Hello!
My high school is known citywide for its abundance of academic opportunities. Also, my school well known for its range of extracurriculars; my school has dance shows, student government, sports, and 500+ clubs.
I’ve heard that being part of a sport or part of student government really helps the application, but there are reasons why I don’t participate. First, I’m not athletic. In fact, I am an injury prone person ever since I was a child. Also, when I play sports, I don’t have the vigor that most people do. So, I don’t do sports.
As for student govt, I am generally scared of applying because I know that roles in student govt have to require a lot of time and dedication for the students. In general, I don’t have to bravery to apply.
However, additional to thriving academically, I always partake in my school’s dance shows, spend my summers tutoring, took piano lessons for 6+ years, and helped at my school library. I do all this because I really care about it and I believe I can show dedication to these activities for my application.
My question is: in addition to the activities I aforementioned, should I apply for student government or sports? I’m only an upcoming junior, so I have a little over one more year to grow.
There are a lot of myths you’ll hear from your friends about ECs. Truth is that most schools give light weight to ECs, as you can confirm by looking at their Common Data Set reports. On the other hand if you are thinking about the most selective 50-100 colleges in the country then ECs do matter a lot. However at these schools “dedication” (eg. time spent) is not what they are looking for. They want students that can show accomplishment and/or leadership in one or two areas. Stanford, for example, says
Academics should always be your priority before you work on any club activities. If you are top of your class with no extracurricular activities you should be able to get into any of your college desires. Also focus on having a good SAT or ACT score. However focusing on grades is really boring. I would then focus on volunteering at a local hospital or animal care place. Some nationally recognized clubs like Key Club or National Honor Society offer volunteering hours. I recommend joining the clubs that make you volunteer. Next, chose one or two clubs that gear towards what you want to study in college or one you could easily obtain a leadership position in. Newer clubs with less people make it easy to climb to the top.
To conclude colleges priorities are 1. good grades 2. leadership roles 3. volunteering hours 4. extra clubs towards your interest.
You seem to be just fine where you are at, but I def encourage you to work hard in school cause it will pay off!!
It sounds to me that there are hundreds of clubs you can get involved with in your school other than student government or athletics. There is nothing magical about those two things so seek out things that tie into your interests. Volunteering in your library sounds like a good fit for you. Also keep in mind that volunteering in your community counts as an EC activity for college applications. Do what works for you and let your passion and energy shine.
My daughter was accepted to an Ivy and offered near full ride scholarships elsewhere (which she took), and she was never involved in student government or sports. Just be yourself. The key is to try to get national recognition for your academic abilities and for activities in the areas of your interests and strengths – if you are going for the very top universities or for academic scholarships. That is done through winning national competitions and having top scores on national standardized tests. Below the top tier universities, a decent GPA, standardized test score and school related achievements that are above average will usually get you into most universities, or at least enough to give you plenty of options assuming you choose your list to apply to well.
Go ahead and take a look at some college applications now, and see if you have something to put in all of the fields for the questions they ask. For example, if they ask about volunteer work, do you have something to put there? If they allow up to five awards and tier them from national down to school level, do you have some awards to put there? If they ask about work experience or internships, have you done any? If they ask about leadership, have you held an officer role in a club or started a club and served as President? Consider what you can do this year to address any gaps in your current qualifications. Prepare well in advance for the standardized tests, and keep up your GPA. You still have an entire year before you apply to colleges, so make the best of it focusing on achieving what you can academically and in the activities that you most enjoy. There is no need whatsoever to force yourself to do sports or student government. Just try to up the level of achievements in academics and your current activities that interest you.