<p>I am only a Junior but I have had 1 EC and that was a generic one, Yearbook last year. I'm in Yearbook, Newspaper, Asian Culture and doing community service this year, but that was only because I finally realized this is my last chance to join stuff I didn't join before.</p>
<p>My grades are possibly 4.0 unweighted though, so...</p>
<p>Is there still any hope for me, assuming my Essays and Recommendations will be interesting? Hope at more than just my local state university, which is University of Maryland. It's a good school, don't get me wrong, but I want to travel :) </p>
<p>I promise you I'm very ambitious but I just DIDN'T CARE until this year, and now I kinda... (yep this is gonna be cliche) I kinda found myself and decided to do something I enjoy and wouldn't normally have done just because I usually stick only to my introverted comfort zone.</p>
<p>I’m writing for some Essay contests, but I’ve been bogged down with some tough classes this year, so I’ve been doing a lot of sleeping and Videogames (which unfortunately is not a useful hobby for colleges haha) </p>
<p>I’m not trying to get into Harvard but if I want to have simply the CHANCE to go to a good school, not get rejected. I’m not saying i’d go to a school for it’s name though, just that I feel like i accomplished something from working hard in high school :)</p>
<p>It’s hard to know how to advise when you freely tell us “tough classes this year, so I’ve been doing a lot of sleeping and Videogames…” There are some adults who will post, “man up.” There is one parent who might even say, “You want to travel, join the military.”
You are a junior. Get your act in gear. Good colleges want kids who climb out of their comfort zones. Get off CC, unplug the vidgames, go speak with an adult at school or church or a cultural organization for more ideas. And follow through. Or, it’s 4 years of “Go Terps!”</p>
<p>Keep in mind that it is primarily the more competitive private schools that put significant weight on EC’s. Like glassesarechic said, large public schools are more focused on stats and many of them are very good schools.</p>
<p>@hahvad: I disagree. Joining stuff Junior and Senior year seems to be a sign you’re whoring yourself for EC’s. If you begin Freshman or Sophomore year, that shows dedication and consistency.</p>
<p>@OP: test scores are also important, as well as the difficulty of your course load.</p>
<p>@adchang: I’m not disagreeing that it is important to get some ECs during your first two years, but I was just giving an example of success in case one doesn’t do it. Maybe my sister was just one of the lucky ones, I don’t really know, but all I know is she didn’t do anything until second semester junior year when she started panicing and then she got into a great school. So they must look more at junior or senior year</p>
<p>@hahvad: I just mean generally that its NOT a good idea to have a bajillion EC’s suddenly pop up late in your high school career. It cheapens the experience really. Starting freshman year, you can feel out what you are really passionate about, become dedicated and get elected to an officership perhaps. The exceptions are like PAT and NHS which require some degree of seniority (Junior-standing) to join. Yes, I am one of those kids who does a slew of EC and is an officer in several that I enjoy. </p>
<p>I think your sister was an outlier, and she probably had some other things going for her. :)</p>
<p>Be the person that you want to be. Do the things that you enjoy doing. Academics is still the most important thing for getting into college. If there are ECs that you enjoy, you can join now. Don’t do them for college, do them because that is how you enjoy spending your time. If you don’t enjoy spending your time on any of them, find something else that you enjoy spending your time doing. Live a little, explore things, develop yourself. Get out from in front of the computer. I started a rock band my junior year and that was my most passionate EC and the topic of essays. </p>
<p>Congrats on finding yourself. That’s great. </p>
<p>For anything that you want to study, with your grades, there are great colleges that you can still get into based solely on your stats. </p>
<p>My best friend was in a similar situation, but academically. During his sophomore and freshman years, he didn’t care too much about college. Although his freshman year grades were good, he slipped during sophomore year and ended up with a 3.5 GPA. During his junior year, he took 5 AP classes, broke all ties with ex-girlfriends and potential girlfriends and became a total bookworm. I’m not sure if he did ECs during his junior year, but he did manage a 4.5 GPA at the end of the year. Just stop messing around and do whatever you can to dazzle colleges as much as you can. You’re probably not going to opt for a state university, but you’re gonna have to write an amazing essay if you want your EC weakness to pose as less of a problem.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the support. And I decided just to go where I enjoy best. I’ve had false ideas what it means to go to a good school. </p>
<p>And by the way, whoever told me I need to start manning up, I really have been working hard in the classroom and outside of it, I do stuff so I didn’t mean to imply I’m wasting time, sorry. I meant more like, after I make sure I’m doing good in those classes I have barely any time to relax, so I spend that playing Videogames… This is like an hour an day I’d like to add if that. And when I’m up for 18 hours that is not a huge amount of free time.</p>
<p>You need more sleep. 6 hours per night is not enough for an adolescent. Chronic lack of sleep can do serious permanent damage to your cognitive abilities. The blue light from video games can also make it difficult to get to sleep if you play them right before bed.</p>
<p>@CRD: 6 hours of sleep is a good amount of sleep for many high-achiever high school juniors and seniors these days. I myself get around 5. Unfortunately, out of sleep-social life-grades, the thing that I chose was sleep.</p>
<p>If you’re not applying to any of the ivies or the ought-to-be-ivies, then ECs are more of an added bonus. It answers the question of what you do as student when you’re not sleeping, eating, or studying. Believe it or not, colleges want to add colorful personalities to their campuses.</p>
<p>Anyway, just Yearbook does look a little week. Get your a** out there, and do some community service ! ;)</p>
<p>I agree wholeheartedly, though not with your premise that ECs are BS. ECs are these things you do because you enjoy them–they are they things you explore, the way you develop yourself. Colleges aren’t only looking for class presidents or math team champions; they want interesting, unique, developed students who have demonstrated enormous talent.</p>