Extracurriculars- yay or nay?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I am a current junior enrolled in full IB. I raise to you a question as old as time- so how impressive are my extracurriculars really?</p>

<p>By the way I'm an international student from Asia. Greetings!</p>

<p>(*stuff I plan to do)</p>

<p>Volunteer work:</p>

<ol>
<li>Tutor at Mary Ward (2 years)</li>
<li>Social Service Club (2 years, position: Program Coordinator)</li>
<li>Dog Foster Care (2 years, position: leader)</li>
<li>Health-Post Construction Project (2 years, position: founder, leader)</li>
<li>Other volunteer work +300 hours (a bunch of stuff I have done over three years including service weeks and voluntary work in remote villages, house construction, school maintenance and such with different organizations)</li>
</ol>

<p>Leadership positions:</p>

<ol>
<li>Social Service Club (2 years, position: Program Coordinator)</li>
<li>Dog Foster Care (2 years, position: leader)</li>
<li>Health-Post Construction Project (2 years, position: founder, leader)</li>
<li>Yearbook (4 years, position: Senior editor)</li>
<li>Graphic Storytelling Club (2 years, position: founder, leader)</li>
<li>UCMAS (1 year, position: teacher assistant)</li>
<li>Campus Store (1 year, position: leader)</li>
</ol>

<p>Other (frankly unimportant) clubs:</p>

<ol>
<li>Environment Club (1 year)</li>
<li>Leadership Training Service (1 year)</li>
<li>School band (4 years including middle school and high school participation)</li>
<li>MUN</li>
</ol>

<p>Job/Internship:</p>

<ol>
<li>UCMAS Teacher Assistant (1 year)</li>
<li>Intern at national newspaper*</li>
<li>Freelance writer at national magazine*</li>
<li>Freelance writer and editor at webmagazine*</li>
</ol>

<p>Others:</p>

<ol>
<li>Received full scholarship to attend NES World Peace Congress 2013</li>
<li>Received full scholarship to attend IB World Student Conference 2013</li>
<li>Doing independent research on thangka (art)</li>
</ol>

2

<p>I feel like your EC’s are so spread thin. There is nothing really unique about you. I think if you explain more on what these activities were individually, it would help me understand your passion more. So please do explain :)</p>

3

<p>I agree with @SamuelMedrano, I can’t find the passion without an explanation. If it were put like this, I would think that they would be conceived as “app boosters”</p>

4

<p>That’s what I thought so too :frowning: I’m in my junior year already (and it’s almost over) so there isn’t much I can do about it <em>sigh</em></p>

5

<p>You have too many extracurricular activities. That is not always good. Universities will think you have been “stacking” them up for your university application. Along with that, it shows that you have little commitment in them, </p>

6

<p>I suppose that would be because I changed high school three times so I could not stick to any. The longest period of time I could show commitment was two years, unless I continued whatever I was doing in each school. But the same activities weren’t available in each school except for yearbook. So I tried to stick to the ones that I really like and I like writing so I stayed in the yearbook team in each school. I suppose my volunteer activities are very spread out because each school was obsessed with service and there were a lot of opportunities so I did a lot I guess. And since I like writing, I am thinking of doing an internship at a local newspaper and getting a job of a freelance writer at a local magazine and webmagazine. I also like art which is why I blended writing and art and founded the graphic storytelling club which takes advantage of the diversity in my school. It’s not very impressive but I am aware of how shallow my extracurriculars might seem so I am trying to pave a way I suppose. </p>

7

<p>@SamuelMedrano‌ There isn’t a lot to explain about each because I wasn’t very driven for each of my activities, if I am to be completely honest. Only a few. The health post project which a couple friends and I initiated was the result of a service week in a rural village in my country. We were given assignments in Business and Management to come up with a hypothetical sustainable business plan that would benefit the local community. We conducted primary research int he village we were staying and four neighboring villages. We realized the main problem was the lack of a health post because of which the villagers could not prevent or cure the most basic diseases. Since the villages were so far away from town and no transportation was available, the sick wouldn’t be able to get proper medical care. It was deteriorating the health of the host village and neighboring villages. A health post in the central village (the host village) would benefit the community as simple diseases that can be dealt with at a health post, could be treated on time and not worsen. So we did our assignment on that and came up with a structure and everything and ideas about how we would come up with funding for investment and the right personnel or training for the villagers and such. We wanted to give back to the community for their hospitality during service week so we decided to actually do all of it for real and not just as a hypothetical project for an assignment. Personally I enjoyed fundraising most because we had to talk to CEO’s of major companies and tell them about our project and arrange hosting the premiere show of a movie (our major fundraising event) at the lowest cost. It all worked out pretty well and we collected nearly twice the amount we expected to raise. But soon after this, I had to change schools and leave the country because my new school is abroad, and my friends had to focus on their academics as they were almost finishing school. So we have postponed the actual construction for this summer and hopefully it will be completed by then. It’s still a pending project but we are definitely going to make it happen.
The second thing worth explaining is that I really enjoy writing. I have been in the Yearbook team for four years and have even been the Senior Editor. I am planning to do an internship at a local newspaper and get the job of a freelance writer in a local magazine and a webmagazine. Another activity related to writing is the Graphic Storytelling Club. It would have to be my favorite activity. The school I go to is a very diverse school and has students from about 80 countries. What this club does is collect stories (folklore, fairytales, personal stories or anything that makes the story unique based on its cultural context) from the students, research about the culture represented, write a script for each story and retell it in the normal storytelling format and also convert it into a comic format. This is pretty much like every other Creative Writing club except we experiment with stories that already exist and focus our creativity on storytelling. Perhaps what’s unique about this club is that it takes advantage of the diversity in my school and could not work in most other schools. I enjoy this club most because it isn’t just about cultural exchange and diversity, it’s also incredibly fun and improves you as a writer.
The third thing I could talk about is UCMAS. It’s to do with the abacus and math and stuff. I completed the whole course in four years I think (although it wasn’t during high school). I won the national competition in UCMAS three times and was a paid teacher assistant for a year. I enjoyed it a lot but I had done everything I could do at UCMAS and there wasn’t more I could squeeze out of it.</p>

8

<p>I would try doing a few unorthodox activities. This would at least set you apart from some other applicants.
Chance Back
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