In middle school, my school offers a grand total of 0 academic clubs. At the high school level, they have debate, Key Club. and student council (I am doing all 3) None are special, and while I do have a variety of sports I plan on playing in boarding school (Tennis, XC, Sailing) And clubs I plan on joining (too many to list) I was wondering what I could do to help the ec portion of my admission stand out. I have taken summer boarding classes and am taking another 3 week one this summer, but I see people talking about middle school math clubs and other academic clubs offered by their school. So I am wondering, will having a lack of academic clubs hurt my application greatly, or will the schools understand my situation? What can I do outside of my school for ecs?
Sounds like you are doing fine with extracurriculars, especially given your options. I always got the impression the boarding schools like to see things that applicants have a passion for and that kids are rounded - as opposed to just applicants packing a resume - if that makes sense? There are always going to be kids playing Carnegie Hall and competing in Olympic level athletics, but they are not you and you shouldn’t judge yourself against them. Some love what they are doing and others are pushed and pretty miserable despite their achievements. I have seen it all. Just be who you are and try to do your personal best. A schools who wants only “fully formed” kids is definitely not a place I would want my kids at anyway. Also, boarding schools know that some kids come from schools like yours while others come from places with a lot of offerings or the means to pay for them outside of school. If you have time, you might think about something community service oriented. It needn’t be an enormous amt of time, even just an event here or there is good, but you would be surprised how nice you might fee and I think many boarding schools are interested in that. I know that service of some kind is a component for National Merit Scholars these days. Maybe there is a food pantry or place of worship you can approach about doing that. A senior center or an animal rescue shelter? Cleaning up a playground? Mowing lawns for the infirmed? Perhaps even a 4-H club? Reading to youngsters? The list goes on. Best of luck! 
No, they will not understand your situation if you choose to do nothing about it. EC’s do not have to be school-related. In fact the best ones could be outside of school. Local youth centers, places of worship, community centers, etc. all off some type of EC. As the poster above me states, the possibilities are endless. Good luck.
our DD was in a similar situation- TINY school, no clubs, no leadership opportunities through school… outcome was more than fine. Just get involved outside of school in your community. Think of it this way- it helps show incentive. Its easy to just list clubs…
You mentioned specifically academic clubs. My kids have participated in various academic type activities outside school when their school did not offer them, even though many other schools offer these types of activities. Things like a competitive robotics team through a local STEM workshop type place, debate and Model UN through a private school’s (that they did not attend) after school program which was open to kids from outside the school, chess club run by a parent in our community, orchestra through a private organization unrelated to school, math team (math competitions) through a local private math academy, etc.
There may be opportunities near you to participate in similar activities outside of school.
Or if you are interested in starting an academic club like a math team, then do some research about competitions you’d like to participate in and how to prepare, and then approach a math teacher at your school. Make a proposal about a math team. The more work you offer to do for it (finding practice problems, etc.) makes it more likely the teacher may say yes.
On your chance me thread you didn’t mention those three ec’s,Did you join those three recently or are you planning on doing them?Or have you been doing them for sometime but decided not to mention them in the chance me post?
@CottenCandyTrill I am not in them yet, as they are not offered until high school. I may also start a club, however as my school is not very academically focused (AKA kids don’t care about school, and school cares more about athletics than academics) I doubt anyone would join (About 80 kids per graduating class) I am planning on starting a stock market club. I may be the only member. I will also be in debate, key club (school sponsored volunteering club) and am my classes Vice President. For sports I do sailing in the summer (outside of school, at the local yacht club) cross country in the fall, and tennis in the spring. I might be able to make varsity tennis freshman year, however I do not know yet (I would have done tennis this spring but the only spring sport offered by the middle school is track, so I did that instead)
Be a problem solver. Make a club, form a group, offer some help at your local library… my middle school has two clubs and so I had to figure out a way to show my interests through what I do without the help from my school. Just get creative, you can do it! It’s easy to make excuses forever.