<p>Hi guys! I know that some of you have seen my EC threads numerous times, but I promise this is the last one I'm going to do for a long while. I think I've finally figured out what I want to do in the remaining three years of my high school, so please tell me what you think!</p>
<p>Alright so freshman year was essentially me just sticking to three clubs and just getting a feel for high school.</p>
<p>Freshman:
-Mock Trial (president; named "Most Effective Attorney" at regional competition)
-Debate (VP)
-Programming club (2nd place in programming competition)
-Pre-college piano program with a local university</p>
<p>Sophomore:
-Mock Trial (continued presidency)
-Debate (continued VP)
-Pre-college piano program with a local university
(Programming club is disbanded since our teacher/sponsor essentially left)
-Research (at the same local university)
-Mu Alpha Theta
-Swimming</p>
<p>Junior:
-Mock Trial (might lose leadership due to school change)
-Debate (same as MT)
-Piano
-Research
-Mu Alpha Theta
-Will found a science oriented newspaper/magazine if it doesn't already exist; if it exists, will join it
-Swimming
Senior:
Same as junior</p>
<p>As for awards, those are purely speculation, so I'm not going to include them here. I do, however, expect to be published at least once.
So, any thoughts/comments? Any amendments you think I should make?</p>
<p>Just do what you love…and you don’t need to plan out you’re EC’s beyond sophomore year…Trust me…you probably won’t stick to your list and you’ll find different things</p>
<p>If you don’t mind, what EC’s are you doing?</p>
<p>I agree with the whole showing focus thing, but I also like having the security of what my peers are doing. I guess I’ll just have to trust Cal Newport’s advice and see where it leads me lol</p>
<p>Freshman year I didn’t do much…:
Quizbowl (JV captain)
Art club
Volunteer at local library</p>
<p>My plan for soph year-</p>
<p>Clubs:
Quizbowl (probably just varsity member)
Model Congress or MUN
Political activism club
Art magazine
Art ‘director’ of the technical theater club (managing set design twice a year)</p>
<p>Volunteer:
KIVA club
Community service to promote the arts
Raising funds to build a school in rural China (over the summer)</p>
<p>Honor societies (hopefully… :D):
Art honor society
Science honor society
NHS</p>
<p>It’s quite a lot, and I expect to quit a few I don’t like during the year. As for junior and senior year, it’s not set in stone, but it should be something along the lines of the sophomore year list. And I’m hoping to pick up an economics research internship junior year, but that might be hard in my area.</p>
<p>And how was quiz bowl? Like, is it mostly just trivia or what? I’m actually interested in it and might join.</p>
<p>Do you think my EC’s show focus and well-roundedness at the same time? I’m trying to show that I’m really interested in science (research, USABO, USNCO, science magazine, etc.) but I can also do things that are not in my area of focus, such as piano, mock trial, debate, and mathematics.</p>
<p>AND can you found an honor society if it doesn’t exist in your school? Like, if the SHS doesn’t exist in your school, could you found a local chapter?</p>
<p>EDIT: After I’ve finished my prep for USABO and USNCO, I might join Science Bowl if I feel like it. I could essentially cover the fields of bio and chem pretty well for my team.</p>
<p>You should definitely join quiz bowl! It’s actually not the kind of trivia you would expect- most questions are not random at all. There are certain canons to follow, and there are a lot of topics that come up quite frequently. People can actually get really good by studying. Also, if there is a team at your school, you could specialize in science. For example, everyone on my team has a different ‘focus’, and that makes us more knowledgable together. You could also join local tournaments that only ask questions in that subject- I have participated in a couple in the humanities and history. I find it fun enough, but it depends on how much you know- getting good grades doesn’t necessarily mean a person would be a good player.</p>
<p>I think your EC’s do show focus- the science magazine, research, and the competitions you are going to try for cover that pretty well. And the mock trial, debate, and piano are kind of impressive and set you apart. </p>
<p>I don’t know about the honor society thing- maybe post another thread. I kind of want to know about that too- my school has no honor society for social studies.</p>
<p>And yes, I love economics, history, and art, and have a passing interest in politics. I think my EC’s demonstrate that pretty well.</p>
<p>Also, are you from an international school?</p>
<p>Paintallthestuff explained quizbowl better than I ever could, and though most teams specialize, there are a few “juggernaut led” teams where one person generally dominates.
And the good grades thing is spot on, just because a person has straight A’s, doesn’t mean they’ll be good at quizbowl. Quizbowl isn’t about memorizing lessons that the teacher gave you, it’s about knowledge.</p>
<p>It looks better because you are not do a million ECs just for the sake of ECs. But just do what you enjoy and don’t worry about college. Speaking as somebody who has a lot of ECs, you will be miserable if you don’t love everything (going into sophomore year I quite several ECs, it was the best choice I could have made).</p>
<p>No, I’m not from an international school. Small, noncompetitive public school FTW. I’m planning to go to my state’s mathematics and science academy when I’m eligible, though. My state is relatively noncompetitive LOL</p>
<p>As for quiz bowl, I’m gonna give it a shot and try to specialize in bio and chem. If that doesn’t work out, I’ll just try for science bowl.</p>
<p>Yeah, I realized that doing EC’s simply to show that I can is a bit impractical LOL</p>
<p>Also, are there any amendments/additions you think I should make?</p>
<p>A: looking at lists
B: looking at old packets (or online Quizbowl games like protobowl)
C: Wikipedia Browsing
D: Legitimate Reading/Textbooks/AP Review Guides</p>
<p>Frequency lists, though I’m not sure if those exist for the sciences. NAQT has a section on their website with ‘You Gotta Know’ lists- each one is a category with a summary of the ten most frequent topics. I would start there. Also, look through your textbooks and study the things in the glossary/index- basically, try your best to turn into a walking encyclopedia.</p>
<p>[Quizbowl</a> DB](<a href=“http://www.quizbowldb.com%5DQuizbowl”>http://www.quizbowldb.com)
This is a really good practice site. You can look up topics in the search section, and ‘practice’ selects questions from packets and lets you play with them- you can choose the subject and level of difficulty. It crashes a lot, though, and I don’t think the buzz button works yet.</p>
<p>Also, one of the links I sent you before includes a ‘how to improve as a player’ section.</p>
<p>Your list looks pretty good, and shows continuing interest in debate. But how did you get a Presidency and a Vice Presidency in your freshman year? Are you a debate prodigy, or were the clubs just in their nascent stage? Because in my school, top leadership positions are only available to seniors, sometimes juniors.</p>
<p>Yeah, your Mock Trial presidency makes me feel lame. At my school only a senior can be captain (we don’t do president lmao) and there is no equivalent of a vice president. On top of that, during junior year, the coaches pretty much pick out who the next captain will be. I’m kinda just hoping that I’ll be chosen… but we kinda never really know.</p>