My Extracurriculars, and their Ostensible Weight

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>In earlier posts, I mainly discussed academics, however now I'm wondering about EC's. My workload is truly rigorous, filled with electives, an AP, and 2 self-study courses, all honors courses. I was pondering how "average" these EC's appeal, or whether one stands out:</p>

<p>Freshman Year:</p>

<p>Choir
Science Club
Science Olympiad Team
National Language Arts League NLAL Top 10 in Country
NYC "Enviro-thon" 2010 Team</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:</p>

<p>Science Club
Science Olympiad Team
Science Research Club (Working on Westinghouse)
Phoenix Newspaper
Varsity Competitive Swim Team
JV Debate Team</p>

<p>Electives:</p>

<p>Online AoPS Intro to Geometry ( and self-study Algebra 2 and Trigonometry)
Journalism
AP World History</p>

<p>SAT 2's to be taken at the end of Sophomore Year:</p>

<p>Chemistry (Maybe.)
Modern Hebrew (Definitely).</p>

<p>Next year will have much more in store, consequently, but is this list nice? I could have joined (and still can) numerous other EC's, but I weren't passionate about those. Everything on the aforementioned list is a passion or a habit. If anyone recommends something, I'm very open to advice. Please criticize, praise, or give feedback. Thanks!!</p>

2

<p>These are definitely nice ec stats, but you need to come up with a hook that will make colleges like Princeton truly want you. It’s not enough to just throw a list of EC’s, high gpa, and high sat scores, at the colleges and expect amazing results. U need to work on who you are as a person and write about it in your essay.</p>

3

<p>not sure if it’s the same at princeton, but i imagine so, but the yale website clearly says that it’s infinitely better to dedicate yourself wholeheartedly to one or two activities than it is to just get your name on as many as possible.</p>

4

<p>well, the thing is you have nothing to prove with science club and science olympiad, as these are very local city and jewish league contests, with no serious competitions or commitment required. Again nothing says anything about how passionate you are, with no notable achievements or efforts made in any of the areas.</p>