Not enough extracurriculars?

<p>I posted this in the MIT forum as well, but I'd like to also get opinions here (MIT and Princeton are my top choices):</p>

<p>I am having a problem. I have been trying to write out all of my activities that I have done throughout high school, and I have found that although I feel that I have done a lot on paper it is only a little. My three main non-academic activities during the school year are varsity wrestling, engineering club, and piano. My main academic activity is independent study; I self-studied two AP exams this year and I am taking a course through JHU CTY. Over the summer I have a web design job that I have had since last summer. I established engineering club after a lot of setting up last year, and over the summer I am going to be organizing the club in order to enter into competitions next year and set up club-based design projects. I am also looking to expand membership of the club. I have done piano since the summer after second grade and I am at a very advanced level now. For wrestling, I have been wrestling since 6th grade, and I wrestle for about 30 weeks out of the 52 in the year. Not only do I do regular season wrestling, but I also do off season training and tournaments. I have been part of JHU CTY since the end of 3rd grade and took up through precalculus by 8th grade. I took a writing class the summer before 9th grade and during a small portion of the beginning of 9th grade through CTY, and due to financial concerns I did not do any courses in 9th or 10th grade. However, I learned some calculus for fun in 10th grade, and I self-studied for the Calculus BC exam this year. I am doing CTY Linear Algebra. During 12th grade I may be doing CTY Multivariable Calculus, and I will be independently learning some analysis.</p>

<p>I have done some other minor activities here and there, but these are the main activities that I have committed a substantial amount of time to. The problem is, however, that I do not have a laundry list of programs and activities that I have done. Yes I have an interest in science and math, but how can I show that through just engineering club and my independent studies? I feel as though I am not competitive enough activities wise with other applicants. Nevertheless, I have committed a ton of time to these few activities. I play piano year round, I am always studying something independently, I love to design websites and program games as a hobby, I have been working to start this engineering club and make it successful for two years, and I not only wrestle during the season, but I also do off season work and help out with the youth team.</p>

<p>I know how you feel! I don’t have a laundry list of activities either, but the ones I do have consume SOO much of my time. I was worrying about the same thing.</p>

<p>The best advice I can offer you is to figure out which activity best demonstrates your passion(s), and write an essay about it. You can include why you are so passionate about math and science, for instance, in an essay that is loosely based on engineering. I’m not sure what else to say. Hm.</p>

<p>Just don’t be detered by the fact that everyone else has such a huge list of impressive activities. On the application, it DOES ask how much time you commit to each activity, and there are opportunities to write about them, so take advantage of those.</p>

<p>Did that help?</p>