<p>As a rising junior, I've recently begun to search for possible colleges to visit and apply to when the time comes. The majority of the colleges I've been considering are either Little Ivies or Top 20 universities, along with a few others. Academically, I feel that these are probably within my current boundaries- 4.0 weighted GPA, currently ranked 8/558 (was 9th during freshman year, moved up after 2nd semester this year), enrolled in all Honors courses (my school does not allow sophomores to take any AP courses, but my schedule for junior year has 5 AP's), took the SAT for the first time this May without any preparation and scored 2060 (I plan to retake the SAT twice during my junior year). As of now, I have no plans to seriously consider attending an Ivy League because I want to be as realistic as possible, but I may end up applying to one or two at the most. </p>
<p>Aside from my academic performance, though, I have a dilemma. The only regular EC that I have been involved with since my freshman year is Academic Team, and I didn't join any new activities this year like I had planned to. I have done non-competitive gymnastics for ten years and I love the sport, but I only take one class per week and am not skilled enough to ever compete at the college level anyway. I know that I can always join a few more EC's next year, but I'm worried that it'll look like I just joined them in order to increase my chances of college acceptance (although that may sound true judging from what the point of this post is, I know there are other EC's at my school that I would genuinely like being a part of). The other problem with this is the fact that I'm from New Jersey. If the current budget situation does not work out the way my entire state is desperately hoping it will, most of the EC's at my school will most likely be eliminated anyway. </p>
<p>Although I take full responsibility for not dedicating myself to more activities that involve my other interests, I do love the very, very few activities that I am a part of. Extra-curricular activities are obviously an important aspect of the college admissions process... but can they really make or break your acceptance? Given that my academic performance far outweights my extra-curricular involvement (by this I do not mean that my academic performance is so incredible that it simply surpasses my EC involvement, but just that my EC involvement is so low in comparison), what is the likelihood that such a low number of EC's will be overlooked? I know this question has been asked in various forms before, but I feel that this is slightly different considering the colleges I'm looking into (not Ivy League, but close behind) and the fact that I won't be applying to college until over a year from now. Thanks in advance for any insight anyone can offer :)</p>