Extracurriculars

<p>Is it too late to do a lot more extracurriculars during junior and senior year because you are currently lacking? I'm a junior right now and I'm worried I don't have enough. Thanks.</p>

<p>Very few schools evaluate ECs for admissions purposes. For those that do (very selective admissions colleges), only outstanding ones matter. At this stage, your pursuit of ECs won’t count in the first instance and won’t be good enough in the second instance.</p>

<p>Don’t pursue more ECs, but improve on the ones you already have and gain leadership positions if possible.</p>

<p>As much as I’m inclined to agree with the first two posters, half of my resume was taken up with junior and senior year accomplishments. Of course, I only had two major extracurriculars, and I’m a little worried that you’re focused on the quantity of your ECs rather than (wait for it…) their quality.</p>

<p>My S’s ECs were like glassesarechic’s. He did 2 sports as a Fr and Soph, and that does NOT leave a lot of time for much else. Jr year he cut down to one sport, and it gave him time to join some clubs he enjoyed, and it gave him time to tutor. He helped out some kids that needed it, and you could say they helped him, since he just got admitted ED to Northwestern.</p>

<p>I think the key with ECs is to do something you enjoy, or try something you think you might enjoy. Good luck to you.</p>

<p>Well the problem is that there are very few organizations at my school, given its very small size. I’ve been involved in service organizations, yearbook staff, student government (9th, 11th grade pres. and student body pres.), and JV Soccer for a year.</p>

<p>I joined the school newspaper in 11th, and became the Editor in Chief in 12th.
Yes, for a lot of things it is a bit late (ie. don’t try to take up an instrument right now), but doing a few hundred hrs community service or getting an internship are plausible.</p>

<p>i mean, it’s not bad to do extracurricular but then, personally, i think that colleges would look more for dedication as in participating in the club for 2+ years and/or officer positions.</p>

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<p>You don’t have to join a school organization. Many of my extracurriculars were through community or national organizations.</p>

<p>Extracurricular activities do NOT have to be affiliated with your school. In fact, I believe it would show motivation on your part to pursue activities outside of school. When you apply to colleges, explain that you were interested in (X), but it wasn’t available in your high school, so you took it upon yourself to find a way to do (X)</p>

<p>If you have already got a relationship with one or more service organizations in your community, see what you can do to increase the depth and breadth of your engagement with them in an area you are genuinely interested in. Good at computers? Help them with tech support. Good at service delivery? Try helping out with program management. A good writer? Help with the newsletter, marketing or grant research and writing. Interested in finance? See if you can help the CFO with some financial analysis. Research-oriented? Offer to collect some client satisfaction data or outcomes data and analyze it. There are many opportunities in most communities, for someone who is smart, independent, creative and shows some initiative. You’ll learn a lot, possibly have something interesting to say in your application and interviews, and maybe even end up with a letter of recommendation that highlights some aspect of who you are that isn’t obvious to your teachers.</p>