Extracirriculars?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
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As only a freshman in high school, I have yet to understand the college apps and the many things that are “required” to get into any ivy league school. Brown is my dream college, and I’ve been preparing & working hard to achieve my goal (yea its a long way to go). But to the point, I’d very much appreciate any tips or advice anyone could give…

Recently I was accepted into a prep boarding school, and I was wondering what types of extracurriculars I could do that colleges are actually interested in. I read that many colleges aren’t typically drawn to mission trips, summer camps, etc. (But idk if that’s true or not). Some background info- I’m an outdoors type of guy, I’ve been to Mexico and helped build a home for a family in need, I flew to Switzerland by myself for 3-4 weeks and studied french/got the lead role in a french-italian play as well. I was a camp counselor at a local summer camp for 3 weeks and got 120-140 hrs. of community service from that, and I’m still planning on being a counselor throughout more summers on the side. Yes this isn’t going to get me into Brown atm, I know, but I’m curios if anyone knows specific “fields” of extracurricular activities (preferably stuff that gets people outside/out of the books) colleges tend to be drawn towards.

Thanks!

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Damn, some of my grammar made no cense… ^

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Brown admissions is definitely on the quirky side, so think of activities that you like that are more unique and quirky. If you’re interested in languages and theatre, combining the two in that play you mentioned would be a great extracurricular to continue through HS. I’m gonna be totally honest here, the community service you’ve done in Mexico and Switzerland is old news to them (lots of people do that thinking colleges will be impressed so it’s rather overused by now), so unless you really want to go far with that and do something really major with it (you could start a Habitat for Humanity Club for example and do a lot with that), don’t make it the focus of your time. Definitely pursue the things you love is my main piece of advice here, and try to find leadership positions in those activities.

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Thanks for the feedback! And yea ik I knew the Switzerland+Mexico stuff I did was typically “old” news, it was mainly for my experience, but idrk. It’s just that so many EC’s that they offer are sooo boring, but I genuinely appreciate your feedback, thank you!

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Read this: http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways

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wow… that surprisingly helped a lot, Thanks!