More EC's?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Hello. I'm an underachiever freshmen who recently just realized how competitive the world is. I realized that there's a university that I really really want to go to (Carnegie Mellon) and there's a career that I really really want to pursue (cognitive sciences). It is incredibly competitive, and I think that I just might want to do something with my life from now on. I've wasted my middle school years doing nothing. And I'm wondering, using skills that I have, what extracurriculars should I consider now? </p>

<p>MS EC's:
- Flute. Musical band flutist for two years. ABRSM 5th Grade certificate.
- Piano ABRSM 4th Grade certificate.
- Golf [which I tried out for HS team and failed]
- Badminton. School team one year.
- Table Tennis. School team one year.
- Picked up trash and helped out the more needy locals at the Great Wall in Beijing.
- Planted trees at a school. Donated books and helped out with managing the students at a poor elementary school. Painted walls for classroom improvements.
- E.A. which is the middle school equivalent of student council. Organizes events, promotes them, MC for assemblies, etc.
- Symphony Orchestra. First flutist and the occasional percussionist when needed. (We only have one full-time percussionist) </p>

<p>I can't continue a lot of the activities because they're not offered for high school or they clash with my current HS activities (softball, design club, yearbook photo club). What should I try out now in high school that might be a good "continuation"? What areas are especially weak?</p>

2

<p>Okay first of all nothing from middle school is relevant for college apps so try rewriting your resume with only high school stuff to get a better idea of where the gaps are.</p>

3

<p>Like OP said, remove all things from middle/elementary school. Also remove donating books (unless you helped organize a book drive or something like that), state about how many hours you spent doing each EC and which ones you did in 9th grade and which ones are from 10th grade. Once you re-post we can evaluate.</p>

4

<p>I agree with Holocene.</p>

<p>College admissions will not count what you have completed in Middle School. They only consider what has been done throughout HS. </p>

<p>As for what EC’s you should do in HS, that all depends on you. Choose something that interests you and something that you are very passionate about.</p>