<p>I am currently a sophomore in high school, and I need to do extracurricular activities because I have not done any sports or special clubs. The real question is: Do you think it will look bad on my resume if I did more of this in junior year and senior year? Almost everyone in my school has done sports or joined debate club.</p>
<p>Very few colleges care if you were involved in ECs or not. What type of schools are you considering?</p>
<p>It’s never “too late” to do ECs and no one ever “needs” to do ECs unless it’s a graduation requirement. Your question is, what should I do to maximize my appeal to colleges, operating on the false assumption that admissions officers can’t distinguish between nominal involvement and actual involvement.</p>
<p>Find something you enjoy doing and do it; participate a lot in it and acquire some responsibilities. That is how to handle ECs.</p>
<p>Thank you guys!! I am considering applying for UCSD, UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UC Davis, and that’s about it that I’m thinking so far, but I really really really want to get into UCSD. It’s going to be very competitive (but now nearly impossible) considering that I have an average GPA of 3.8weighted rt now. I’m gonna work my ass off from now on. </p>
<p>Yeah I’m doing CIT/LIT ids summer and hoping that I can volunteer at one of the UCSD hospitals as a musician…if not maybe I can just try it when I am a junior. </p>
<p>You are right DwightEisenhower. Volunteer work was never a requirement, but I do want to show the colleges that I apply to that I am sincere and I am not just a self-centered student studying at the library all day. I want to show them that I know how to commit myself into long extracurricular activities. It’s just that I didn’t think it was this important until I reached 10th grade. Wow. I’m soo stupid. Anyways, I’m hoping that being in band for 6years counts ?? ehh?? maybe not…</p>
<p>Yes, band counts.</p>
<p>The most important reasons to do ECs is that by doing so, you learn a lot about your own talents and interests, develop your talents, and discover activities that may lead to your career or lifelong hobbies and ways of making friends and business contacts.</p>
<p>I really don’t understand why I always see someone saying on here that very few schools care about ECs. Is that true? Does that just mean that the most selective colleges care about ECs and the rest don’t?</p>
<p>Yes. Only about the top 25 or so really care about the “whole package.” Admission to your local state school or a middle-tier school boils down simply to your course rigor, gpa, and sat scores.</p>
<p>So if there were 2 people: Person #1 had a 3.8 GPA, 2200 SAT, and great ECs and then Person #2 had a 4.0 GPA, 2400 SAT, and no ECs at all, Person #2 would have an advantage over Person #1 at most colleges? (Assuming that both people had the same rigor courseload)</p>
<p>^much, much, much bigger advantage^</p>
<p>sqdwfe13, as NWdivisionCHAMPS already points out, except UCB & UCLA, the rest of UCs are pretty much down to academic. Below is a link of UCSD’s formular, you can easily see the heavy weight of GPA and SAT. UCD used to post a similar formular on its website, now it only shows 80% academic vs 20% non-academic and EC’s is only one of the 9 or 10 non-academic items. </p>
<p>[UC</a> San Diego Comprehensive Review Admission Process: Freshman Selection, Fall 2008](<a href=“http://www.ucsd.edu/prospective-students/admissions/undergraduate-admissions/freshmen/process.html]UC”>http://www.ucsd.edu/prospective-students/admissions/undergraduate-admissions/freshmen/process.html)</p>
<p>[UC</a> Davis: Admission Criteria](<a href=“http://admissions.ucdavis.edu/admissions/fr_selection_process.cfm]UC”>Freshman Application Tips | UC Davis)</p>