<p>With regard to what you said about environmental club and pre-med club and Latin and Spanish clubs: DD is being painted to sound so rigid in her thinking as to be unable to collaborate effectively with others. Instead, she is said to withdraw to solitude and textbooks in the library. There, I gather, she maintains total control. She does not have to worry that people near her might eat meat or might have an interest in, or belief about, an aspect of science, or life, different from her own.</p>
<p>How is she going to get on at a liberal arts college, where she will be in close proximity to people whose views and activities are diametrically opposed to her own?</p>
<p>To my mind, the big question here about DD, as painted here, is whether she can get along effectively with others. My suggestion is for an essay that would reveal that she can and does get on well. That she can and does have a life connected to peers.</p>
<p>With regard to her upcoming senior year: I suggest that she start to participate in some clubs and ECs. As a member of the Spanish club, what is so wrong with attending an event and not eating meat? What about educating people about her vegan views, and advocating for vegan events? </p>
<p>With regard to the environmental club: it is perhaps unfortunate that her particular interests in science do not mesh perfectly with the interests being pursued there, but I strongly suspect she can learn something from being in the club and working with others anyways. Maybe she can advocate for a direction to the club that she finds more appropriate. Maybe she can bring her textbook knowledge to bear in a way that educates and inspires others.</p>
<p>This is real life, as I see it anyways: one should not just take one’s marbles and go home (or to the library) if a club’s plans or activities don’t mesh perfectly eye-to-eye with one’s own. Instead, one works with others, rather than withdrawing from them in seeming self-righteous disgust.</p>