How to Impress Adcoms with your Extracurriculars

but colleges and ivy’s have changed drastically. their perspective is so different now. Im pretty sure they would say “oh ***, poor guy, spent some bucks in order to send this crap? toss him off” I sound pretty self-destructive, but yeah, that’s what i think. There’s a chance for me or anybody else that could get in, LUCK. there’s a thread about a person who got into a top college, but he/she doesn’t know why. just good grades and stuff, and got into any IVY? i dont remember, but yeah i think so. But very odd, comrade. Harder chances than getting struck by a lightning in Calif (which means also way harder than winning the Lotto)

First off, what grade are you this year?

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<li>finishing in 2 months. so basically im a junior. seems that i have "time" but remember APs sat and sat2's .....</li>
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there you go! you have plenty of time!

your passion for spanish culture is already a great framework - if you expand on it. Engage in Spanish-related activities. Try to get involved in some organizations. Perhaps you could start a club/society of your own?

In other words, try to higglight your passion as much as possible.

everyone has Ap’s and SAT 2’s.
Take those in perspective. Study for them, but don’t eat your heart out if you don’t score as high as you would have liked.

Focus on your EC’s.

Yes, exactly, “focus on your EC’s” I do have, um, about a year and a half from now on. I do have time, but my first desired EC has been unsuccessful. How sad. Now i have cooking. Oh but i can DEMONSTRATE my passion. And i already have done it. How? I promised my counselor that I will bring her a Peruvian traditional dish and I did and she loved it. another 5 points there. She may well explain how i love cooking and that im able to PROVE it not only SAY it. Remember, SHOW NOT TELL.

But im not planning to create a school society/club for my school. So delete that one. I really dont have any other ideas, orrican. If they sound great, I would go for it. I wanted to try the National Spanish exam or something, but I see that they are mostly given in private schools.

Things PLANNED.
*Translator in the OC Red Cross (sent email like 5 months ago, no response. Need to call, but meh. First of all, what the heck. It seems they aren’t interested. That makes me feel i dont want to) So, not really planning to do but basically “planned” if you know what i mean. . .
*Translator for the City? or Mayor as an assistant? Am I dreaming? This I know it’s nearly imposible. Doesn’t even makes sense, i suppose. Ugh.

Tried teaching but the library says doesn’t need such thing. They need teens to start a book club. Meh, not interested.

Now, I don’t know what else…:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:frowning:

maybe you could start a book club - spanish style!
that is to say, start a spanish-reading club or something, and try to integrate that into volunteer work at the library. that would look great, and you’d enjoy it quite a bit at the same time! (that’s my ideology - engage in activities that you enjoy, and that look good all at once)

that sounds awesome, but that’s what I proposed to the local library but they said "they don’t need such stuff at this moment. That’s why im so lost. And other people have so amazing stats… unbelievable how they all do that.

Kevster: How about going to some day care centers and volunteering your time teaching the little kids Spanish a couple afternoons a week?

Cooking–our local parks & rec is always looking for volunteers to teach classes. Perhaps you could share your love of cooking?

It is also important to make a commitment and stick to it. I have been a youth groups leader at my local synagouge for four years now (I am a junior).

My dedication to the youth groups shows admissions officers I am able to make long term commitments.

…But it is great to be involved with many DIFFERENT things, especially if you can link them.

model UN, student body president elect, SADD PR, Blood drive coordinator, youth groups leader, etc. =humanitarian.

well, I will only show 2 year commitment… it won’t be 3 or 4. i will become a junior this year. WORLDSHOPPER, your ideas seems great but i dont know if there are local parks that would accept those. They barely accept any proposal.

Does it make a difference to colleges if the community service was required by the school or voluntary? Not all high schools have a mandatory amount of community service to graduate.

but was is so funny is that the library Decides. They told me they don’t need such thing for the moment. I was like “ummm I wanna do it ma’am.” Still, didnt work. <em>sigh</em>

Say you weren’t active in many clubs your freshman year, but you started getting REALLY active starting from your sophomore year. Is this okay?

of course! you still have 3 years to develop your passion

I have a lot of EC’s that demonstrate my passion… Broadcast Journalism, newspaper intern, Student Government, Model UN, and next year I plan to start Amnesty Int’l at my school.

BUT, for my college essay I plan to write about how getting into SGA my soph. year helped me to become an active member in my school and also to become a leader in various activities and clubs…is that bad? Wouldn’t that be the same thing as “renaming all your EC’s”? I really don’t know how to focus on just one of these EC’s…they’ve all had a really big impact on me.

if you’re just reiterating all your ECs, forget it. but if you write something about what you learned through the process, that might be helpful. maybe you could briefly sum up how all those activities helped you, say, become a good leader and how you learned to manage new responsibilities as a leader and how that changed you.

just my 2 cents there.

Incredible post. Smart. i’ll have to remember that. =]

thanks protege.

Question:
If a HS has stopped weighting H classes in the grade point, but still has the old gpa explanation printed on it’s transcripts, is it okay to have a GC letter accompany the transcripts to explain that? Or would it be okay to write an accompaniment to the transcripts that states what the gpa would have been if weighted?

Thanks for the input.