Importance of Extracurriculars?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - San Diego
1

<p>I'm currently a junior in HS (in-state, 3.95 UW GPA, 4.16 W GPA) and I'm worried that my EC's aren't good enough for a school like UCSD (my dream college). I've heard that you need to be well-rounded in EC's but also that you need to focus on math and science-related ones; which is true?</p>

<p>My EC's:
-CSF (10, 11)
-Speech and Debate (9, 11), placed at a few tournaments.
-Tutoring at the school library (11)
-Volunteering at the local public library (starting next month)
-Volunteer web designing for non-profit organizations (11)
-Webmaster for my parents' online apparel sales (10, 11)
-Planning on freelance web design work over summer</p>

<p>What more would I need to improve my chances?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>UCs prefer quality over quantity and the longer you do something, the better it looks.</p>

<p>I’d say to just focus on the ones you have right now and don’t try to spread yourself too much.</p>

3

<p>I was severely lacking when it came to extracurriculars; I literally had about 20ish community service hours, band for 2 years, and martial arts for 1 year, but I was still admitted. I did have a pretty good academic record, but that was pretty much it. </p>

<p>My advice is just to focus on academics and keep doing what you are doing.</p>

4

<p>^ I had some community service and nothing else :stuck_out_tongue: got in just fine. I did have a stellar GPA though.</p>

<p>UCSD is changing to a more holistic system - I don’t think anyone knows exactly what to expect for the next few years.</p>

5

<p>uc’s would most likely want to see commitment and consistency in your ec’s. this would signal that you a person who knows what they want and are not indecisive. if you do many extra curriculars but dont stick to them, it may not look as good as doing a few but for long term.</p>

6

<p>oh and i thought that my EC’s seemed awesome that’s why I got admitted :stuck_out_tongue:
lolz, my EC’s were pretty much senior year [1 was junior year, and Sanskrit was from sophomore year], but i guess it depends on each student. </p>

<p>For me, i had 1) self learning Sanskrit; 2) HAL: Physics Club; 3) Robotics; 4) Poetry [was a branch of the large whole club, 5) Indian Club!!</p>

<p>In my opinion, i think that your EC’s tell more about you. I mean, when I was deciding my EC’s I had to rethink each EC over, and I kept changing them, because it didn’t give me the look I wanted.</p>

<p>Here I was, outstanding GPA, many AP classes, Average SAT score/SAT II, ELC status, major: Pharm. Chemistry. </p>

<p>If your EC’s show that you are continuous, it shows passion, dedication, and stuff like that. </p>

<p>For me, on the other hand, since all my E.C’s were fairly recent, it shows that the person is changing [positively speaking. One can note that “self learn Sanskrit” might show how lonesome he is, and Indian Club seems to be of only his “kind”, but senior year, hmm we have various clubs, interesting…]</p>

<p>To wrap things up, this is your “profile” and the entire point is to make those admission officers open their eyes at the site of your application and be like “Wow”,
Yes many of your EC’s will be outstandingly awesome, yet at the same time many people will have the same thing. One thing I love OT mention is Nation Honors Society. Yes that is a great org. and yes it would be awesome to be a part, but I never took interest, and I never joined. I could have joined for the sake of putting it on my app, but then i thought of all those people in NHS, they will most likely put NHS on their app, so that’s one less difference b/w me and them. They used up one spot with NHS, I still have one slot open for something that I think might be better NHS.</p>

<p>This isn’t to lead you astray or anything and start crossing off all the popular orgs/clubs you have. But I’m just saying, if you think that you have something better than one of your orgs, that will make you stand out even more, you go with that one.</p>

<p>So i think, [god dammit, i have a habit of writing long posts on CC] I think that the best thing for you to do is focus on the E.C.'s that make you stand out. That show who YOU are, who YOU want to be. If you want to major in Chem. then yes I think that it would be nice to have some Chem related E.C., but does it matter: Not if you think it doesn’t. </p>

<p>And that is the answer to your question, It doesn’t matter what E.C’s you put as long as you think that they have some significance to them.</p>

<p>[with that said, don’t fake E.C.'s or join them for the sake of it. That’s just mean. Make them genuine :slight_smile: and yes, I did get into UCSD :)]</p>