<p>Hi, I'm new to college confidential and it helped me alot to know about college admissions etc over the past couple of days :)
I am worried about ECs because I know that they are important and I don't feel like I have done enough or if I am going in the right direction with it after reading some of the posts here. In my freshmen year i got excited about participating in many different club activities and ended up doing a variety of things. But I have not concentrated on one area and I do not have any great leadership positions. And overall, I feel like I just have a "laundry list" of ECs :( I'm more of a shy and quiet person, and I have tried to overcome that in the past few years, and I did get a bit more active but still, I don't think I have a chance for a big leadership role such as Student Council President etc. I am still working hard on it though...
I'm a rising junior, asian, international (i'm not a permanent resident or US citizen) but i attend a private Catholic high school in America (It's not a boarding school. It's a day school). It would be great if you guys can look at my ECs and give me some advices!! :) Thx a lot.
(All of the ECs below, I am going to do them continuously untill the end of my senior year. And my dream schools are Ivy League, MIT, Swarthmore etc... but of course, I don't know what my SAT scores are going to be like yet and those schools are HIGH REACH for me, in my opinion...)</p>
<p> EC in school:
-Math Club (10-11: president)
-School Newspaper (10-11)-I might be editor or assistant editor in my senior year or my junior year
-Model UN (11-founder/president)- Im starting this club this year
-2 volunteering clubs (one of them: 9-11, the other:10-11) -both probably executive board in my senior year
-Science Club (9-11)
-Creative Writing Club (9-11) -probably Executive board this year
-Jazz Band(10-11)
-Concert Band (9-10)-I was a librarian in my sophomore year
-Symphonic Band (11-12)- maybe leadership position in 12th grade-not sure
-volunteer as a math tutor in school
-Track and Field (10-11) -We won Catholic League Sophomore Championship-3rd place
-Quiz Bowl Team (11)- starting this year
-NHS(11-12)-I am going to try for president or vice president this year-but i
don't think I can make it
-Student Council-Im going to try to do this this year but I doubt that I can get enough votes seriously its really hard to know everyone in school and be active all the time for mebeing that I just came to the States about two years ago and English being my second language . </p>
<p> EC outside school:
-volunteer at a fund raising organization to help children who has Leukemia.(10-11)
-Science Research-I am doing a research this year with a professor at a college near my home and I am planning to enter a science fair (I am shooting for Intel ISEF)
-Columbia Science Honors Program (starting this year)
-Harvard Summer School Program
-Volunteer at an Organization where you help people who are disabled (10-11)
-NYSSMA
-I am starting a new "non-profit ensemble"- my friends and I are going to perform music to raise money to donate to Darfur</p>
<p>It's hard to tell if you're going in the right direction because you're going in so many different directions! I understand that you were excited about doing many different things as a freshman, and I understand if you still love doing all of these things. I am not about to advise you to stop doing some of them.</p>
<p>But, when you are applying, consider which activities are the MOST important to you--which ones take up a significant amount of your time, to which ones you considerably contribute. The Common App only allows space for seven activities.</p>
<p>Personally, I think that the activities in which you participate outside of school are much more interesting. That is where you seem to be more focused on one subject (science). If you do well in the Intel competition, you'll do well in the college application process. Also, you must be amazingly good at math and science to have been accepted into the Columbia Science Honors Program! So, I don't think you have to worry about laundry-listing. :)</p>
<p>Thank you for your post :) Yeah , I do have many different things going on in school. I didn't know there was limited space on Common App. I never looked at it before. I should check it out. My school does not have good science programs and I don't have much chance to actually pursue my interest in science in my school. Seriously, my school never participated in ANY math or science competitions before. Also, sports and clubs are held at the same time so I couldn't just focus on clubs or just sports. My school is one of the best in sports. So there tend to be more amazing sports opportunities in my school than academics which is just terrible, in my opinion. I'm not that good in sports which really does not benefit me at all. Anyways, I will definitely take your advise on choosing carefully on which activities from school to put on the App. And thanks alot!!</p>
<p>What if I do not get in Student Council and do not get elected as one of leadership positions in NHS??? Would that hurt strength of my EC alot? I'm worried that I might not get any major leadership such as Student Council or NHS president. How would that affect my chance of getting in to my dream schools?</p>
<p>Frankly, to me this reads like a checklist, not a reflection of the things you're really passionate about. My D & I toured a bunch of colleges this summer, and at virtually every stop the admissions office doing the information session emphasized that they're really not interested in how MANY ECs you rack up; in fact, if there are too many and they're too scattershot in their focus, it will look like you're doing them only because you think it will help you get into a good college, not because they're anything you care about. Their mantra was "passion," as in, "Show us what you're passionate about." Another common theme: "We want to know who you really are, which we can discern from your essays and your ECs." </p>
<p>I had the impression they were getting a little fed up with the "arms race" that's been going on among hypercompetitive HS kids trying to rack up the greatest number of clubs and activities, the greatest number of "leadership" positions, the greatest number of volunteer hours, etc, all with the aim to get that extra edge to get into a top school---and sacrificing themselves, their own personalities and interests, in so doing. As the admissions officer at Bowdoin put it, "Even one or two things that you're really passionate about is better than a laundry list of a dozen or two things that you don't really care about. And I don't care if your passion is stamp collecting; I want to see that you're passionate about something."</p>
<p>I'd suggest you narrow your focus a little, and hone in on a smaller number of things you really care about.</p>
<p>Thank you for your advice. I have passion in science and music and recently in international relations/politics. I wanted to show my passion in science and music but I guess I didn't really do a good job. And like I said in previous post, I just started doing various clubs in my freshman year because I was curious and interested in variety of things and I just ended up doing all of them because I enjoyed doing them. But I guess maybe it was too much.... I totally agree with you about focusing on small number of things I care about. :) Thanks alot!!</p>