<p>Long story short my health has recently prohibited me from being involved with things after school such as sports,debate team,etc. </p>
<p>I am a sophomore and am already worrying about how this will impact my college admissions. Academically I am doing very well, taking some tough classes and holding a 4.35 GPA. My PSAT scores were fairly good but I worry about not having any strong EC's anymore. I mean I have quite a lot of involvement with charities, and tutoring students when I can, but I can no longer participate in sports and other lengthy activities. </p>
<p>Advice? Am I completely screwed? </p>
<p>BTW: I live in NYC and would love to go to Cornell or Columbia or NYU. Obviously I will apply to some less competitive schools though.</p>
<p>I'd say build up on the things you can do--you don't have to do sports to have a legitimate EC. </p>
<p>You say you have a lot of involvement in charities and tutoring - then how can you say you don't have any? What is "a lot" to you?</p>
<p>You're only a sophomore, so you have time to start getting involved in many extracurricular activities. Forgive me if I misunderstood your question.</p>
<p>You definitely don't need sports. I know several kids who have gotten into Harvard and the like with no sport involvement in high school.</p>
<p>That being said, do what you enjoy and make sure you're as involved as possible. Best of luck with your health.</p>
<p>I don't want to pry, but does this health problem allow you to participate in any activities outside of school?</p>
<p>Colleges are just wanting to know what you do outside of your school hours. You said you are involved in charities, yes I would emphasize that. But if you spend hours reading (for instance), they just want to know what you when you're not in school.</p>
<p>Congrats on your PSAT score! Be sure to do well on it next year, as that's the one that counts for NMS</p>
<p>You absolutely do not have to participate in the typical school ECs. It just makes you look like one more typical high school student. You need to have interests that you are passionate about and can write/talk about that demonstrate some level of depth and to which you bring your unique perspective. It can be charitable work-just show commitment and depth of knowledge by being engaged in different ways. Example: Volunteer at the local hospital. Help train new volunteers. Develop a handbook for volunteers. Read about the challenges of managing hospitals in your area. Help recruit new volunteers. Develop a new skill that makes you a more valuable volunteer-the computer skills so they can track their volunteers more effectively.</p>
<p>If you do all of this, you don't need a single sport, editorship, or honor society to show leadership, maturity, and a unique perspective.</p>
<p>I like M's Mom post!</p>
<p>My son had relatively few ECs (4 years of band, 2 years of baseball and he helped at church). I was worried that he didn't have enough ECs.</p>
<p>He wrote his main essay about life on the farm and I guess that was enough to show "leadership, maturity and a unique perspective" because he got into every college he applied to. He is now a freshman at Stanford.</p>
<p>I think the "unique perspective" is key.....</p>