<p>I've seen tons of well-qualified, 2250+ SAT/33+ ACT, 4.0 UW students that seem to be trying to take over the world through their ECs on CC, but I almost never see someone else working 2-4 hour shifts per day at the local restaurant or department store. Or more physical labor, like farming, lobster potting, etc.</p>
<p>I'm wondering how all of you are balanced. If I were a college admissions dean, someone who holds "menial" jobs and deals with that work-related stress (those of you with jobs know what I'm talking about) to pay for college, who therefore doesn't get to spend the summers at science camps and whatnot, would just as high on the totem pole as the other kids. </p>
<p>I guess I'm biased, seeing as I work a 40+ hour week in the summer and a 20-30 hour week during the school year, and still have managed over 740 hours of community service. That makes keeping a 4.0 (or even the 3.8 I have now) and managing the various clubs in our school extremely difficult. It would've been nice to fly out to the coasts for some summer academies, research facilities, and other similar ventures, but I got to spend my summers working at the local burger chain (not McDonald's thank goodness) and on my grandparents' farm.</p>
<p>Do the rest of you try to do the same balancing, or do you tend to learn toward one area of the trio?</p>
<p>i have community serivce and soccer and other EC's every day. I'm trying to find a job which takes up about 1 hour each day right after soccer and then i go home and eat and shower and then i have online course and then i do school's homework, by the end of all this chaos i go to sleep around 12 to 1 AM</p>
<p>Well, I am a Sophmore currently, but I can still feel some of your pain (however legally I don't think I can work forty hours like you can xD). </p>
<p>There is a grove in the back of our school ('inherited' to us when our fellow Agriscience community didn't want it), which I maintain with another girl. I am only 5'2.5 and weight 110 pounds while she is just a few inches taller and we literally do most of the work ourselves (except on some rare occassions). FFA takes up a lot of my time after school with meetings and such. There's also German Honor Society where we just had a new German teacher take over and trying to run everything by himself which it seems I'm trying to help him with no one else will. Those are really my only clubs I actively participate in at school, so it's nothing absolutely crazy. Though I could be out of my mind since I want to start my own club next year. </p>
<p>Outside of school I participate in a Pet Adoption Rescue Organization that literally takes all of Saturday and Sunday out of my 'free time'. I have 500+ hours since the start of ninth grade, excluding summers. I also have 300+ from various other volunteer events >_< I work at my Cousin's Funeral Home in the summer time, so I have little room for summer camps as well.. </p>
<p>I have an incredibly hard time balancing things, especially since I have been in the hospital sparatically for abdomen pain and other symptoms that destroys my ability to function regularly at times. My GPA fell from a 3.8 to a 3.77 (not much, I know). It absolutely blows my mind how people have 4.0's, but then again they participate in minimal things and are going to summer activities you speak of. If I lean anywhere, its toward my school Extracurriculars because they are things that I can focus on at school, and Community Service takes the backburner. When summer comes, Job takes over and Community Service still falls short for me.</p>
<p>I truly believe that if you have a decent GPA and a good SAT score, but are unique and can show that, then there is no reason to be perfect. The Admissions are going to do a double take when they see something such as 'farming' on someones resume, because its more likely they see the same summer programs over and over again.</p>
<p>^^Hey, I'm in soccer too! Soccer season runs 12+ hours/week, so that only adds more. :/</p>
<p>^It definitely helps that some parents can afford to pay for so much of their child's education, or are willing to pay for it. Even though my parents make ~$110 grand/year, they're investing up to $2 grand, and the rest is up to me. Since our family is over that $50-60 grand threshold where you get huge bucks from financial aid, I've had to save for college since 7th grade.</p>
<p>Also, since the farm is my family's, I can work however many hours I want legally. I did 35 during 5th and 6th grade, and only started getting paid the summer before 7th. It's LOADS of fun ><</p>
<p>I'm pretty balanced...I spend 10 hours a week at my job, 10 hours a week at ECs, and (weakness) 4 hours at community service.</p>
<p>I don't do my job for college admissions-it's my spending money for next year IN college....</p>
<p>I wouldn't hate on the summer college programs either-a lot of people aren't necessarily as rich as you believe. When I went to one, 2 out of my 4 good friends were on a private scholarship and a stipend...so yeah</p>
<p>Well I think ECs and Community Service have more weight than a job unless the job is at a corporation.</p>
<p>ie. Adcoms will be impressed with a student working at a Computer company or a Lab Test company but, they don't care about McDonalds or Burger King.</p>