Extracurricular Critique / Advice

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hi everyone! I’m planning out my junior year ECs over the summer, as I’ll be quite busy next year. I love academics and knowledge so I think most of my ECs are centered around that. I would like to be a physics or chemistry major and hopefully become a professor one day. Ideally I’d like to go to a top 20 school, but my parents haven’t saved up any money for college so I really need some scholarships. I want ECs that will make me a more competitive applicant and boost my chances of getting scholarships. Here’s what I will be taking on:

Academic Bowl / Science Olympiad / Science Bowl- I think these three activities will blend wonderfully into one another, by studying for one, I end up studying for another. (theoretically I would love to do chem bowl as well, but our teacher chooses two students with the highest gpa in AP Chem and I don’t know if that will be me…)

Captain of the Speech team- This club has been dead all of last year and I would really love to transform it and create an active speech team that competes in local tournaments.

Math Club- I am the vice president now but that probably doesn’t mean much. We compete in local tournaments.

GSA- I co-run this club with my friend. Our goal is to educate and spread awareness. This year we’ve got in touch with a great local charity that helps local LGBTQA+ youth. Hopefully we can bring some volunteer opportunities and raise money for this charity.

French National Honor Society- I will be inducted at the end of junior year.

Philosophy Club

Book Club

Here’s what I’m unsure about:

Should I join cross country? I like running but I’m not the best at it, so I probably wouldn’t make it to varsity or anything. It’s a large time commitment (an hour afterschool mon-thurs) but I am lacking athletics, and it would keep me healthy! Would it help me on college applications or should I just run on my own when I can?

So far I have about 60 hours of community service, but my hours are from miscellaneous sources. I was thinking about committing to the library, since I love books; would that be a good way to get community service?

There are a couple clubs that I am interested in joining, but I probably would not be very involved in them. Do I already have too many clubs? would joining any of these clubs be worthwhile in terms of college apps? (yes I am interested in clubs for more than just admission purposes but I think it is a worthwhile consideration)
-Model UN
-SAVE- Students Against Violence Everywhere
-SAME- Students Advocating Multicultural Education

I am working in a cafe over the summer. Its almost minimum wage + tips and I’m probably not going to move up or anything. I am debating whether or not I should keep working during the school year, or if I should focus more on improving my other extracurriculars?

Sorry that was so long!! Any advice is appreciated :slight_smile:

2

too much breadth too little depth. you should be doing the opposite. ditch the philosophy and the book club, don’t join cross country unless you really want to (it WON’T help with admissions unless you’ve been running for a long time and have achieved anything(s) ) and then focus on the ones where you have leadership positions and try to climb up. MUN is really good. if you don’t need the money stop working and focus on your standardized tests. you should be done with your SAT and SAT Subject tests by the end of the year.

3

@nebulium I agree. Colleges would much rather have 3 EC’s that were dedicated to in depth than 10 that were only dedicated to on the surface level. There is almost no point to doing cross-country(unless you want to be healthy, that is why I do it and I am not nearly varsity level) if you think it will help your college admissions.

4

I agree with @HelpMelmLost. Do you plan on having a social life this year? Junior year you should be focusing on your essays and college admissions. I don’t think it would help with your app if you suddenly join all these clubs and even if you don’t do it for the app appeal, you won’t have any time to do homework, write essays, or have a social life. My advice:


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Drop all your friends. In the end, they won’t help you get into your dream school and with all your plans junior year you probably won’t be talking to them. While you’re at it, don’t eat, sleep, or bathe. All these necessities just take too much time. Why would you savor a meal with your loving family or be with your friends when you can’t even include them in the application??? Eyes on the prize.

Unless you absolutely need the money, quit your job at the cafe after school starts. I would say that if you had extra time you can maybe manage, but I wouldn’t know how you could manage when junior year is when you start sending in apps and you have about 8 clubs (maybe 3/4 clubs actively attending? at least?) you want to join and on top of that you got homework.

Reviving a club is a lot of work. If you can do it without expending a large amount of time, then shoot for it, but if it is a hindrance then I’d advise you not to start it.

Bowls/competitions would be a good idea. Make sure you have enough time to study for the competitions of each one. Try talking to your chem teacher to see if you can replace one of them. If they pick two other students anyway, bribe the students so that you can take their spot. Bribery and capitalism always blend well with each other :wink:

Unless you really want to participate in them, drop/don’t join book club, philosophy, math club, SAME, and SAVE. Who has time for reading, anyway? Not an AP student who has to read 426 pages of the textbook within the next 3 minutes.

You don’t have to join cross country to get fit. Just run around the neighborhood before you take a shower or something. Of course, if you do heed my advice then should not be taking showers. Maybe if you run while you are taking a shower then it might work out well.

MUN is a great EC! I wish I had it at my school. It would be a good idea to join this club :slight_smile:

See if there are any scholarships that pique your interest and require community service hours. I know Florida Bright Futures requires 75 or 100 community service hours, depending on which scholarship you want. Apply for FAFSA and look into scholarships a bit more for financial aid.

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I think that’s everything… phew.

5

What are your grades and test scores like? Those will make a lot more difference in your admissions chances than your ECs. Unless they are already top notch, spend some time on academics (test prep, reading, etc). Also start learning more about financial aid and figuring out where your family falls in terms of getting need based aid. There are few merit scholarships at top 20 schools, and they are very competitive. Outside scholarships tend to be small and for only a year or two – it is tough to finance any college through them, especially ones that cost $60K per year.

And don’t drop all your friends.