I’m currently a high school sophomore wondering if my extracurriculars are strong. I have a 4.67 GPA but I know that I need good extracurriculars to match that to get to college.
Here’s my list of current extracurriculars: I’m 1st chair trumpet in the honors wind ensemble, I play golf year round, I am in the NHS club, I am in the California Scholarship Federation club, I am in the Teen Voice Club, I will soon be joining the journalism club which writes for our school newspaper, I am starting and running a debate club, and I take photography. I also recently worked on an engineering project, building a small-scale hyperloop, that won a 1st place award at the county science fair from the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers.
Please let me know your honest opinion on the strength of these extracurriculars and what I could do to add/change them? Thanks so much!
Those sound like fine extracurriculars to me. If you stay consistent and dedicated to them, not jumping around from one club to the next, they’ll look great on your application.
Those activities are not focused. Consider what your likely major is going to be, and focus your extracurricular activities to be related to that major. Include opportunities to win awards and recognition outside of your school.
For example, my daughter knew she wanted to study some type of science in college, and here were some of her extracurricular activities in high school (that got her big scholarships and Ivy admission): science Olympiad, science bowl, science fairs, founding of a computer science club, volunteering at a natural history museum, and summer scientific research at a government lab. She won numerous awards through these activities, including national and international awards as well as state and local. Get the idea?
If you focus, you will be able to build a more cohesive college application. Include activities that involve competitions to provide the opportunity to win awards, and include a volunteering activity related to your career interests. Try to also get a summer internship related to your intended major. College applications often include a place to list volunteer activity and work experience, and you don’t want to have to leave any section blank.
Right now you have trumpet, golf, voice, journalism, debate, photography and engineering, which seems very scattered. It is great you won the science fair award. Is science or engineering something you plan to study in college? If so, build on that and ditch some of the unrelated activities. If not, try to win an award in an area related to your future planned major.
Colleges want well-rounded student bodies but focused individual students. It is fine to have a musical activity and sports activity in addition to your core focus area, but there should be a definite focus area or theme that ties most of your activities together.
Thanks for your advice! @mommyrocks
The debate club I founded is fairly new but in the future we plan to participate in competitions. I have experience volunteering at an elementary school, I work a summer job at the animal shelter, and I’ve won a Cougar of the Month award at my school (our school mascot is a cougar) three times. This award goes to our state legislature and our achievements are considered so that our names are recorded in their archives. The band I am in has won national recognition and I have been in the All County Honor Band. However I didn’t know if I should include these awards/volunteering as extracurriculars in my original post. I do plan to study science in college but I don’t plan to go for the Ivy League. Will these extracurriculars be competitive for colleges outside the Ivy League?
Just to play devils advocate. My D who has virtually no EC’s got into plenty of colleges with merit aid. It all depends on what your expectations are. I would do what you enjoy and make sure you have a safety on your list