Grades versus extracurricular activities?

Applying to College
1

Hi guys, I’m currently a junior in high school. I just want to know y’all opinions on which one is more important: grades or extracurricular activities. I know both are important, but which one does college focus on more?

My GPA is 3.9 (out of 5) and around 3.5 (out of 4). I take three APs and two honors this year. 9th and 10th grade, my GPA is around 3.8 (only two honors classes each year).

However, I do a lot of activities.

  • Girls’ volleyball team (JV in 2013, Varsity ever since 2014; will be co-captain in fall of 2016).
  • Manages the boys’ volleyball team since 2013.
  • Two jobs (one as a tutor, one as a librarian assistant)
  • Officer for Classics Club (Photographer 2013-2014, 2nd VP 2014-2015, President 2015-2016; Will be student adviser 2016-2017).
  • Officer for school’s Red Cross Club (Secretary 2015-2016; will be president in fall of 2016)
  • Officer for school’s class yearbook (2016-2017).
  • (not really an activity, but) A member of the National Junior Classical League Latin Honor Society since 2012.

Say that I wanted to apply to a competitive school, should I focus on keeping my grades up or am I fine?

2

Grades are generally considered more important. What do you mean by a “competitive school”?

3

No regular EC can make up for lower grades or test scores.

4

Grades, no question. Don’t let your ECs ruin your GPA. Not sure which competitive schools you want, but I think your grades could be higher.

5

Competitive for me means like Boston University and Northeastern.

6

If your high school is like ours, your end-of-junior year grades are the GPA the colleges are getting, so you are where you are. My son did get a boost from his (good) EC’s at a couple of colleges for which his GPA was quite low per our school’s Naviance, but not at his super reach schools. (He got decent SAT and SAT2 scores too, which helped, and I can’t tell where you landed on that.) I’d suggest you spend a lot of time on your essays, crafting a compelling (and true) story about yourself that is supported by your EC’s, and write at least first drafts of all your essays over the summer, when you have time. That helped my son out, but ultimately, EC’s did not not offset sub-stellar GPA’s at the more competitive colleges.