<p>I am pretty sure I want to apply to Cornell this year, but I feel under-qualified because of my extracurriculars. </p>
<p>I am not the type to pad my resume with stuff I don't even enjoy, so for that reason, I only do jazz band, volleyball club, and Spanish honors society. It's hard to pick more, because my school doesn't have sports.</p>
<p>Anyway, jazz band consumes a lot of my life, because of the class time (after school for an hour), practicing, and concerts. It is my favorite "class" though, and I'm wondering whether Cornell overlooks the amount of ECs versus being passionate about a single one. </p>
<p>I'd appreciate any insights about this, because I hear too much about grades and test scores, but never enough about the areas of talent and ECs. </p>
<p>I do jazz band as well. Try to get involved more outside of school. For example, I play at a restaurant every saturday morning, and usually play at least several more times each months with a combo of kids from my high school and another nearby. Basically, try to show that you make Jazz a serious EC, not just that you practice a lot and do 5 concerts a year. Plenty of people do ensembles and hardly ever practice at all. You need to do something more to show that you are not one of these people.</p>
<p>Volleyball is also a pretty good EC if you guys have regular meets and practices.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. I actually plan on joining a civic youth group that meets in my metro area. The tryouts are in the Spring, so I hope that goes well!</p>
<p>I agree with the other poster...if you don't have many ECs...just show that you were deeply involved in whatever you did do. The adcom does like to see quality over quantity</p>