Extracurriculars all over the place?

Applying to College
1

Hey guys, junior here! I heard once that your whole college application is supposed to “tell a story” of some sort. While I am a STEM person and trying to convey my propensity towards science, I don’t think my extracurriculars reflect that - they’re sort of a long laundry list that’s all over the place… They take up a lot of my time but I truly love most of them…! Here’s what I have:

-Vice President of Spanish Honor Society (bound to be president next year)
-Vice President of Ambassadors’ Club (diversity/fundraising for global nonprofits/talking about international and current issues, etc.)
-Secretary of Key Club (probably becoming VP next year, but not sure if I’m totally committed to this club)
-Music honor society
-School’s orchestra (didn’t have room in my schedule to take it as a class, so I volunteer my time and play at concerts by practicing at home instead of during class)
-Chamber Orchestra
-National Honor Society
-Science Olympiad
-Environmental Club and involved in environment-related competition (Envirothon)
-Mentor for elementary kids participating in a science fair
-Mathletes
-Tutoring spanish and biology
-Volunteer at a local hospital
-Hopefully finding an internship at a science lab soon (researching, etc.)
----> I want to go forward with science research and my internship, and probably enter some science fairs also.

I think I have a good mixture of activities: from academic to music related, volunteering and diversity related. Though this may seem well rounded, I heard that colleges would prefer a student with a hook rather than be doing everything. Should I cut some of these activities out that aren’t science-y and try to find more science things outside of school? I’m scared that colleges will think I’m in some clubs just for the resume padding. Thanks!

(Sidenote: my top choice is Brown University, I would love to do premed there! If that puts anything into perspective)

2

The story you are telling is that you are interested in science and other things. That’s a perfectly acceptable story to tell. Having said that, if there are any 1-2 hour/week activities there, they are probably ripe for pruning. Anyway, do activities that you enjoy, and that hold meaning for you. Don’t pick ones that you think will impress colleges.

3

I think you run the danger of having too many ECs. My younger son did Literary Magazine (mostly because his friends did), two orchestras, and Science Olympiad (because he saw his brother doing it and it was fun and he likes science.) His biggest interest was history and he ended up majoring in IR, but the Model UN was full of the drinking crowd and he was not interested in being part of it. He enjoyed high school. He didn’t have the grades to get into Brown (he did apply), but was accepted by other selective colleges a notch down.