<p>A lot of you are going to scoff at this. It is a little long-winded; please bear with me.</p>
<p>I had severely slacked off my freshman year. I only took one honors class, and I got a D in an <em>elective</em>. I didn't even have one EC. This year, I kicked into gear a little more, but I did have a couple of C's first semester. I joined Teen Court and Mock Trial. I'm in three honors classes and currently have straight A's (and am hoping to keep it that way!) As of now, I have no community service hours.</p>
<p>This is what I plan to take next year:
AP Lang
APUSH
Alg II
Court Procedures
Yearbook
Psychology
AP Spanish (online)
* I'm debating on whether or not to take AP Environmental or Honors Physics. Which of the two would be a better choice, and is my current planned schedule good? </p>
<p>EC's... I see some people's extensive list of EC's, and it's discouraging. It'll be a stretch for me to get a leadership position in a club because I'm just more chill and quiet than leadership material, but I guess that'll have to change. If I participate in a few new EC's, do you think I could assume a leadership position even if it's my first year doing it? My current ECs don't have leadership. Any suggestions on ECs I should do?</p>
<p>Now, the volunteering aspect. I plan on volunteering at the local hospital and a homeless shelter soon. I want to major in psychology, journalism, or something petaining to writing, so I don't really know where I'd find a place to volunteer that coincides with those interests. </p>
<p>I think that covers it! Am I beyond help? :( thank you for reading this, and thanks for thoughtful answers!</p>
<p>What’s your cumulative GPA? Only very few colleges consider any ECs. Unless you plan on applying to those, you should not worry about your ECs – do the ones that interest you. And bear down on the GPA and tests later. </p>
<p>Many HS students are misinformed about the relative importance placed on ECs by colleges. Those long lists often aren’t evaluated one bit.</p>
<p>EC’s help in showing that you’re well-rounded and can handle more responsibility
if there is only 1 spot left between 2 ppl with the same courseload and same grades and test scores, the EC’s do play a factor opposed to somebody with very few</p>
<p>If you don’t yet know what your family is willing to pay for your education, the time to sit them down and have The Big Money Talk is right now. Beefing up your GPA, doing well on the ACT/SAT, and having a boatload of ECs won’t do you a bit of good if you find out you can’t afford to attend the colleges that admit you.</p>
<p>"EC’s help in showing that you’re well-rounded and can handle more responsibility
if there is only 1 spot left between 2 ppl with the same courseload and same grades and test scores, the EC’s do play a factor opposed to somebody with very few "</p>
<p>And the vast majority of HS students apply to schools where only GPA and test scores are evaluated. That, plus the fact that the OP says Cornell is his/her dream school, says that he/she should instead focus on upping the GPA if ECs take away from it. Hopefully they don’t and the student can do both. As it stands, if he/she gets a 4.0 this semester and from here out, by the time school applications are due, the GPA will only be 3.57.</p>
<p>Andywong: do you think it’s more important for the students to have a few additional ECs if it means a 3.0 cumulative GPA or to shed ECs and strive for a 3.57 GPA? I posit that the schools (such as Cornell and even NYU and UF) are likely out of his/her range. Therefore, he/she should logically apply to schools where 3.5 GPA students regularly attend. The vast majority of these schools will not weigh ECs in the evaluation.</p>
<p>That’s my cold formulation, unfortunately.</p>
<p>OP: best of luck to you. Focus on the grades and test taking. Do interesting ECs but not at the expense of grades and getting a good ACT/SAT.</p>