Freshman: Extracurriculars

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm currently a freshman (Asian girl), and I've been doing some research regarding extracurriculars... rate my ecs? I want to have fun in high school, so I don't want to stretch myself too thin by attending every club at school just for the sake of impressing an admissions officer- but will I be doing too little to get into top schools like HYPS, UCs, etc.? (Assuming I also get good stats, obviously.)</p>

<p>Also, I'm a freshman, so a lot of these are just theoretical goals that I hope to achieve throughout high school. </p>

<p>---> How can I make my EC's more impressive? <---</p>

<h1>1 EC</h1>

<p>I hope to start my own company (or companies... depending on how well it goes)- I have a couple ideas so far, but nothing great. I hope to eventually generate a profit of a couple grand a month (no idea how yet, but wish me luck!). I want to pursue a business major in college, so I think starting one now would give me a headstart... :) </p>

<p>My friend and I started our own bookmark business in the fifth grade, and I realized I liked running a business- but not sure how to make a 'real' company yet. Tips?</p>

<h1>2</h1>

<p>Writing! I love to write. No idea if this counts as an EC though...
(a) I'm taking Journalism next year. Hopefully editor-in-chief by senior year.
(b) I'm planning on starting my own blog- just an online journal basically.
(c) I'm writing for a few essay contests- let's assume I win a few by 12th grade. :)
(d) I REALLY want to intern at a newspaper- hopefully the San Francisco Chronicle because I live in the Bay Area, but don't have the faintest idea as to how to be intern-worthy.. help?
(e) I'm starting a Creative Writing club at school.. it's mainly for fun, but maybe I can generate some pieces for the school newspaper! </p>

<h1>3 EC</h1>

<p>Violin- I've been playing violin since the fifth grade; I can't say I'm great, but I love doing it! I've been part of an orchestra outside of school for the past two years and I hope to eventually catch up to my peers who started earlier and enter (and possibly win) some competitions. </p>

<h1>4 EC</h1>

<p>School Clubs-
Interact- all four years. I'm running for a leadership position (publicity) for next year, and hope to be president senior year. </p>

<p>Food Critique Club (for next year?)- I love food. It's amazing. And my club will basically go to restaurants once a month and writes reviews about them and publish it in the school paper. Props to CC- I got this club idea here. </p>

<p>Creative Writing Club- see above. </p>

<h1>5</h1>

<p>Badminton
Super Asian... I know. It's incredibly fun though- it's my first year playing, but I'm already pretty good (in comparison to the rest of my team.) I'm currently #3 singles, and I hope to be #2 or #1 singles next year after getting semi-private training over the summer. Would it be worthwhile to include this on my app even if I'm not state-ranked?</p>

<p>Thanks guys! I realize this is long, so I'll be happy if you just comment on some of it. :)</p>

2

<p>Bump… anyone? I realize this is superlong, haha. Rate mine and I’ll rate yours!</p>

3

<p>Looks solid.</p>

4

<p>Thanks! No suggestions though? ;)</p>

5

<p>I love the idea of starting your own business! Colleges, Stanford in particular, love that! I think that’s a great idea, and that it should be your focus as far as extracurriculars.</p>

6

<p>The relatively few colleges that factor ECs into admission are impressed by the depth of your ECs, not by their breadth.</p>

7

<p>Thanks :slight_smile: Now if I can just come up with some more start-up ideas…</p>

<p>Stanford… do other colleges see it as much as Stanford? I have a younger sister, so I’ve decided to pay my way through college myself, and Stanford is a bit out of my price range.</p>

8

<p>@ Northstarmom: My main ecs are #1 & #2- I’m really hoping to show colleges that my main interests are in business and writing. If I stick with those, is that still too ‘unfocused’?</p>

9

<p>Listen. Focus on what you have listed above and you’ll do fine. Northstarmom’s advice is valid: expertise in one or two areas is favored above involvement in ten areas. But expertise in two areas and involvement in eight other areas is good too. It’s trite and repeated advice, but just do what you love. Sports are essentially my only extracurriculars. Did that hurt me in the admissions process? Most likely. Would I go back and join spanish club and the school newspaper if I had the chance? No. Just do what you like to do and college will work itself out.</p>

10

<p>If you’re serious about #1, it’ll be hard to do all the others. Running a “real” business in HS sucks up an enormous amount of time. I speak from experience and usually work 30-40 hours/week, on top of other ECs/schoolwork.</p>

<p>Schools like to see depth, NOT breadth. I’d recommend you dive into 2-3 ECs. Of what you’ve listed, these look most promising:

  1. Business
  2. Journalism
  3. Violin</p>

<p>I’d disregard everything else and throw yourself into those.</p>

<p>One caveat though: it seems like maybe you shouldn’t start the business. No good business is started by somebody who wants to start a business and <em>then</em> searches for ideas. This will only work if you have an idea that inspires you enough that you <em>need</em> to form a business around it. Otherwise, you’ll just burn out.</p>

11

<p>Solid ECs. Writing is a good thing.</p>

12

<p>Thanks for the responses guys.
@Kameron Smith: I get what you’re saying about the business idea, and I want to say that right now I’m just keeping my eyes open for possible business ideas- I’m not going to start a business if it’s something I’m not truly passionate about. Hopefully I’ll get lucky and come across a good enough idea- we’ll see. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>You say you speak from experience though… tips for business starting if I AM driven enough to create one?</p>

13

<p>

</p>

<p>Agreed. You’re going to need to research how to start a business at the same time that there’s an element of randomness and luck–will you stumble across that creative idea? </p>

<p>You’re also likely not going to have time for much else if you end up starting a successful business. It far, far surpasses the time commitment of an arbitrary club membership.</p>

<p>As for the rest of your list, I personally would par your activities down to just writing (and a business, should that work out). Opportunities related to writing should unfold themselves as your high school years progress–not just editor-in-chief, but things like internships (like the one you mentioned), mentorships (try emailing English professors at a local university), or awards. But writing is something that cannot be contained to “Tuesdays from 3-4” or whenever your meetings are. You need time to delve into and develop your craft. This will include regular freewriting time, editing time, brainstorming/outlining time, and lots and lots of readings, both advice books and articles/books/poems. </p>

<p>Of course, few people pursue one activity so zealously. It’s much easier to create a club that meets every once in a while or pursue leadership that doesn’t require much more than you showing up to meetings and standing at the front of the room. And plenty of people get into colleges, even top colleges, with a smattering of club memberships instead of one less tangible passion. I just speak as someone who joined a huge amount of club freshman year and ended up with no time (or energy!) to pursue any of them to an impressive level. So I dropped out of all but two (well, not counting French club, but that hardly counts haha). Had I had more chutzpah, I might have pared it down to just writing, giving me more time for reading, writing, and stumbling across novel opportunities.</p>

14

<p>

It’s definitely good to keep your ears open to interesting opportunities. Often, the best businesses evolve from someone seeing something in their own lives and realizing it needs fixing.</p>

<p>For a high schooler, the best kind of business you can form is online. Running your business online gives you the flexibility to change your hours as needed & makes it easier to build credibility. You can also outsource a lot of your tasks without upfront capital (something difficult to attain in high school). Copywriting or blogging would seem to fit into your skill set.</p>

<p>Feel free to PM me if you want some more tips or help.</p>

<p>Also, getting internships is a GREAT idea. Start small though: since you’re in the Bay area, there are a lot of startups who are desperate for help. Just email some businesses and see what you can do. Even if you just end up writing for the company blog or handling support requests, this can develop into something larger or a good recommendation. I don’t know much about newspapers specifically, but I’d imagine the best thing to do would be to start writing regularly for a smaller paper (local?) and then send some of your better pieces over. Try to think of stories where you bring a special perspective, as a high school student.</p>

15

<p>Thanks for all the advice kameronsmith :slight_smile:
I’ll be sure to seek you for advice regarding start-ups. For now, I’m just going to do some research on businesses in general so I don’t waste your time asking basic questions. </p>

<p>Start-ups you say… how would I find start ups in the Bay Area? </p>

<p>About newspapers- I’m actually more interested in business than journalism. If I can find a start-up company who could use a teen’s blogging skills, I would probably choose that over an internship at a local newspaper.</p>

16

<p>You can find internships on sites like:

<p>Also, just read the tech press (ex. [TechCrunch](<a href=“http://techcrunch.com%5DTechCrunch%5B/url%5D”>http://techcrunch.com)</a>) and if you notice something you’d be interested in, see how you can get involved.</p>