Hi. I know this has been done to death but i want to make sure that when I apply to top schools I can say that I have no regrets. So far I think my slightly weak point is extracurriculars. Before anyone says anything, I am NOT resume building and am following the things I love to do. But I want anyone’s advice for how to build on these things and go deeper to make me a more competitive for top schools.
Here goes:
My 5 areas of interest are debate, writing, political activism, theater, and community service.
Debate
4 years on school team
Secretary Junior Year
Captain Senior Year
2-Time County Award Winner (very competitive county)
Will get a rec from my debate coach who I think can speak to my dedication to the team. Probably spend on average 5hrs/ week on this from September to February if you include time spent at tournaments
Theater
4 years in some sort of theater activity
Freshman Year-Tech Crew
Sophomore Year-Lead role in school production, lead role in community theater film production (theater took up to 14 hrs/ a week at one point in the season)
Jr Yr and Sr Year- more involvement (as yet unsure of specifics)
Writing
Attend writing camp every year since 9th (it’s a paid camp which ik doesn’t help w admissions but at least it demonstrates sincere passion)
Honorable Mention for Poetry from Scholastic Art and Writing
Published in school literary magazines and one local literary magazine
Published many political articles in school newspaper
Writer for national publication “The Progressive Teen”
Won award in school wide writing contest
Summer after 10th, did a leadership program where I created a camp for low income kids to learn creative writing (about 4 weeks during the summer, lots of planning throughout the year)
Political Activism
4 years, Feminism Club, Leadership Jr & Sr Year
Wrote and performed an original full length play to raise money for the club
Contributed political cartoons to art magazines for the club
Direct advocacy with the government (working on this)
A selective social justice “program” I was accepted to which focuses on cross cultural engagement (summer after 11)
Community Service
Volunteer at a nursing home once a month since 9th grade. Might actually get a leadership role at the nursing home
What are your thoughts? I feel like Brown and Yale attract the writers actors and activists in spades and I’m worried I won’t be able to stand out. I know it’s sort of futile, but help?
A possible approach is to combine two or more of your interests into an initiative so that it stands out and differentiates from single-interest ECs. For example, “write” a play that is about “political activism” and put it into some form of “theater” production to yield impacts on a group of stakeholders or your local community.
@prof2dad makes a good suggestion in terms of creating an application that stands out, provided you can pull it off in a way that does not seem contrived. It would make a great essay and interview topic. As a Yale alum interviewer, we are given certain guidelines in the way we evaluate candidates. I assume that these are consistent with the way Admissions views applications. Yale interviewers are not given a resume and have no idea of grades and test scores. We do have a note about the applicant’s academic interest if they had indicated one in their application. Therefore the focus is on interests and EC’s (at least for my interviews). I am not an AO, but FWIW, in terms of EC’s and based on the Yale guidelines, what I look for is depth and quality of participation. Attributes of depth and quality I look for include leadership, role and responsibilities, time commitment, history of interest and achievements. I am always wary of applicants that list a huge number of EC’s, and it becomes clear that they are all resume fodder because of the applicant’s inability to articulate meaningful examples of personal contribution. Trying to build an EC resume based on what you think a school is looking for is totally the wrong strategy. Schools don’t care what your EC’s are (other than if you are a recruited athlete or some music, art, or science prodigy), they care about the quality of the participation.
that’s interesting you said that, I feel like in a sense I have sort of done that by writing a play and then performing it at a political activism fundraiser
I agree with @prof2dad. Maybe arrange for your theater group to perform a play for the seniors? Maybe do a play that includes senior roles that some of the residents could participate in, or do the music for?
I’d say don’t worry about what Yale thinks, and just pursue the ec’s you enjoy doing. MIT offers great advice on ec’s and admissions that I think would apply to Yale - http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways
My oldest daughter had similar interests as your’s (except no debate) and she did not really join high school clubs, seek or hold formal leadership positions or log community service hours. Theater and school kept her pretty busy. She’s now at Brown.
