Gah! My ECs seem to have been completely messed up this year; is there any hope?

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm a sophomore this year (I hope to apply to schools of HYPSM's caliber), and currently my ECs are:</p>

<p>Cello - 4 years, this is my first year with no orchestra...I'm pretty decent, so I'll probably be participating in various music festivals/concerto competitions</p>

<p>Piano - 6 years - I'm not as good at piano as I am at cello, but I'll probably participate in a few competitions etc.</p>

<p>Tennis Team - This is my second year on the team, and it's what's creating schedule conflicts with many school clubs that I want to join. I'm certainly nothing special, ranked 11 out of 50 JV players, and this year I've really started to dislike tennis. I want to quit next year, but I've been told that doing so would show a lack of commitment/consistency in my ECs.</p>

<p>Math Club - First year, I plan on taking the AMC 10 and participating in other math competitions</p>

<p>JSA/Debate Club (maybe) - First year; this club is fun, and it has available officer positions that I plan on applying for(they're reviewed on a name/year-blind basis : O)! However, this club conflicts with tennis once a week.</p>

<p>Robotics Club (maybe) - It would be my first year if I were to join. Robotics seems really exciting to me, and well worth the extra effort required to do well. However, the club's meeting conflict with tennis away meets, which means that I definitely won't be able to join the club until late October, when tennis season ends. Moreover, I'm not entirely sure if I CAN join the club that late...=/</p>

<p>Volunteering for an organization that promotes student involvement in STEM and provides a workplace for these students to research/build things/carry out experiments - This would be my first year of involvement with this organization, which is fairly new and not very large, but seems the most aligned with my interests. Unfortunately, this organization's meetings also conflict with tennis meets D=</p>

<p>So in summary, is there any way I can consolidate this scattered, largely short-term mass of ECs into something competitive for top colleges? I would quit tennis this year, but I have a very serious doubles partner who would take it very badly (and who is also one of my good friends).</p>

2

<p>I think you should not waste your high school years by spending each and every minute with thinking about getting into college. I mean, do whatever you would enjoy, whatever you want and not something that (you think) your dream college wants from you. If you do what you like, you will have a much easier job when convincing colleges about your passion for different things.
If you want to stop playing tennis, then DO SO. As far as I can see, you won’t get recruited for sports anyway:)</p>

<p>And you still have THREE years! (That’s almost like your whole college career.) If you do what you feel like doing you won’t be in trouble. Of course, you should have extracurriculars in which you are interested in. But not because you want to get into college but because you want to learn more about things and make new relationships.
Imagine that you are a college counselor. Would you rather admit someone who has obviously dedicated his high school years to doing stuff YOU might like, or another applicant who visibly enjoyed his high school years and got involved in stuff he loved. Maybe even if that guy was only in a debate club, a wrestling team and a volunteer organization. And I think you can see if someone did not have any goals in high school but to appear well-rounded to Mr. or Mrs. Admission who is reading your file.</p>

<p>I think what you SHOULD do in order to get into college is to study for tests and exams. And pick some ECs that you think you would like and would be good at. And have fun, because junior and senior years might be exhausting if you really aim to get into those places.</p>

<p>Have fun in high school, the next three years of your life are probably gonna be some of the best times in your life (unless you start stressing out about college too early)!</p>

<p>P.s. I really did not intend to imply that thinking about your future is a bad thing; we all know that planning ahead is essential in our lives, during high school as well.</p>

3

<p>Can’t agree more with ksanyee. As a soph, you should be more worried about things like the SATs. For extra activities, do what you really enjoy… and everything will work out fine</p>

4

<p>i think you should quit tennis! you don’t like it that much, you’re not super gifted in it, and it conflicts with a lot of other clubs that you actually are interested in. i know there’s the issue of commitment to a team and all that, but do you really want to be stuck doing it for 4 years, giving up your chance to get more deeply involved in other activities you actually like?</p>

5

<p>I agree with the posts that you’ve received so far.</p>

<p>I’ll go a bit further and try to see your ECs objectively, perhaps as someone who would review your college application two years from now.</p>

<p>Regarding the two musical instruments, music competence and growth demands a great deal of practice. So to be taken seriously as an EC I would expect that for each instrument you’re practicing 10-20 hours per week. And I would take it for granted that when you claim them as ECs you’re performing and competing at least 6 times per year. So a great deal of rehearsing is needed – easily 10 hours for each performance. For Robotics, I would expect that you’ll do much more than attend club meetings. That you’ll build, refine, program and compete. The programming part could easily take 50-100 hours for a significant competition. For the math club, especially if you’re planning to take on serious competitions, you’ll need to review past questions, broaden your knowledge in math in ways that go beyond what you do in class, practice and practice more. I can go on with your other proposed ECs. In short if you expect for me to take them seriously, I would count that you’re working 100+ hours per week on them. I’d also expect that you’re very focused on your academics, and that you spend at least 2-3 hours each night on homework etc. It won’t add up. I’ll very likely dismiss your EC claims.</p>

<p>So what would impress? I’ll give you an example. Take the Cello. Practice and perform often. In your future application list some of the venues where you’ve performed, the solos, the reviews. By itself that would be a convincing ECs, and one that would impress. The same for Robotics. Build, program, compete (tell me where), and place in competitions (ideally sometimes “first”). By itself that would be a convincing EC. I can give other examples, but hopefully you get my point.</p>

6

<p>Agree with all advice.</p>

<p>10th grade is prime time to continue to explore new interests. </p>

<p>You don’t need a 4 year committment to every EC. You DO for personal growth need to explore various interests – hey, the exploration can help when determining college major or career.</p>

<p>My S is in 10th and quit soccor this year (after 4 years of palying) for similiar reasons.</p>

<p>ECs are only a tipping point in college admin, it doesn’t get you in (unless you are extremely gifted, which is rare)</p>

7

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<p>fogcity’s post is great, and this is especially worth repeating. OP, performing at a high level in any EC will demand enormous amounts of time and effort. This means you can’t perform highly in more than one or two ECs, and that additional club memberships are likely to do little more than clutter your app if they are unrelated to your more focused, accomplished interests. </p>

<p>Sophomore year is the perfect time to whittle your interests and refine your activity list. My sophomore year, I dropped student council, a thrice-weekly city tutoring position, and a Relay for Life organizing position. The sole thing I kept? Debate, which has now–along with writing activities I joined later in high school–become my most prominent EC. Without quitting those other clubs, I would have never had the time to research and practice debate enough to get good. I would have never advanced past preliminary rounds at national and state tournaments (and you can hardly put “attended States in debate” and expect adcoms to be wowed–there are no qualifications to attend). And I would have never had the time to work with local poets on my writing and produce work good enough for competition. </p>

<p>Now, my entire app is dominated by writing and debate. You’ll be surprised at the awards getting good at one thing will shake loose. For writing, one poem garnered me regional and national awards, as well as publication. But without spending time on my writing–time that would have been sucked away by student council and tutoring–I would have never even written that poem. </p>

<p>Focus, and you’ll be surprised in a few years at how developed your ECs have became, how many supplementary accolades you’ve garnered.</p>

8

<p>As someone else said, ECs won’t get you into tippy top colleges unless you’re one of the few uber-accomplished. Academics will. Focus on school – not clubs because you fear you’ll look bad. It’s not how you look with ECs but what type of student you’ll develop into that matters most.</p>

9

<p>glassesarechic, I totally agree with everything you mentioned except for the line: “This means you can’t perform highly in more than one or two ECs”. I believe that it can be possible to do well in maybe three ECs at the same time…(especially if you are one of those who get into HYP). But, generally, I would say that You can’t perform highly in more than one or two ECs WITHOUT losing focus on academics…
Anyway, great comments, hope OP will listen to them.</p>