ECs on college apps?

Applying to College
1

<p>So, I'm a junior.</p>

<p>I do have a few extracurriculars that are mostly student-government-related that I've been doing since freshman year, but I'm not like really involved in them like my involvement in them doesn't actually meddle with my academics, I just go to meetings a few times a month and complete tasks like once a week. I would be more involved if the student government actually had stuff for me to be involved in and had more meetings for me to go to, but that's beyond my discretion. I still spend the vast majority of my time doing schoolwork and stuff, so I feel like I shouldn't put my extracurriculars down if I'm not SUPER involved in them. I feel like I'm cheating out my fellow applicants when the time comes for college applications, who probably put a lot more work into their extracurricular activities than I did into mine (Seriously, the type of involvement and commitment I see from kids at my school and on College Confidential is amazing and makes me feel pathetically lazy). Should I just not put them down at all..? I feel like I'm going to be lying or something by saying I was involved in them. However I'm a junior and this would mean I would have zero extracurriculars to put down from my first 3 years of high school. I actually did work..it's just..not a lot, even though the little work I've been doing has had a fairly great impact on student government affairs. So, how much is this going to hurt me?</p>

2

<p>I believe that the applications actually ask how many hours per week you spend on the various ECs. As long as you’re honest about it, I see no reason not to put them down.</p>

3

<p>So if I only have a few ECs with a few hours/week, will that hurt me a lot? Because even though I haven’t done much at all compared to most highly competitive applicants, what I have done has produced a good impact on my school and my county.</p>

4

<p>Put your best foot forward on all your applications, apply to a range of schools you’d be happy to attend, (reach, match, safety,) and hope for the best. That’s all anyone can do. No one can tell you if it will 'hurt you" because each school has their own way of evaluating students.</p>

<p>You can certainly mention the impact your participation has had on your school and community on your activities list. Why don’t you make an appointment with your high school counselor this year to talk about some of these issues? It will also help them get to know you so that they can write a more complete letter of recommendation.</p>

5

<p>CC is a ridiculously skewed version of the world. Most kids who get into top schools are good at one or two key things, so you’re right on track in that department. If your work has impacted the county as well, all the more power to you. The impressiveness of your ECs isn’t simply how much time you spent on them, but how much impact you had.</p>