<p>You've probably read a post like this before, but hear me out anyway, I could do with some advice. Besides, I'm sort of freaking out, and need to get this off of me!</p>
<p>I'm a junior living in India. If you're not aware of the education system here, this might be a little difficult to understand.. We don't have 12 straight years of schooling. Like, grade One to Twelve. We have 10 + 2. Which equals the twelve years most of you do (I'm presuming the "most of you" are students in countries like USA or Canada or UK). It's not much different, expect this: We have these MAJOR (or that's what they seemed like then, lol) nation wide exams at the end of 10th grade. Then we do 11th 12th, and depending on the curricula we choose to continue (by the way, there are several) , we do it in either a school or a college environment (there's not much difference actually, but the "college environ" I was talking about is the state's board of education- HSC. In my state, it's not good. But most kids join it because it's COLLEGE. They think of it as a big thrill, but later realize it's not anything different. Also the advantage is after 12th chances are you'll have an assured seat for undergrad. But like I said before, it's not good. Hence my ISC school decision). But the 10th exams (and your general performance throughtout that year, for curricula other than the HSC) kinda decide where you get addmission, so it is a big deal. No, I haven't explained this well enough, but it'll do for my purpose.
The reason I included all this, was to explain why I did 9th and 10th in one school, and enrolled in another for 11th and 12th (my older school didn't have facilities for 11th-12th, although I continued the same curricula).</p>
<p>Alright, now getting to the crux of my topic. Extracurriculars. I know this is a generic question, but how important are they for college admissions? I never thought I'd apply abroad, but that's what I really want to do now.</p>
<p>My old school had precious little to offer. I joined everything they had, till the activity got cancelled. There was art, dance, elocutions (I usually won =] ), computer presentations, karate, and the like. But as luck would have it, most of these got cancelled by the time I got to the 8th and 9th grades. The school was (and I hear still is) very, very academics oriented. Of course there were sports, the only (close to) consistent activity, but I'm not supposed to do any extreme physical activity. Cardio trouble and all that, plus muscular and ligament ailments. And I'm accident prone :D
Remember I told you the 10th grade final exam was The Next Big Thing of our lives then? All schools take not one, but two years to prepare their kids. This includes teaching the entire curriculum for every subject (11 of them) plus revision, and then giving us time off (typically a month and half) to let us study on our own. We call it "study leave" here. So essentially, 9th grade IS our 10th. Those two years are very pressurized. It just so happened that in the 9th grade, I was absent from school for most of the year due to medical reasons. I had two surgeries (trichotillomaina, which went on to trichobezoar; it's a touchy issue, I'd rather you didn't go into it too much). So obviously when I got back to school (towards the end of 9th), my main priority was to catch up with my studies. The actual 10th grade year is only 4-5 months long, and then 1-2 filled with tests - not long enough. I had a lot on my plate, which left me with no choice but to abandon extracurriculars.</p>
<p>Okay, now my current school. A lot more opportunities, no doubt. But they're all for the same few things. There's drama once a year, and I was part of the props crew. There was the school fest, and I helped my freinds who volunteered. But mostly it's sports and things like MUN, HMC, IYC, and debates. The same few kids are chosen for the debate-things, because mostly they're inter-school competitions. The teachers (understandably) prefer to choose kids who they know are brilliant, since they've seen them before (this school has classes grade one through twelve). It's the same with the seniors when they're choosing participants; they'd rather choose the juniors they know than the new ones. It's just my luck that I'm shy as well. That was in the beginning, now they know the student body better so they push even us new-lings - but now there isn't anything left! As I type, there's a plane about to land with a bunch of my classmates. It was HMC in Singapore, but I didn't get permission to go. Besides, I'd have to pay for the air tickets, something my mom and I can't afford.
This school has the IAYP programme, an optional thing for us, and I signed up for it. I wish my old school had it! I signed up for Gold, but because I've not done Silver, or for that matter even Bronze, my programme will take longer to complete. And definitely AFTER app deadlines :(</p>
<p>So as you can see, besides the IAYP, I have nothing to put against "extracurriculars", since the admission officers will only be interested in 9-12 grade years. I'm not a student council member, and won't get the opportunity now (it all got done recently)</p>
<p>As far as academics go, I'm pretty decent in my class. Despite my setback in the 9th-10th, I did remarkably well (converting my percantage -- it's your A+) My current course is considered pretty tough here, and I do well in all my subjects (except math, which I was kinda forced to take.. But then I'm never gonna do anything math related so that shouldn't matter too much :p Ironically, I got an award in the 4th grade for topping math! Anyway..). You can't compare my overall grade to another's since we don't all have the same subjects and each subject is graded differently, but if you did it for individual subjects, I'm pretty high up. I haven't given the SAT yet, but I will on the 22nd. To be honest, I don't know what to expect out of that. I'll probably panic and it'll show on the scores.</p>
<p>I'm a voracious reader, but apparently that doesn't count! My hobbies include writing, digital photography (but I've never done anything "professional") & collecting golden five and ten (tenners are hard to get) ruppee coins (they came out in our country almost a year age, but I'm still fascinated! I have a "treasure box" full), though I suppose the last one is irrelevant. I've been doing Yoga for a long time, since it's the only physical thing I can do, and I'm in an arts & crafts class as well.
I do community service too. I've collected donations more times than I can remember, and I teach written and spoken english to lesser privilaged kids from the slums.
There are a whole lot of street dogs in my city, and many near where I live. A lot of my allowance goes into caring for them (leaving little for me to use for any kind of classes). I don't think I could add this to "community service" in my app. I do it out of my love for animals, but it's not a join-an-organisation-and-contribute thing so anyone reading my app could easily think I'm faking it.</p>
<p>I've seen many suggestions on forums to "start a club" but we don't have any "club" thing going in most schools here, especially mine. The only "legit" leadership post you can get around here would be student council. I don't think I can put in my app "Was made leader of the group in group project at school" even though I am heading my psych project group!</p>
<p>So basically, my app is going to look pretty unimpressive because of the "extracurricular" bit. Any help/suggestions from you guys would be appreciated! Thanks :)</p>
Help is always welcome =D</p>