So, as of now, I think my extracurriculars are the weakest point of my application.
The major ones include being a representative of my grade since 6th grade on student council, starting an art club, and being on the Math Counts team last year (and probably this year).
The minor ones include recreationally teaching myself art, guitar, piano, and code. I joined the Robotics team this year (usually only for high schoolers) and have a personal project for improving productivity in students. It’s not very good though.
I think schools will notice if you all of a sudden start a bunch of new ECs in December and be a bit suspicious. You need to make the best of what you have. Why are your ECs light? Does your school not have ECs or your parents can’t afford to sign you up for things? Have you not found something you are really into? Does one of the ECs take a lot of time but not sound impressive? Those are things you can write about in an essay.
Eg
“Why everyone makes fun of my intense love of pie baking and why I don’t care!”
@one1ofeach My school just doesn’t have many extracurriculars and the ones that we do have are oriented towards high schoolers. Middle schoolers are given training positions. Typically, middle schoolers aren’t even allowed to start clubs, but I just happened to be given that opportunity. Do you have any suggestions as to how I can add this into my essay without sounding like I’m making excuses?
I would have your parents write about it in the “why does your kid want to come to our school” type essay. Or you can talk about how excited you are for ECs because in your current school middle schoolers are kept out of them in favor of the high schoolers.
I am going to answer your question somewhat indirectly.
Have you ever listened to an NPR story? They start out talking about something totally random. Like “coming up next, the mating habits of the spotted owl are leaving scientists baffled.” And I’m thinking: oh gosh what a bore. I have zero interest in owls. But before I have a chance to turn off the radio, the story begins. And two sentences in, I’m pulled in. I’m interested. I care because THEY CARE enough to find the sizzle; to find the magic. To tell me why this matters.
That is your task now.
Don’t change the owl story to find a more “interesting topic.”
Find the sizzle. Find the magic. Make US care. Draw us in. Not by being fake about it, but by leaning deep into your story.
It’s not about the owls. It’s about what the owls have done to change you.
I PROMISE YOU the magic is there. If we could sit down over coffee for an hour to talk just about you, the magic would make itself known. But we can’t. So find someone who can do that with you. Or just journal and write it all out until you get to the magic.
@Calliemomofgirls Maybe I’m too emotional, but I think I almost cried reading this answer. Thank you so much. At this point, even a bit of genuine encouragement that I might have a chance if I work this through is everything to me. I think I’ll be doing a lot of self-reflection in a journal tonight. Ahahha sorry if I’m being too much just let me know
@mondaydevil i love that we get to share this journey. You aren’t too much at all. You are just what the world needs.
And YES on the self-reflection!
By the end of this process you will know yourself so much more and you will discover your brilliance (and it won’t be about scores or grades). Which is really the biggest gift of this whole strange season IMO.
Always in your corner over here…
I think the value of extracurriculars for boarding school may be overrated on this board. Yes you need to be able to tell a story of who you are and what you likee to do, but being on student council, starting an arts club and being on the Mathcounts team is totally fine extracurricular activity for a middle schooler. Most boarding schools require you to take sports so you should think if there are any you would be interested in that you may have played in the past or always wanted to try to talk about. But otherwise, just talk about the things you like to do and you’ll be fine. Boarding school is not like college, they don’t want to have all these pointy kids that are excellent at one thing, they need kids who are interested in trying a bunch of different things and willing to be exposed to a lot of new stuff. If you come across as likable, you will be totally fine, no need to apologize for not having more impressive extracurriculars. Honestly the really pointy kids are a double edge sword for the boarding schools anyway, because they typically want and need to pursue their ECs outside of school in addition to being on the BS team so are off campus for large chunks of the time. So while the schools want them they also want a lot of kids who just want to get involved in stuff on campus, and try a lot of different things.