I am hoping to get into an ivy league or highly selective school, I am currently a sophmore. Although my grades and test scores are up to par for these colleges, I am afraid that my extracurriculars are not strong enough. I have extracurriculars, I just do not think that they will help me stand out because I don’t have any leadership positions and I havent made any extraordinary accomplishments. Would I be better off getting a job and using that to help my application?
Thank you
You are a sphomore. You have time to move up the ranks in your ECs if you really want to do that. You also can ditch one, or all of them if you really don’t care about them.
Whether to get a job or not instead of an EC or in addition to an EC is entirely up to you and your family. Would the money you make be helpful in covering college costs (or even just college application costs)? Would every cent you make have to go to car payment, gas, maintenance, and insurance? Would the job help you develop work skills that would help you eventually get a better job?
Don’t do things for the sake of a college application – do things you care about and let your commitment shine through.
I agree with @happy1 . Colleges can scent down applicatins that look like they are checking off boxes rather than speak to a candidate’s heart-felt interests. It’s best if you pursue your genuine interests. Your passion will show through. Otherwise you may look like a resume robot.
Also – it’s helpful for lowering anxiety if you remember that the Ivies are only so big. The faculty and students in about the top 50 are pretty close to each other in terms of talent. Great faculty and students who don’t fit into the Ivies need to go somewhere. I strongly suggest expanding your search early. Also the Ivies don’t have all of the best programs. For example, if you’re interested in marine sciences, you would do better by attending programs in many coastal public unis. Similarly, glass engineering is available at a small uni in NY state. Is nanotechnology interesting to you? There are one or two programs in that and they are not at an Ivy. How about the “best” writing programs? Journalism? Screenwriting? Musical theater? A few are at Ivies, but most are not.
Once you have a better sense of your personal interests, you will be better able to find the right program for you.
There is a general misconception on how EC’s factor into the admissions decision process for highly selective schools. I see too many students and parents approach EC’s as if there is a magic optimal checklist. With the exception of true athletic recruits or other very specialized talents or national/international achievement or recognition earned through an EC, EC’s are used by the schools to get an idea about the applicant as a person and what qualities he or she will bring to the college community as a whole. Through the EC’s does the applicant demonstrate such desirable qualities as perseverance, leadership but also teamwork, empathy, curiosity, commitment, achievement. It matters less what the EC’s are and the title that you may have, but what you have accomplished and the quality of your participation.