I’m a 9th grader at a private school which is far from my house. I have to take the bus early in the morning and get home at 6:30. I had to drop my tennis classes because of this and currently have no extracurriculars. I am really worried about my future and college admissions. Everyone around me talks about what they have after school which causes me to become anxious. I have clubs at my school, but I feel like it is not enough. What should I do to have extracurriculars?
Other than tennis, what have you being doing extracurriculum-wise? What do you enjoy doing? Can you do sports through your school? Why do you think school clubs are not enough?
How about a weekend job or volunteer work? ECs don’t all have to be through the school.
Tennis is in the spring and the other sports don’t follow my passion for tennis. School clubs don’t feel enough for me because I feel more involved when I do things outside of school.
You’re right, but don’t you have to be a certain age to have a weekend job? I’m only 14.
School clubs are fine ECs, especially if you take on leadership roles down the line. Give it time – you have just started HS.
Also you can volunteer on weekends – think of things that pique your interest. Some ideas are a library, a soup kitchen, with your religious community, a retirement home…the list is limited only by your interest and imagination. As one concrete example, my S volunteered to help teach swimming to disabled children and adults every Saturday while he was in HS (he enjoyed swimming but didn’t want to compete and this was a truly satisfying volunteer position for him).
Are you artistic or literary? All that time on the bus could be spent writing or working on a sketchbook.
Are there any clubs at school that meet at lunch? If not, could you form one?
Look for community groups that meet at night or on the weekend.
Do you belong to a house of worship? You could help with religous school or join the choir or run the A/V or start up a back pack program that provides weekend food to kids who are on free lunch program.
Read this for ideas:
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
If a college wants to see how you engage, they want to see this (and the value in the choices you make.) If they want to see how you resolve a problem like this, you’ll need to find ways. We can’t tell you it’s not important. And if you can’t see the ways, maybe you alter your targets to those which primarily want stats. Not look for ways to lean back.
Are you taking a city bus? Can you take a later bus?
How long is your bus ride to school and then home? Are you able to read on the bus - or do your homework?
Colleges do see an afterschool job as an EC, and they also view/respect caring for younger siblings / elderly relatives as an EC - they won’t fault any kid whose family situation does not permit them the same opportunities as other kids might be privileged to have.
Things like this can be addressed in an essay/personal statement, or a GC rec letter.
OP hasn’t said he’s underprivileged. Only that it’s a long commute to the private school and he dropped tennis class. There’s still much he could do, as happy1 pointed out.
Many private schools build ECs into the curriculum by requiring gym class be completed by participating in a school sport or that arts be completed by being involved in a performance art.
What does your school require outside of 5 core academic classes?
We also have art and pe which build into ECs, but I’m not the artistic person.
The bus ride is an hour long. Although the colleges do understand, I still want to feel like a stronger applicant.
This is the bus from the school.
Are there any clubs at school that meet at lunch? If not, could you form one?
Look for community groups that meet at night or on the weekend.
Do you belong to a house of worship? You could help with religous school or join the choir or run the A/V or start up a back pack program that provides weekend food to kids who are on free lunch program.