<p>^^More towards the latter. Science Bowl and Robotics club aren’t that impressive for MIT. Stuff like USAMO, published research, website design businesses, whatever are. Granted, I was just looking through the results thread, and a ton of people got in with what I’d describe as sub-standard (some even had none) math/science ECs. I just skimmed a few pages, but acceptees with eye-popping ECs were a surprising and definite minority. It also helps if you’re hooked in a way (recruited athlete, URM, legacy, even having XX chromosomes from what I’ve heard :)). But, since you live in Houston, adcoms might expect a bit more out of you than your average Nebraska farmboy. So yeah…</p>
<p>One thing that might be a concern is I got the impression that you could be volunteering to rack up hours. I could be wrong. Regardless, you definitely don’t want that to be portrayed on your app, though. Like if a person listed “soup kitchen helper” which they do bi-yearly with their temple, that would raise a red flag (at least imo).</p>