I live in a relatively medium sized town in Michigan (Holland), my school has clubs, just not a lot. And I feel as though my EC’s are shallow, and don’t express who I am and what I do outside of school. During my freshman and sophomore year of HS I often came home and did absolutely nothing. Now realizing that it’s important to get involved, I’ve done the Community Service, participating in a few clubs, but don’t have any “wow” factor. What could I do to make an impact on admission officers and have them remember who I am.
bump
I’m in the same boat bub
Make sure your essays are fire; they don’t have to be Shakespearean or anything, but I think that college admissions officers can tell who’s being genuine. Right now, it kind of sounds like you did things just for the sake of using them as resume fodder, but I think you can make up for it in your essays by showing what kind of person you are.
@Prospective1998 What can you recommend that someone like me, someone who hasn’t yet found their “passion” write about in their essays. I know most top colleges are looking for their students to express some sort of passion that they have about a certain field. Maybe I will soon find this but it’s looking like I won’t be including an essay based on my passion.
I’ve read and been read plenty of essays authored by kids who aren’t sure what they want to major in. Let me emphasize that I’m not an expert or anything, and I’d suggest that you listen to the opinions of other people as well, but I’d suggest writing about some sort of significant obstacle you overcame or some experience that taught you something important. Very recently I read this one essay by this kid who spoke about how awkward he used to be around girls and how he had to overcome that in order to begin a relationship with this one girl he actually really liked. It showed growth and maturity, and he didn’t mention a particular intended major at all.
Write about something that really lets your personality shine through and says who are. The best advice I found on the internet when I was writing my common app essay was that if you were to leave your essay somewhere and someone who knows you were to find it, they would immediately know that it’s yours.
The best way to chose a topic is to brainstorm. Just start writing and don’t be afraid to scrap everything and start over if the need arises. Have people proofread it for grammar, cohesiveness, and flow, but make sure they don’t edit out your voice. Ask people who know you well if it sounds like you and ask people who don’t know you well what they took away about from your essay.
99% of colleges don’t really care about your EC’s. They care about 2 things: Grades and test scores.
However if you’re aiming for the top 1% of schools in the nation (top 30 ish), then the EC’s will start to matter. Also I agree with the above posters, don’t get involved just because you feel like getting involved looks good to colleges.
I think you should find what you’re interested in. If you feel like the clubs don’t express who you are, then do stuff outside of school that does.
@rdeng2614 I am going to be aiming at the top 1% of schools as a sort of goal for me; if i can get in, great, if I don’t, no big deal, except for some hard feelings of course 