serious extracurriculurs!</strong>
9th
learned outside of school with a math and english person (wasn't challenged enough) (2 hr week/ 40 wks)
participated in religious organizations (36 hr week/ 4 weeks)
entered city wide writing contest and won first place for essays</p>

<p>summer --> 10th
went to sleepaway camp (was captain of art for color war and our team won - though my art was only a small component) (1 month)
art program at local college school thingy (has anyone heard of cranbrook) (6 hrs week/3 weeks)
started program at synagogue to lead youngsters to home for mentally retarded every saturday and lead the group (1 hr week/4 weeks)</p>

<p>10th
proposed tutor program for school and it got accepted but no one has joined (just wait til I'm on my school's NHS!)
took art classes with private art tutor (2 hrs week/ 26 weeks)
learned with math person outside of school b/c i needed to be challenged (pm about my wonderful math teacher from 10th if you dare!) (1 hr wk/40 weeks)
continued with saturday/home program (though went on hiatus during winter) (1 hr week/20 weeks)
went to student political conference (this is the b/s thing) (3 days)
participated in nationwide bible competition (we did have a bible competition class though so i dont know if this counts) - was a semifinalist (didnt make finalist for world nor did i place really high in nationals) (12-15 hrs week/36 weeks)
drew and wrote sporadically in free time (2 hrs week/ ? weeks)
member of a useless art club (im not on it this year) (2 hrs week/5 weeks)
participated in religious organizations (36 hrs week/3 weeks)
i help "direct" torah reading every monday and thursday (all you jews know wut im talkin about!) (30 min week/ 40 weeks)</p>

<p>summer --> 11th
went to School Art Institute of Chicago were i learned photography and have been an addict ever since (5 weeks) (my work was chosen to be exhibited on school website)
participated in program to beautify my city (i love this program soooo much! it's linked to habitat for humanity) (20 hrs week/3 weeks)
continued sat/home thing (1 hr week/2 weeks)</p>

<p>11th
on chapter board for religious organization (2 hrs week/ 3-4 weeks so far)
participating in bible competition again (12-15 hrs a week)
on committee to start a Walk for Autism in my state and i'm in the process of setting up a teen sub-committee (???)
I'm on the literary magazine (my school's first ever! i pushed for this to no end) staff (1 hr week/4 weeks so far)
applied to be on staff of citywide newspaper - pending
i am aipac's contact at my school and i have to get around to starting an israel club in my school (???)
-photography argh i love this!!!!!!!!! (1-4 hrs week/ ever since i finished photography camp)
-student rep on student council but nothing special (student council in my school is pretty much a joke)
-on fundraising board for my class's trip to israel</p>

<p>PLANS:</p>

<p>Contests/Things I'm applying for:
scholastic, letters to author contest, tasp, the national wrting bord, idea of america essay, the concorde review, getting published in newspapers, job at camp for summer, possibly intel (psychology research but this is definitey pending), possibly nhd (essay), ncte (how do i do this?), citywide writing contest again, local art contest</p>

<p>Program's I'd like to set up or initiate:
setting up program in school to visit homes for mentally retarded (linked to program of house i'm working for), (i just got this inspiration! to:) set up a program in my school or anywhere to get kids to love history, i am the program for beautfying my city's contact in my school and want to get kids excited to participate next summer (this will begin in January and when I'm in college I definitely want to be one of the directors!), setting an academic decathalon track, possibly try and get kids in inner city interested in art - could do this through summer prog</p>

<p>Self-study:
SATII WH, Bio, Lit, and possibly Chem
APs: US Govt (online class), Euro, (possibly:) Human Geo, Comparative Gvot, Econ (macro and micro), and psych</p>

<p>Other
hope to be chapter pres of regional religious organization
hope to pres of student council
interning at a newspaper
continue learning ith art tutor
taking a photo class at local community college</p>

<p>I love what I do and it's to bad that I had to find out about all this stuff in 10th grade after extensive research and after all the deadlines were passed or the contest was too late. It sucks to have a braindead GC, scatterbrained admin, a student body tht consists of a small portion of motivated kids (out of approx 60 kids), and limited knowledge throughout the school about college, EC's, opportunities, etc. I hope I can change this. I will persist in programs I try to get kids excited about plus I'm goign to print out info about contests and such and leave it on the table in the teacher's lounge so that they will discover it and my identity will remain anonymous. </p>

<p>WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?
If you'd like to know more about my predicament or my passion about these EC's pm me. Thanks!</p>

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<p>o i 4 got to mention tht i n tenth grade i particpated in this stock market program thingy:
(10-12 hrs a week/12 weeks) we placed 42 out of 55 :p damn GM!</p>

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<p>i no it's alot to digest but i hope you can read it anyways. y do all posts have to be so short?</p>

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<p>can sum1 please respond? this is why i preferred pming about this rather than posting - then sum1 would actually respond.</p>

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<p>Wooh, long list...too long for me to comment any specific details.
Really try to cut out the bs/useless things from the list, they won't help you very much. Remember most apps only ask for your top 5-6 activities. And it's not all because adcoms are lazy/ have limited time, but because they expect you to skillfully select what is REALLY important. They don't want to see how you spend your whole time, nor that you spend your all time on ECs.</p>

<p>I'm sure you may have put a lot of time and effort in all these things, but it's not in your interest to show them all.</p>

<p>I myself have over 20 prizes in national contests (meaning top 10 in most). Yet I'm only listing 5-6, the ones in which I did best, and the most important. Try doing the same.</p>

<p>If everyone here on CC has something better to do than read your whole list, well..maybe the adcoms facing 20.000 application may also be a bit reserved. Keep that in mind. They should remember your application as the most striking and clear...not the longest one it took them to read.</p>

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<p>you definitely have a long enough list. since you're still only a junior you have enough time to round it out with a few more meaningfull activities. all ECs don't have to be through your school.</p>

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<p>You don't want to look like you are just trying to get the longest list of ECs. What are you really interested in? Art? Writing?</p>

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<p>thanks guys. ok, so i obviously don't want to weigh them down with that long list of EC's. I believe that there is plenty of bs on there, but if i cut it all away i only have two or three activities. plus my time commitment was not huge even though i felt like i got something out of the non-bssey things i did (ie home visiting, city beautification, art programs). it's really hard to be super devoted to things when school ends @ 530 twice a week and saturdays are off limits. </p>

<p>also, what do you guys think about the learning with english/math people? stash it or trash it? </p>

<p>one last thing, i read in this book called "college matters" that one should include all the odds and ends type things he/she did to make it look like he/she was doing tons of activities throughout high school. mind you, this was written by a girl who went to harvard. though i dont really know if things qualify as activites if i didnt really care much about them. input?</p>

<p>oh and to rlm919 here are my main interests:
art
writing
community service (love this a ton!!!!!!)
trying to change my dying school for the better (we are losing large percentages of kids each year; no gain)
hearing about science but ive never thought of doing research; psycholgy reserach would be kinda cool though
history (love this a tonnnnnn!!!!!!)</p>

<p>p.s. even if people dont read the list of activities im hoping theyll read the info about my school situation. how am i supposed to explain that when application time rolls around?</p>

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<p>If you don't show true passion and commitment about your activities they're completely useless. I don’t know what that girl did, but I really believe using common sense and reason to figure out what adcoms look for is better than looking at one single case/point of view.</p>

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<p>ya that's what i figured. i'm like - ya i was in that art club but wth did i do in it? nothing. i got nothing out of it except that i learned about the scholastic awards. whoopee. so far, as it is in my mind right now, here is how my college app will look:</p>

<p>ECs:
1. Art
2. Community Service
3. History
4. Writing
5. Religious Organizations</p>

<p>btw, could y'all pm to help me with some of my plans. im really lost and doing this all on my own. thanks. also, how should i present my school situation so colleges will understand my "opporunities' situation? any answers for the math and english questions?</p>

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<p>Are you looking for schools with a strong Jewish presence? If so, there's a thread on this site that discusses Jewish communities at different schools. Do a search for it (it may be over a year old.)</p>

<p>In general, what you need at this point is
- to plan to take either the SAT or the ACT in spring
- to compile a list of about 20 schools that interest you
- to find out what you can about the schools on your list: can you afford them? Are you a good fit academically? Do they offer a strong program in your major? Do you fit into the social scene?
By summer you should be down to about 10 schools. They will start to sort out into safety, match and reach schools. You'll use the short list to figure out what is needed for the application for each - SAT IIs, an interview, a campus visit. Since you've indicated a strong art background, start to work on a portfolio now.</p>

<p>As to your EC's, there is not room to list everything. Your last post shows the right idea - group your activities by subject and list the relevant activities underneath. Summer programs are good because they show how you've committed your free time.(And yes, most people in the arts have heard of Cranbrook!) Employment is good because it shows maturity. Same for leadership. Community volunteerism is good because it takes more effort than a school-related activity, and not many kids show the dedication you have. Receiving private tutoring outside of class is more of a two-edged sword. If it shows a commitment to a subject beyond what school offers, then include it. I wouldn't include tutoring in school subjects or SAT prep.</p>

<p>You have really great instincts and are headed in the right direction. Good luck!</p>

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<p>Thanks midwesterner! That was really helpful. About the tutoring: yes I did it to learn more than what i was being taught in school. I would not include last year learning with english tutor b/c she really did help me with her class more than expounding on what I'd already learned.How I explain this in my appp - I don;t know. where is this Jewish forum you speak of? That would be tremendously helpful.</p>

<p>Also, does anybody know how I could pursue some of the "plans" I have? Please include anecdotes and such!</p>

<p>Thanks to all who've responded so far and have been really patient w/ my super-long posts.</p>

<p>Oh and btw I'm doing the stock thing this year cuz it was really fun and I loved doing it even if it is sort of frivolous and we placed 42/50. :p</p>

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<p>It isn't a separate forum - it's a long posting on the Parents Forum. For lots of information on Jewish campus organizations, try doing a general search for "Hillel".</p>

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<p>haha. Thanks for the mention. (By the way, I dont have cancer anymore and Im only half Korean. hence: korean_halfbreed)</p>

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<p>no prob. i just saw people saying things like "bball and FLBA - that's not enuff, even if you did have cancer" and had a mild freak-out.</p>