I moved this year, during my sophomore year in January. I’m planning on joining clubs in junior year and I was appart of a lot of clubs during my freshmen. Will it look bad if I joined NO clubs during 10th grade? I have a lot to catch up on, but if it will look bad I’m willing to join. Also, do colleges as what clubs you did in freshman year?
A common HS rumor is that colleges expect to see clubs and similar activities for applicants. Truth is most colleges give little weight to ECs. You can find out their importance by looking at the common data set for the schools you are considering.
For selective colleges that care about ECs, member of this or that is nowhere near the level they expect. There is an older thread with several posts by Northstarmom, a Ivy alum interviewer, about what constitutes impressive ECs from the point of view of the most selective colleges. The post is at The post is at [“Those ECs are weak…”- So what’s good?]("Those ECs are weak...."- So what's good? - #3 by Northstarmom - Chance Me / Match Me! - College Confidential Forums)
As you will see from that link, at the most selective colleges they are looking for depth more than just participation. Stanford, for example, says
2 very interesting articles about ECs that stand out and how to get them (same author, different examples) are at [How to Be Impressive](The Art of Activity Innovation: How to Be Impressive Without an Impressive Amount of Work - Cal Newport) and [Save This Grind?](Case Study: How Could We Save This Ridiculously Overloaded Grind? - Cal Newport) I don’t buy into his underlying explanation of why they are impressive, but take a look at these 2 articles and I think you’ll get some original ideas.
No worries. But if you are still concerned, you might try to join clubs your junior year that are somewhat similar to the ones from freshman year; that way it will look like you have deep, continual interest in those areas (deep interest in a few clubs is better than shallow interest in a lot of clubs).