<p>I'm a Junior in High School right now. I have an average GPA I guess (3.5ish) with 3 APs this year and 1 last year. I'll have 3 or 4 next year. Anyway, I'm not going to overload you with stats, this isn't a chance thread or anything.</p>
<p>I really don't have that many ECs. I am News Section Editor of a nationally-recognized school paper, hoping to become Editor-in-Chief next year. That's a leadership position. But that's all.</p>
<p>I'm on the debate team, but there are no leadership positions there. Last year I spent about 25+ hours a week volunteering for a candidate and have remained involved with that party through the Gubernatorial election today (I live in VA).</p>
<p>That's the extent of my ECs. I have to watch my baby sibling after school and so I really don't have time to overload on a ton of ECs. The two that I do have I'm great at, but I don't know if that's enough.</p>
<p>I was able to volunteer so much last year because my mom was temporarily unemployed and could watch my sibling. How do I deal with this when applying next year? How did you all do it?</p>
<p>ad coms in general are looking for passion and commitment in your ECs. It seems like yours demonstrate that. You can explain the fact that you are responsible for a younger sibling in essays. I think you are fine. But if you could do something else what would it be?</p>
<p>This is a huge responsibility. It is a job on par with many other excellent EC’s. Be sure to highlight this with more detail in your app, and more importantly, describe what you learned from this experience and how it changed you.</p>
<p>You don’t need a lot of ECs. It’s much better to have a few you’ve done well at. Debate school paper and volunteering on an election campaign sound like great ECs. If you become editor in chief - even better. But even if you don’t get the position remember there are many ways to lead. Even someone who isn’t in charge might have an idea for how to improve the paper. You could double ad space, or the circulation or propose a new layout. You could use your journalistic skills and do something for the local paper perhaps. You could ask if you could write press releases for your candidate or send articles about the debate team to the local paper. I wouldn’t add to what you are already doing, but think about ways to expand it. (Only if you have time or inspiration - you really are doing enough.) And I agree, do disclose you family responsibilities.</p>
<p>Absolutely disclose your family responsibilities. It will be very clear to college admissions committees that you are not lacking a zillion school EC’s because you play a lot of video games in your spare time. The fact that you are mature and have stepped up to take on real world responsibilities to help out your family will not go over their heads, especially if you are open, matter of fact, and not at all whiney about it. Tell them: This year my primary out of school responsibility was caring for my younger sister while my mom worked/looked for work/whatever for X hours a week. </p>
<p>Also, it isn’t necessary to have a bunch of EC’s and to be well rounded with an EC from the sports, arts, and leadership columns. Your EC’s seem to show depth and committment, with increasing responsibility/leadership at the newspaper, and fit together around politics/communications. Especially if you plan to major in journalism, political science, or become a lawyer, your EC’s make a great deal of sense, and offer more of a sense of who you are and coherence than if you were an officer in five unrelated clubs. Your extensive political volunteering fits right in. An essay or short statement could pull this all together. (And be sure that the activities list that you give your GC connects the dots with perhaps a few sentences about how it all fits together, and how it moves you toward your ultimate career goal, if it does. Not to mention: Tell her how you care for your sister and how many hours a week are involved.)</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, each of my kids had a (different) narrow range of long term, narrow, related EC’s that they were great at, and this did not pose a problem with college admissions. (Only one kid applied as a major in the EC area.) At college fairs, admissions people said that they were looking for a well-rounded class as opposed to a class full of students all of whom were well-rounded. One even used the term “well-pointed,” as in a student with a particular passion all of whose energies had gone into that area. Such a student is considered desirable, as in, “Oh, the politically active journalist.”</p>
<p>Thanks guys. I am hoping to major in Political Science and go on to Law School so I guess those ECs do make sense. I think I just get worried when comparing myself to the academic gods that grace CC with their presence. (I kid. Sort of.)</p>
<p>Should my sibling responsibilities be mentioned in a GC letter or should I do it myself in a personal statement? Or maybe both? Sorry, I’m so confused by all of this.</p>
<p>I think both. I don’t think that either of you has to make a big deal of it (unless you have something you want to say about it that is worthy of an essay) but you do have to be sure that colleges know that while it would have been great to continue to volunteer for your candidate 25 hours a week this year, etc., you had other responsibilities.</p>
<p>Consider also applying to a few colleges that don’t consider ECs for admission. Many colleges are simply formula…if you have the GPA, the test scores, and the college-prep curriculum, then you’re admitted.</p>
<p>The Common Application has a spot under the Writing Section that allows you 150 words, I believe, to disclose anything personal that colleges should know about you. Also, many school supplements may allow you to give additional info, as well.</p>
<p>My D’s friend had a similar situation a few years back. Her parents separated and she suddenly had 2 younger siblings that she had to be home by 3pm to care for. It did not hurt her in the admissions process.</p>
<p>My son had only one EC…music. DD had music and swim team…that’s all. Both were accepted to the colleges of their choice. Both were very passionate about the ECs they had and were extensively involved in them. I don’t think either would have had the TIME to pick up any more EC activities.</p>
<p>I don’t see a problem at all with the number of activities. Newspaper, debate and babysitting are more than enough. My daughter just sent in an application with just three items in the extracurricular section. </p>
<p>By the way, the common app question is:</p>
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<p>I would list childcare responsibilities right below the other two activities.</p>
<p>I worry about this with my second oldest daughter. She’s a 2 sport athlete and in the off-season from those sports, she participates in leagues for those same sports. But that’s all she does - she doesn’t have a chance to do anything else. </p>
<p>But she’s probably not a recruitable athlete; she loves her sports but she’s not good enough to go D-I…maybe D-III. </p>
<p>Hopefully her dedication to her sports is enough.</p>
<p>:) I think that it will be apparent that a 2 sport athlete doesn’t have time to do much else. Varsity sports require year-round dedication with conditioning, etc.</p>
<p>^^^Thanks. My oldest (who is applying this year) is very involved in ECs and not an athlete at all, so I wasn’t sure how schools look at sports. </p>
<p>I did remember that my d2 (the athlete) is still in Girl Scouts and will be working on her Gold Award, so she’ll have that too, I suppose.</p>
You will do quite well.</p>