I know both are equally important but I’m wondering if this will affect my chances on college admissions because although I have many ways to obtain service hours, my school doesn’t really offer a lot of Extracurriculars. Although, I’m planning on starting an Art/Photography club in my school since they don’t really offer it. Btw i’m a sophomore in high school with 500+ hours but I’m just worried about my Extracurriculars and would want to know if obtaining a summer job count as an extra curricular because I’ll be doing that this summer.
It doesn’t matter if you are active in or out of the school setting. They all count as ECs.
@happy1 Thanks for replying I did not know that.
No college requires community service. Most colleges don’t need ECs either. Your first priorities are your grades and eventually, your ACT/SAT. ECs are a fine enhancement but most colleges don’t convey any advantage.
If you had a choice to have 1) a 3.9GPA with few ECs and zero comm svc hours vs 2) a 3.5 GPA and various clubs and 200 comm svc hours, you should pick number 1 EVERY TIME.
I would pick choice number one too and yes, my grades are fine my gpa always remains constant(4.0+). I just thought that colleges want a well you know, - a well rounded student and I don’t really wanna look like the other students with perfect SAT’s and ACT’s and etc with few or no EC’s, I just want to stand out. But thank you for replying.
Well that’s good. An often overlooked factor for the very competitive schools is: is the applicant likable?
I’m not kidding. Do you positively affect those around you? Will it be clear in the teacher recs you’ll get one day? Top colleges want students who will add to their community – not just have perfect resumes. Best of luck to you
Thank you so much! I have 2 years left so I’ll concentrate on the relationship with my teachers and GC’s not just for rec’s but to allow them to genuinely know me.
Community service is a form of EC…so is a job…
^ For unhooked applicants schools want people who are at least at their 50%, they have enough people that come off as normal in that range that unless community service involves being on national media or getting a nobel prize, they will not take someone who is below their 25th just because they have volunteered at a food bank and seem like nice kids.
A job is a great EC. In fact, if you need your job because you are helping your family or saving for college, that is probably the best EC. Volunteering counts, tutoring, helping at church, and so on.
This is one of those persistent HS rumors.
You should be aware of 2 things. First, most colleges give little or no weight to ECs. You can check out the Common Data Set report of schools you are thinking about to see what they say.
Second, the ones that are very selective and care about ECs do not want a “well rounded student”. What they want to see is leadership or accomplishment in an area of your choosing, either in or out of school. As one such school (Stanford) says
2 very interesting articles about ECs that stand out and how to get them (same author, different examples) are at [How to Be Impressive](The Art of Activity Innovation: How to Be Impressive Without an Impressive Amount of Work - Cal Newport) and [Save This Grind?](Case Study: How Could We Save This Ridiculously Overloaded Grind? - Cal Newport) I don’t buy into his underlying explanation of why they are impressive, but take a look at these 2 articles and I think you’ll get some original ideas.
@mikemnoma Thank you! I will be sure to check them out as I wanted to be one of those students who participated in like eight clubs :))(phew!) Lol
also, on the assumption you are thinking of very selective colleges, take a look at the thread with several posts by Northstarmom, a Ivy alum interviewer, about what constitutes impressive ECs from the point of view of the most selective colleges. The post is at The post is at [“Those ECs are weak…”- So what’s good?]("Those ECs are weak...."- So what's good? - #3 by Northstarmom - Chance Me / Match Me! - College Confidential Forums)