I’m currently a sophomore in high school, so I still have a while before applying to colleges, but I’m quite concerned about what I have to share in terms of extracurriculars because it doesn’t really show who I am as a person. And on a side note, my academics are very well qualified, so there’s nothing to really worry about there.
I’ve had many extracurriculars growing up, including piano, drawing, martial arts, etc, however, my family situation has never been good, and has gotten worse and worse over the years and around 6th or 7th grade, I decided quit learning piano, drawing, and martial arts at the schools I learned them at so I could help out in the family by doing chores and whatnot when my parents were fighting (and to act as a pacifier), and I never reached any honorable level in either of my extracurriculars during the time I did them: I tested for piano every 4–5 levels out of the 10 levels there were in the program I learned from, and I ended up quitting piano 4 months before I tested for the last level, and the highest level I had tested for by then was only level 5, which is not very good or something that stands out; I was 2 belts away from black belt when I quit martial arts (red 1 and red black), but I was the best student in my class and I could beat all but 1 or 2 black belts during sparring, so it’s not like I didn’t qualify or anything, the program just required that I go through the belts one by one, which would’ve taken another year.
Even after I quit all those extracurriculars, I continued to practice them with passion at home, but since I’m not in any program and I have not competed in any tournaments or competitions, there’s absolutely no record of me practicing any of these extracurriculars (aside from me performing at my school’s talent show with piano every year). I’ve become very good at many of those extracurriculars that I’ve quit, and I’ve even taught some of my classmates and friends how to do some of them, such as guiding friends who also play the piano through their pieces and advising them on how to practice and manage the pieces that they’re learning.
My family situation has gotten even worse now, and my parents have decided to divorce after I go to college so they don’t affect me too much and so that I could focus more on high school and less on dealing with the loss of a family member or whatever the law is for a divorce. Because of this, I can’t just say my family situation is bad since there’s no evidence (there’s no divorce and no one really knows about it well aside from me talking about it).
If I don’t mention any of this, and tell colleges that I don’t have any extracurriculars (I have found a few, but they’re debatable between extracurricular and academic. If you’re what wondering what they are, they’re computer programming and math olympiad), I obviously wouldn’t be admitted into any of the better colleges. On the other hand, if I were to tell colleges that I quit my extracurriculars to help out my family, it would seem like an excuse for myself not to continue in any of those programs (possibly because I was terrible at it or forced to do it). On top of that, it won’t be easy talking about my family situation considering the complexity and risk in it. How should I go about telling colleges about this?