<p>I'm concerned that I don't have enough EC involvement to be competitive at top-tier colleges. The summer after my sophomore year, I enrolled as a part-time student at a local, private, reputable university. I've taken between 4 and 7 credit hours each semester in addition to my high school classes. I did all of my college work independent of my high school work, and I didn't receive any HS credit, so I've had to do it all after school. As of right now, I have a little over a semester of college credit from my studies there. Because my college classes take up so much time (twice a week, I would go to class straight after school at 3PM and stay there until 8 PM) on top of the 1-2 hours of HS homework each night, I haven't been able to participate in a variety of ECs. I'm only really involved in 3 ECs with leadership positions in 2. I've also done well competitively in one of them (debate- regional/district/state champion and national qualifier, NFL (or NSDA, whatever it is now) Academic All-American). I've also had two internships, but they each only lasted about 3 months. Is it ok that I've only got 3 extracurricular activities? Does the fact that I'm very involved in debate help?</p>
<p>Anyone?</p>
<p>Well the fact that you took extra college classes will look good on your resume. Also, the fact that you are really involved in those 3 clubs will look good to admissions, because they want to see you do a couple of clubs with passion as opposed to numerous clubs without passion. If you can convey your passion in those 3 extra-cirriculars throughout the rest of your application (and maybe get a recommendation from one of the teachers in charge of your EC), then I think you’ll be fine. </p>
<p>To quote one college about EC’s
Colleges understand that students taking a rigorous course schedule must spend 3 to 4 hours a night on homework. That leaves about 20 hours a week to devote to extracurricular activities. When you complete your EC list, college’s ask you to list your EC’s in order of importance to you – and they seem to prefer students who have made a commitment to an activity and spend 3-6 hours each week on several activities, rather than students who have a laundry list of activities that they spend one or two hours a week on. You’re fine!</p>
<p>I’m having a hard time figuring out why you are doing college in high school when doing so is keeping you from doing the high school things that you wish you had done. Make sure that this will be able to be communicated in your application material.</p>
<p>Hmmm… Don’t know.
But taking so many classes with limited involvement in EC would make you look like a bookworm.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t know much about dual enrollment, but it seems like the sort of thing that’s more suitable for someone attending their state university, as most of the credits will transfer (I know in certain states you can graduate with both your HS diploma and associate’s degree). </p>
<p>For top tier colleges, however, it doesn’t seem to replace the level of involvement with extracurriculars that they like to see. Remember that extracurriculars, not course rigor or GPA, are what sets applicants apart at the highest level. I’d try to tone back the college classes and take more AP’s that are offered by your high school–that way you’d save time from commuting and can focus on your HS classes and debate.</p>
<p>Best of luck! </p>
<p>You have about the same amount of ECs as me, but you definitely seem more involved in them. Just try to highlight that, or another standout aspect or moment of your high school life, in your essay if you feel like it’s insufficient. If you can do that successfully then you shouldn’t need to worry.</p>
<p>@snarlatron, the reason I’m taking college courses is because I want to take more courses than the ones offered by more school/go more in depth than what my school provides. I’ve taken philosophy and anthropology, neither of which my school provides classes in. I’ve also taken Chinese in the college courses to augment my Chinese study in HS. I wouldn’t say I wish I was more involved with high school ECs instead of taking college courses. In fact, I much prefer taking college courses to being involved in a few more ECs. </p>
<p>@Coriander23, I will have taken every AP class my school offers by the time I graduate (with the exception of Spanish) in addition to taking 4 extra AP tests for which I self-studied. I think my principal told me that I’ll have taken the most AP tests of any student in the history of my school or something like that. I don’t like taking the tests as much as taking the courses, because I feel like the classroom experience provides me with a greater understanding of the subject than simply reading a book over it. Also, I got a full tuition scholarship to the university that I’m concurrently enrolled in (as in, full tuition while I’m concurrently enrolled, not for undergraduate study), so it even costs less than an AP test.</p>
<p>And @StevenToCollege, I actually am a total bookworm. I genuinely just love learning about the subjects that interest me. That’s the main reason why I want to take extra classes. Even if I go to my state school, I don’t know that I’d want to transfer the credits since it might mean that I wouldn’t have to take as many courses during my undergrad education. But I still have a personality and I consider myself an interesting person. But I definitely am a total bookworm/nerd/whatever you want to call it. I never considered that a bad thing when it came to college admissions. Should I?</p>