<p>Maybe I’m just paranoid, but compared to some of my over-achieving peers and to many of the posts on here, I’ve just felt like I haven’t really done enough outside of school. I was never that involved in my school itself – no leadership positions, etc. – and to be honest, most of my time has been spent working due to familial circumstances (and because of that, I haven’t done as much community service and other extracurriculars as I would have hoped to). </p>
<p>You’re right that I really do need to take my head out of the clouds, though – money doesn’t necessarily grow on trees for my family – in fact far from that – although my parents’ income is enough that, according to the CollegeBoard calculator, I won’t get any financial aid (unless admissions actually takes into account my family’s other circumstances) but not enough that they’ll be able to afford for me to attend any of my dream schools (mostly listed among the no-merit scholarships category, unfortunately).</p>
<p>I just really hope that what extracurriculars I do have, in combination with my GPA and test scores, will be enough to get me a significant scholarship at a decent school. Ah, the stress . . .</p>