<p>i'm a sophomore in high school, and i'm wondering about my chances of getting into the colleges i'm interested in. so far i like the looks of bowdoin, williams, and the university of notre dame.</p>
<ul>
<li>my gpa is about 4.25 and i'm first in my class.</li>
<li>i scored a 2100 on the PSATs and a 31 (i think) on the PLAN test.</li>
<li>i play the clarinet in my school band, where i'm first chair, and i also play with another selective group in my area.</li>
<li>next year i plan to take ap english, ap government, ap bio, and ap calc ab and bc.</li>
<li>i'm involved in several clubs, and i volunteer for about 2 hours a week.</li>
</ul>
<p>any input or suggestions? your advice is appreciated! :]</p>
<p>My advise would be to develop some depth in your ECs. It’s quality, not quantity, so don’t waste time on joining a lot of clubs that you don’t really care about. </p>
<p>Instead (an example): Sounds like you are good at music and play with two bands. That’s ‘entry level.’ Step it up by composing a piece of music, teaching music to new learners, entering competitions, taking on an administrative role with your band or private music group, help a nonprofit that brings music to poor kids, study some issue or problem that your music program is facing and report on it, research the history of your instrument for a class project or taking classes outside in ethnomusicology. I’m not saying you need to do ALL of these things-just think creatively about how to take your level of engagement to the next level. Not only will you enjoy the experience of musicianship more, but you will have something interesting to talk and write about when application time rolls around. </p>
<p>Think about it this way: Adcoms are reading hundreds of apps from kids with comparable grades and test scores who all play an instrument, volunteer for a couple of hours and have joined a few clubs. What can you do that will differentiate youself from the crowd?</p>