<p>I am currently a college Freshman who is planning on transferring next year. I am well aware that in high school the extra curricular activities are considered to be very important, but is there as much emphasis placed on extra involvement in college? I am joining as many clubs as possible, but to be honest I don't really like a few of them, and I am only there because I think of the transfer application. I will stay in all of them if I feel that it will strengthen my application by a considerable margin. </p>
<p>I am wondering the same thing, and would also like to add - is leadership a factor like it was in HS? Because freshman generally don't get elected Pres/VP/Secretary or anything in activities open to everyone. I know that in the 3 clubs I joined, within the first week, seniors/juniors who had been in the clubs for years were elected officers, and freshman like me were brand new members, ineligible to run. Freshman only get elected for stuff like Freshman Student Council, and other clubs which are freshman only. Is 3 clubs enough? I do genuinally like them and am active in them, but definitely not a 'leader'.</p>
<p>I don't get it; wouldn't a junior (who's been in college for 2 years) be expected to be more active in clubs/extracurricus than a soph transfer who's only had 1 yr in college?</p>
<p>well my opinion of this is it does seem kinda unreasonable to expect a freshman to be a vp and president of clubs, so im guessing as a sophmore transfer, what you have done in HS still has some weight. Maybe someone who has been through the process can give us some clues about it too. I still think your GPA in college and your HS achievements have some major influences on whether you get accepted</p>
<p>although it varies a bit from institution to institution, schools will place a pretty heavy emphasis on your ec's</p>
<p>this being said</p>
<p>i'm sure they understand if your not president of 5 different clubs after your first year...HOWEVER, your involvement and commitment to your ec's are vital...if youre just joining a group for the sake of putting it on your recs., admins are pretty good at seeing through that...</p>
<p>but how are they good at seeing it? I remember on my hs app, there was a section on my common app where I basically listed my extracurrics, plus the leaderships positions next to them, plus how much time you spent. there was a teensy section where we briefly described one extracurric. I joined 3 clubs I'm active in, but how do they know that? I'm not planning on making my essay about them. Anyone could just type 1-2 hrs weekly for each activity and make crap up.</p>
<p>if somebody lists that they are in 5 clubs and participate 1-2 hrs a week without any kind of leadership position, they would see through that i think</p>
<p>the "fillers" in your ec list (clubs you participate 1-2 hrs week, no leadership position) i don't think colleges view in high regards...clubs in which you are genuinely invested in, putting in 3-4 hrs+ a week, even without a leadership position (although they are nice), are much more meaningful to them, i think...it sounds corny, but quality not quantity</p>
<p>i think your saying you should have meaningful contribution in your EC's instead of the typical how many hour and stuff ~ right if im understanding this correctly. That makes sense.</p>
<p>No, what I said was correct. What were ECs in high school may be school activities, so it is difficult at best for colleges to weigh them for each applicant (especially for performing arts majors).</p>
<p>They were very important for me, but I'm at a small liberal arts college where the individual matters a lot more than grades and scores. (Not that grades aren't important, of course.) I think it really depends on the school and what they look for.</p>
<p>On CB's website, if you look up each college's admissions criteria, it tells you how much each aspect is weighed. You can generally consider the first-year admit criteria to be similar to what they're looking for from transfer applicants.</p>