Extracurriculars in a Rural Area

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Currently, I am a sophomore at a somewhat rural school in Western Colorado. Here are my current ECs and ones I am doing next year:

Student Council (Will Pursue Leadership Titles in Future)
National Honor Society (Again will pursue leadership)
Captain’s Council (STUCO but athletic)
Varsity XC (More based on the small student body, would likely be on the line of JV/Varsity at a bigger school)
JV/Varsity Floater Track/Field
Band (Low Woodwind Section Leader, Various Top-Ranks at Local Honor Bands, All-State Band Top Alternate (Hoping for higher this year)
Orchestra (Private, Involves Driving 3+ Hours Each Week, Chamber Style, Co-Principal of Winds, Pursuing All-State This Year)
Work with water quality (Taking Samples/Doing Basic Lab Work Biweekly, Presented In Local Water Summit, Will Organize This Summit In Following Years)
Volunteering at the hospital (Basic Administrative Stuff)
Each summer I participate in a program called CBK (like CTY at Johns Hopkins) involving me receiving a 33 on the ACT as a freshman with a 36 in reading (received highest honors (top 5%) and highest overall score in reading, 3rd in 7 state region for composite)
Might start a Knowledge Bowl team, but administration and faculty are resistant

I want to pursue the SLACs on the east coast (e.g. Amherst, Bowdoin, etc.) and my academic stats are on pace. What sorts of opportunities in the STEM fields could I pursue (I want to be a biochem major, possibly leading to a career in academia)? Also, am I on pace for these tops schools in terms of my ECs? If not, what could I do to improve my chances (given that my school is 7 years old with a 400 person student body and thus is lacking activities traditional of most high schools)?

2

I think your ECs are just fine!

You should be a competitive applicant if your grades and test scores stay up.

3

for STEM, there are plenty of things you can do online. learn programming through youtube tutorials, code academy, free code camp, etc. code websites, apps, games, whatever you want! learn bio, chem, and a whole lot more topics through udacity and MOOC courses. you could even learn data visualization, big data, machine learning, AI, and other trendy tech topics online, too. borrow books from the library and self learn science and technology. apply for remote internships. good luck!

4

oh and trust me, coding isn’t too bad. i coded a pretty nice website in 4-5ish hours (and yes, i’m a newbie). good luck

5

Thanks! I self-studied AP Computer Science this year on a MOOC course to bypass a tech requirement. Good to know there’s more stuff like that out there.

6

I’m from a rural school as well and the top colleges will know what type of school you come from. I think the biggest thing is showing commitment and not just participating in everything because you are from a small school. Like you said, go for Student Body P or VP and try to gain some All-State Recognition to show you are actually passionate with what you do. Also, you are from a rural school so I would choose an EC that you love to do but something only a student from a rural school could do. Good luck.

7

@CrimsonKidd99 Thanks. A lot of the water work I do is somewhat unique to my area (especially the nature of our Youth Water Summit which is showcasing teen research, organized by teens, reported by teens, and designed for a primarily teenage audience).