There are only two or three things that I spend my time on but looking at a lot of the chance me threads of ivy league applicants, they all do like ten different things. I cant find ten things I like and rather stick to the those three but should I just start doing a bunch of things junior year to show colleges I’m involved?
Quality over quantity — all the time. Just b/c someone says they were the VP of some lame-o club in 9th grade – doesn’t impress anyone. Frankly, after EC 4 or 5, it’s all just fluff to the colleges.
You get to present to them the ones that were most important to you. It’s 100% fine to have blanks.
The predominantly HS kids giving “chances” have little knowledge of how admission works, but create a lot of fear and unrealistic expectations. You’d be far better off ignoring all those threads, including the “chance me and I’ll chance you back!” variant which always give me a laugh; they can’t assess their own chances but they know about yours?
There is no need to be involved in 10 activities, an idea you seem to have picked up from the “chance” threads. In fact that is detrimental! Stanford, for example, says
You can find similar information on the websites of other very selective schools.
Don’t fill your resume with a lot of “fluff” activities. Pursue what you enjoy, and colleges will see that you weren’t just trying to impress them- rather, that you participated in extracurriculars because you actually were interested in them. Don’t try to “force” anything for the college admissions process.
I agree with everyone above. Those 3 activities could show a lot of passion to what you’d like to major in compared to 10 activities the chance threads have that show that probably only 1 of those activities that show their passion.
Bingo. There is no “right” number. For a recruited athlete, the answer is “one.”
Also 3 activities may be more than 3 activities…like if you play the trumpet, you may be in Marching Band, Concert Band, Jazz Band, Pep Band and Orchestra for the School Musical.
Also check out “How to be a High School Superstar” by Cal Newport.
“The basic message of the book is this: Don’t wear yourself out taking as many classes as you can and being involved in every club and sport. Instead, leave yourself enough free time to explore your interests. Cultivate one interest and make it into something special that will make you stand out among the other applicants and get you into the toughest schools, even if your grades and scores aren’t stellar. Newport calls this the “relaxed superstar approach,” and he shows you how to really do this, breaking the process down into three principles, explained and illustrated with real life examples of students who got into top schools: (1) underscheduling—making sure you have copious amounts of free time to pursue interesting things, (2) focusing on one or two pursuits instead of trying to be a “jack of all trades,” and (3) innovation—developing an interesting and important activity or project in your area of interest. This fruit yielded by this strategy, an interesting life and real, meaningful achievements, is sure to help not only with college admissions, but getting a job, starting a business, or whatever your goals.”
http://www.examiner.com/review/be-a-relaxed-high-school-superstar
No, don’t worry. Especially if you’re a rising junior, starting a bunch of new activities in the last full year before applications just looks like you’re trying to pad your resume. Keep doing what you’re doing and look for ways to show exceptional achievement in them, if possible.