So I’ve been going through high school so far taking the best classes I can for college, but I haven’t really focused on EC’s for college. I do have a lot of EC’s so far (currently a sophomore) but none of them I signed up for with the intention of impressing colleges. My current EC’s (and ones I already joined in advance for next year) are:
-Swim Team (9-10, almost definitely 11-12)
-Debate club
-Chess club
-ASSIST wearable devices challenge at NCSU (team project to make a working prototype of a health monitoring device and compete at NCSU in April)
-FIRST robotics (joined in advance for next year, didn’t know my school had a connection to it until last week)
-Part time job at Chick fil a
-learning to program/code in my free time
-signing up for internship at cisco
-Unofficial soccer games (tried out for school team as goalie, burned hand at work 2 days before tryouts, still tried out, skin fell off hand at last tryout day, didn’t make team)
-Animal cruelty service project
So when I realized colleges require a lot of EC’s, I was glad that I already had a lot that I had done out of pure passion. But then I looked at a bunch of other peoples EC’s under the chance me section and saw few things I didn’t have. Volunteer hours I expected and I’m going to join NHS and have this animal cruelty thing that I’d been planning with my group for a while, but then I also saw the words “leader” and “starter” and “first chair” in front of a lot of club names and group names. I started learning to swim (not just float and move in the water) 1 month before joining the team and just barely made the team, so I’m definitely not going to be captain in any way by senior year. I joined the debate club a few months ago so I have a small chance of ever leading the meetings. I’m new to robotics so I won’t be a captain. If I decide to try out for soccer again I almost definitely won’t be captain since I haven’t been on the team for a single year so far. Probably won’t be a manager at chick fil a on account of me trying to get a job at Best Buy. How am I supposed to get any “leadership” things on my application? Sure I could start a club but there aren’t a lot of clubs my school doesn’t already have.
So basically what I want to know is what are my chances at getting into a top tier university if I don’t have any “leadership” roles on my application? What are some things I can still do to get leadership roles before I graduate?
nowadays it’s really hard to predict whether your ECs, stats, gpa can get you into a specific school/group
what’s your ethnicity ? family income ? socioeconomic status ? first generation ?
all I can say is that you are clearly a driven person and will do fine WHEREVER you go
you’ve done the best you can and plus you’re only a sophomore
best wishes
Which of your ECs do you enjoy the most? Spend the most time on?
Here’s what impressed me just now as a lifelong swimmer - that you only learned to really swim one month before you joined the team and there you are doing it with everyone. That shows persistence, courage and a lot about your character. Your ECs will be unique to you and tell a story about who you are. Just keep being brave and doing ECs that interest you and then articulate them well in your essays and descriptions in your applications.
meb1meb1
Thank you so much for that! Aside from one or two people on the team, only the coach knows my swimming experience, so no one other than him has ever really complemented me as a swimmer.
Quality > quantity
You are halfway through year 2 of 4. You don’t need to add more things- you need to figure out which ones mean something to you and do those with conviction.
You write off leadership roles in several areas (I’m the newest / I won’t be the best / etc)- but the people who get into tippy tops don’t do that : they put their back into the things that matter to them and do the best they can. And mostly they don’t do it to tick a box on a college application- they do it because that is how they are hard-wired.
Read these two MIT admissions blogs;
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/there_is_no_formula
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways
ps, I don’t know how it works at your school, but for one of my collegekids swim-teams, it wasn’t the star swimmer who was the captain- it was a decidedly low-average swimmer - who was a great team builder.
ChezCurie
Currently, swimming is my favorite even though it is the one I have the least experience with. I am planning on working out at a local gym once I turn 16 (age requirement for going to that gym) and go to the swimming center that is across the street from that gym during the insanely long off season.
Coming from a sophomore with way less ECs, you do have the opportunity to become a leader. I still am in the search for ECs, and about FIRST Robotics. This year was my first year, and guess what? Next year, I get to become one of the leaders. You never know just put in your best effort, and there will be an unsuspected outcome.
mindlesscat01
My stats/gpa are great (top of my class right now) and as for my household income/economic status, it is… low enough to get financial aid literally anywhere 
. I am a Muslim (born in America, dad immigrated) and I have 2 older brothers, one of which recently graduated college and works at CISCO, and another in his last year of college working as a financial advisor at Wells Fargo (for now). Most forms I’ve filled out usually don’t ask for religion and for race/ethnicity they don’t have a muslim/arab section, or just say to put ‘white’ if I’m of middle eastern descent. The managers at chick fil a didn’t even realize I wasn’t white christian until I said “no bacon on my salad” :)) . Other than all that (economic, ethnic, first gen.) stuff, what other non school factors do they take into account?
goneaway
Congrats on getting to be a leader in robotics. How much do you enjoy FIRST robotics? Is it well worth the admission fee and time commitment?
fwiw, there are plenty of white christians who don’t want bacon on their salad…
collegemom3717
If i had a dollar for every time a non-muslim asked me for no bacon on their cobb salad, I’d actually have enough money to buy a chick fil a salad!
If you’re most interested in swimming, pursue swimming. I think it’s a great idea to workout in addition to what the swim team requires. Maybe talk to the coach and see what he/she suggests. Plus, I bet there are plenty of blogs/suggested workouts available on line that you could follow. As both @collegemom3717 and @goneaway have suggested, being new to swimming doesn’t preclude you from a leadership role–especially since it seems like you have a fun sense of humor.
Also, maybe you could look for non-competitive swimming opportunities, like teaching kids to swim since you’ve recently taught yourself. Between teaching yourself to swim (and making the swim team!) and working at Chick Fil A, I think you’ll have some interesting experiences to write about for your essays.
Right now, the activities I see as most interesting are
- job - lots of experience and stories to tell
- ASSIST challenge - help your team compete and perhaps win, stick it out
- swimming : unique story + to be captain you don’t have to be the star swimmer, you have to build team spirit. Is that something you can see yourself do?
Add a couple more from your list (1-2) and try to make your mark or have a positive impact through them.
Quality matters WAY more than quantity.