I go to a very rigorous school and I spend most of my free time doing homework (I’m a sophomore). I had a rough freshman year in terms of grades but I’ve gotten on top of my work this year, but I don’t have that much spare time. Next year I’ll be taking even more difficult courses and I don’t think I can set aside a lot more time to do other things. I play sports and I think I can make varsity in one of them, but that’s all.
As a very soft-spoken person, I honestly can’t see myself running a club or something of that sort either, and I’m worried that this could impact me in admissions. I’m just not really leadership material. In addition, in the clubs that I am a part of I feel unqualified to be a board member.
In most of my interests outside of class there are many students who are more advanced than me - e.g. I like coding, but I’ve only recently started and there are students who have been coding since middle school. I don’t really think there’s anything I stand out on compared to a lot of other people at my school.
I’m thinking about applying for a couple things for next year but I feel like I’m still not doing enough and I’m not 100% sure I could get what I’m applying for.
Even if I have stellar grades and test scores, how much would having few ECs affect me? I know I shouldn’t be doing ECs just for the sake of college admissions but it’s been something in the back of mind for a very long time now and I’m starting to get worried I’ll have nothing senior fall.
There are tons of colleges and universities that would welcome you with no ECs or very few. Sports are known to be very time consuming and are considered ECs. You should spend your time on activities and classes that you think are meaningful to you. High school should not be just about or even primarily about placating colleges. Read this post even if you have no interest in MIT. It is great advice for all high school students. Also, look at some of the other posts on that same web site. They are insightful: http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways
OOPs I just spent time writing that but now see that I wrote that on another of your threads. Please don’t start multiple similar thread because people like me would prefer not wasting our time writing duplicate replies.
Check out Cal Newport’s blog and books on how to be a high school superstar, etc…He’s the gold standard. He has lots of good advice on ECs.
As for ECs, find a non-profit with a mission you care about and offer to help with tech support. Lots of non-profits need assistance with their websites, with social media mgt., with tech support for staff - if you have those skills, you will be welcomed. And remember, whatever you end up doing for them, it’s about impact - not how many hours you rack up, not how many years you’ve been doing it, not about whether you are the best in your school at whatever you do. It’s about whether you make an impact on the organization in a meaningful way. Not only will you contribute something valuable and feel good about it, get some much needed perspective on what’s important, learn some skills, meet people you might not ordinarily run into, and be a more interesting person as a result - but you might actually come out with something interesting to say on your college applications or interviews. A total win, in other words.
Why aren’t you talking to a guidance counselor at your prestigious prep school about this?
Are you volunteering anywhere? You don’t need a ton of ECs. You need a few meaningful activites that interest you. Volunteer somewhere you have an interest in being helpful. Colleges like to see kids helping others, and you can certainly volunteer in the summer. That’s what my kid did, and she has been accepted to four colleges so far. There are plenty of colleges for you, but they may not necessarily be called HYP.
Your other thread mentioned you are in band and tennis. That is two great EC’s so don’t worry too much. It’s assumed you’re putting in a lot of time for practice for both of those activities, including in the summer. You can always elaborate on that in an application if you attend camps for these EC’s in the summer.
That said, the advice to volunteer somewhere is excellent. Find something you would enjoy helping out with and volunteer. There are so many ways to help out. Examples include reading to children at the library, volunteering at the hospital, volunteering at an animal shelter, helping out with Habitat for Humanity, Special Olympics and so many, many more.
Remember that colleges like well rounded people. High academics, playing a musical instrument and playing a sport makes you a pretty well rounded person already. Demonstrating some initiative by volunteering will simply add to that, and you will likely enjoy helping others out in the process.
BTW, you don’t have to be president of a club to show leadership either. Somebody needs to be the secretary or historian too. So if you’re already in a club at school (I’m on unclear on that from your post) you can consider trying out for these positions.
Lots of good advice here already. I would say that it sounds like you know yourself well. You are a meaningful contributor – you don’t have a need to be a leader. Playing a sport (and being a team member) and being in band both show your ability to put your talents to use for the greater good. While I’d give some thought about what you can do over the summer, it sounds like you’ve already considered how much you can handle outside of school. You may want to strategize on how to tell this story in your essays rather than apologize for it. The interest in ECs is to show that you are engaged and that you take the extra step when you’re interested in something. We’ve heard a lot of admissions people say they’d rather see 1 or 2 ECs with a high level of commitment than 20 that are all over the place.