I am currently a sophomore at a very competitive public HS in NYC that is widely considered one of the best in the country.
I don’t think I’m too overconfident in saying that I generally do very well on standardized tests and I think that I will be able to get great scores on the multiple AP exams, SAT II tests, the SAT, etc. that I plan to take, with preparation and studying of course. I am also holding on to a 4.0 GPA and plan to take a rigorous course load over the next few years. However my ECs are a huge issue.
I really don’t know why but I was completely passive freshman year and the first few months of sophomore year. I know that ideally you’re supposed to take whatever ECs appeal to your interests but nothing really grabbed me.I went to the first few meetings of a couple of clubs in 9th grade but never continued on with any of them. I do have a few activities I’ve been doing outside of school for the past few years, but they are obviously still lacking:
Middle school (idk if this even counts for anything, but I’ll list it anyway):
-Model UN 7th and 8th grade
-Track team 6-8th grade (I still run casually but I’m far from good enough for the team at my current school)
High School:
-Volunteered for an unsuccessful Democrat State Assembly campaign (July-September 2016)
-Film-making course at New York Film Academy (1 week, July 2016)
-Interning at a small local museum: helping out with special events, working with museum management, and all kinds of types of jobs (just started, November 2016-)
-Helped photograph the church in my relatives’ small town in Eastern Europe for its official records ( Summer 2016. This seems interesting for a college essay, but again, idk how much it qualifies as an EC)
-Piano lessons for 6-7 years with multiple recitals at numerous venues including 2 at Carnegie Hall through a program organized by my music school.
My worry is that it will be too late to start with any serious extracurriculars now to get into a top college (i.e Ivy League, Stanford, U. Chicago, Northwestern, UC Berkley, etc.)
I’m trying to see if I can join Model UN after first semester is over, seeing that I already have experience with it from middle school. Also, I’m looking for more internship/job opportunities/community service work over the course of the year and summer vacation. I think my writing is also fairly good, so I’ll be entering into a few essay contest to see if I can pull through with some kind of award.
Thanks for all the help! (and sorry for the long post!)