<p>Hello all,</p>
<p>I'll just jump right in and list my extracurriculars first:
(I'm a senior, by the way)</p>
<p>-Competitive gymnastics -- I have done it for 12 years, trained up through level 9, but had to quit as my senior year started thanks to a severe injury. I was never "amazing" at it, I did it because I liked it. However, it took up all of my time after school and left little room for other extracurriculars. </p>
<p>-Piano -- took lessons for about 6 years and have been playing for 13 years now, never performed/no awards</p>
<p>-Etsy shop -- I've had this for about 4 years now and have had nearly 500 sales; I've been saving the money for college</p>
<p>-Tutoring -- I was a volunteer peer tutor over the summer at the college I'm dual enrolled at (about 100 hours). I'll probably do it again this spring.</p>
<p>-When I have time, I paint/write stories and book ideas (again, for fun, and probably not considered an extracurricular)</p>
<p>The trouble is, I'm homeschooled, and there aren't an abundance of clubs (or really any I'm interested in) to join at the college. I've been deeply involved in all of my extracurriculars, but I'm worried that they won't be enough for top schools, mainly because there's no leadership, and I haven't won any awards/been nationally ranked for anything. Also, I've loved what I've done, but nothing correlates to my intended major whatsoever (Biology, most likely). Since it's too late for me to do anything about them, really, any advice for my applications? I kind of feel like I'm screwed after looking at everyone's stats on here, even though I know they're above the norm.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Whether they are “weak” depends on where you are applying. For the very top schools, I think they have no “pop”. They aren’t particularly unique, and you haven’t excelled at a top level at any of them. For the vast majority of colleges, they are fine. What are your other status, and where are you applying?</p>
<p>Yup, that’s what I feared, they don’t really stand out. I have a 4.0 GPA (unweighted) and received a 33 on the ACT. I’ve already been accepted to my safety school (UCF – pretty much a guarantee for anyone, haha), but I’m going to apply to HYP, Brown, and Duke. I applied early to Stanford and was rejected (really, no surprise, though my essays were great) – would have applied early to Duke, as it’s my first choice, but my family has a unique financial situation and I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to afford it. </p>
<p>Oh, and by the time I graduate, I’ll have about 50 credits in dual enrollment classes (challenging classes like calc I, human a&p 1 & 2, etc., not fluff stuff)</p>
<p>Honestly… I think every one of those schools is a reach for you. And wonder why you think you can’t afford Duke, but can afford the rest. Do you have anything on your list between your safety and seven reaches?</p>
<p>those schools are reaches(but they are reaches for everybody), but its fine – I think those EC’s are interesting, your GPA is very high, and your ACT score is in HYP range — good luck </p>
<p>You should also send in an application to some lesser selective schools — notre dame boston college notheastern carnegie mellon nyu </p>
<p>If she’s happy with her accepted school, UCF, why add a bunch of schools that she wasn’t interested in just because they are ranked on some arbitrary scale as ‘better’ than UCF? UCF gives a lot of aid, plus she probably qualifies for BF so the overall cost of UCF will be quite reasonable. I agree that her EC’s are fine, just not super special but there isn’t much she can do about them now (just play them up, because a lot of work was put into gymnastics and music). I can understand putting others ahead of Duke as Duke is not known for giving as much FA as Princeton.</p>
<p>Good luck. Congrats on UCF.</p>
<p>@intparent: Sorry, I should have also added that Duke’s Early Decision binds you to attending (as I’m sure you know), so I was also reluctant to be locked into that and end up having only my super safety school (even though it’s most likely going to be a free ride) if I had to back out of the commitment. </p>
<p>In hindsight, it was a stupid/random decision for me to apply to Stanford early (“Omg, 33 ACT? I got this!”), but that spurred me to apply for tons of scholarships. I found out after Nov. 1 that I’m a semifinalist for a couple of big scholarships so I decided I’d give the other colleges a shot, and if I got in and also received the scholarships, then oh happy day.
Oh, and I didn’t expect them to be anything but reaches and “dream schools!” </p>
<p>@thegrant: Thanks for your input! Hopefully I can knock my essays out of the park. </p>
<p>As @twoinanddone mentioned, UCF is most likely where I’m going, and I’m perfectly happy with that; it’s a great school regardless of how U.S. News and World Report ranks it (and yes, BF + being a National Merit Semifinalist/hopefully finalist = big benefits there). I just figured that, since I have my safety, I might as well give the top schools a shot and see what happens. I didn’t build my activities around what I thought would “look good,” because I honestly didn’t start getting concerned about college until my junior year. I mostly just wondered how my ECs might be looked upon by admissions officers. </p>
<p>Thanks for all your responses!</p>