<p>I'm currently in my junior year.. and I'm completely serious when I say that I have had no extra curriculars for my entire duration of high school. No sports teams, clubs, church activities, volunteer work, ANYTHING! I just realized it a few weeks ago when I was reading posts on here.</p>
<p>I'm fairly strong academically, 3.95 UW GPA, and a heavy course load. </p>
<p>I don't know where I'm applying to yet in the fall, but on a scale of 1-10, how much is this going to affect me in general?</p>
<p>What’s important to remember is that, at the VAST majority of schools, people who are strong enough academically are automatically accepted. It’s only the very top schools where ECs make a huge difference.</p>
<p>However, if you have a 3.95 unweighted GPA, chances are you’ll want to go to some of those top schools. And in that case, yeah, not having them is a bit more problematic. You still have a year; at the least go volunteer somewhere. Having at least some extracurricular activity well definitely make your applications stronger.</p>
<p>I have one thing to say to you : start now! Even though your grades are pretty good how else are you going to stand out from the thousands of other applicants? Theres going to be other kids out there with the same or even better grades than you so you need those EC’s to make yourself stand out.</p>
<p>Scale of 1-10 : I don’t really know how to scale it on that but I know that it will make a big difference if the EC part on your application is blank.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. Every time I visualize the blank EC section on my future apps, it digs at me… I think I’m going to go searching for something to do! There’s a local animal shelter that I worked at in middle school that I could go back to. I’ve always had a passion for animals, and if I use volunteer work at an animal shelter plus my vegetarianism it might provide some material for essays, perhaps?</p>
<p>Sure, and consider volunteering at a vetinary practice or working for a political organization that promotes animal welfare over the summer. Read up about animal rights issues: ECs are really an opportunity to explore who you are and what kind of work you might want to do someday. That’s why school clubs can be a waste of time-too many kids use them to fill in the boxes on their applications rather than as a means of learning something about themselves and as a way to explore the world.</p>
<p>Without strong ECs, you’re likely not a candidate for the tippy top schools, but you’re an excellent candidate for schools just below that, where ECs take the backseat to academic accomplishment. Stellar SATs/SAT IIs and a challenging courseload with your GPA will open many doors for you.</p>
<p>At this point, I recommend you find one or two things to really devote yourself to. Volunteering at the local shelter would be great–you could run with that theme and join your school’s Environmental Club, if they have one, or Key Club for community service. Or go in an entirely different direction and do volunteer work alongside a more academic club–debate, math team, etc. Join ECs that will present a more fully formed picture of your personality and interests to adcoms.</p>
<p>Quick question: Are you sure you have no ECs? If you’ve pursued any of your interests outside of school, whether that be officially, as in a club, or unofficially, as in an interest in photography, it counts! (Assuming we’re not talking about a hobby like knitting or something.) What have you been doing outside of school?</p>
<p>Most colleges don’t factor ECs into admission. Most colleges have difficulty finding enough students with the stats and academic background indicating they can handle their curriculum.</p>
<p>The only colleges that factor ECs into admission are places like Harvard, Stanford, Amherst, Williams, that can use ECs to pick and choose from their overabundance of high stat applicants to create a diverse, active, and well rounded student body.</p>
<p>That being said, you’re hurting yourself by not getting involved in any ECs. One learns a great deal about one’s interests, including interests that can lead to your choosing a college major, a profession as well as hobbies that you’ll enjoy for life.</p>
<p>You also will learn leadership, social skills, organizational skills, and will get like-minded friends by being involved in ECs. If all you’re doing are academics, you’re hurting yourself. No matter what profession you enter, to rise in the profession, you’d need to be socially competent and probably would need to – at the very least – be involved in professional organizations, often as a leader. If you don’t start developing the skills to do those things early, you’ll stand out for the wrong reasons when you’re looking for a job, internship, etc. In the real world, often it’s social skills, leadership, organizational skills that gets people jobs, not having the highest gpa.</p>
<p>If you happen to have job experience, that is the equivalent of having a strong EC.</p>