Not sure if this is the correct place to post this, sorry :-/
I’ve been homeschooled since the start of 10th grade (I’m a senior) and didn’t think I was going to college until 2 months ago. I’ve done fine in school and the SAT, but I’m seriously lacking in ECs. I started listing out anything I could think of and all the details I could think of for each interest/activity. I have not done sports since before high school and I haven’t really been involved in any clubs or organizations, so I’m trying to figure out other stuff to put on my activities resume.
If anyone is willing to give me advice on how to word this …stuff, what to get rid of, and what to focus on for my activities resume, that would be awesome. I know what I want colleges to see about me (that I have the ability to develop and explore my interests) but I don’t know how to show them without seeming inadequate/boring/weird.
Please PM me if you’re willing to help and I’ll send you the list of potential ECs that I typed up. Thanks
Most colleges don’t care about ECs. I saw your target list on 9/24/15. Gooogle the “common data sets” of your target schools and you’ll see how little they care about evaluating your ECs.
As for your EC list – you have a part time job? That’s a fantastic EC – much stronger than most. What else do you like doing?
@T26E4 Thanks for easing my mind a bit. Most of what I’ve read has scared me into thinking ECs are ridiculously important and I have to be a top-ranked athlete who cured cancer in order to get into college, lol.
I have over 2,000 hours and counting at a travel plaza style Mcdonald’s since May 2014. I work anywhere from 28-48 hours a week there depending on the season. I also have around 500 babysitting hours total throughout 9th-10th grade, where I worked mostly at a bed & breakfast (watching the owners’ kid during business hours). I have always been one to use my time working rather than doing recreational things.
I have rescued some animals (rabbits mostly) and care for a lot of pets. I have written articles on caring for gerbils and used to have a pretty active blog where I posted them. I kind of outgrew that around last year. I also like writing in my free time. I’m into music too, I don’t have musical talents of my own but I go to concerts a lot and have been to around 40 in the past 3 years. I used to run a really popular blog on tumblr for the Warped Tour summer music festival. It was pretty successful and I’m proud of it but I didn’t have time for it after summer of 2014 because of school and my job.
I’m not sure what counts there, and what would interest admissions officers. I thought about including links to the blogs I mentioned but I doubt they’d really take the time to look at them. In short, I like music and animals and most of my time has been spent researching, writing, and working. Not sure what else to say, haha
There are not right or wrong, better or worse ECs to have. Don’t thjink of ECs as resume building, think of them as a chance to get involved in something that interests you, excites you, makes you feel good about helping others etc. Since you are home-schooled it is probably easiest to look for opportunities in your community. That can be anything from volunteering at a food bank, a library, a hospital to playing an instrument in a community band…really it can be virtually anything.
All of those sound like fine activities. You can list your blogs as ECs and your work experience under work. Really working is a fine way to spend your free time. One of the advantages of homeschooling is you won’t look like everyone else.
