<p>Hello! So I was wondering how to improve my extracurricular activities this summer because they are really bad so far. So far I am a rising senior and this is what I have:</p>
<p>Greek Club- 3 years will join for 4th.</p>
<p>PS4 volunteer- Junior year and will sign up senior year (during frees I go to a elementary school for autistic and emotionally disturbed kids and help teachers out)</p>
<p>Signed up to be a retreat leader for next year (It's a religious thing where we go on retreats and it's kind of a leadership role because we guide the sophomores for something I'm not sure yet)</p>
<p>Signed up for Drug and Alcohol Prevention team for senior year</p>
<p>I will volunteer at a nursing home over the summer for 50+ hours. I volunteered there for junior year but that was for a class so I don't know if it counts.</p>
<p>Prayer Lector during Junior year and will be one senior year (all I do is say prayers on morning announcements but colleges won't know that on my application right? It sounds better than that lol?)</p>
<p>Worked at my dad's store over last summer full time and I want to find a different job to do this summer. So what can I do to add to my application to make it stand out this summer? I know internships are out because you have to usually apply by April or May plus I don't have any connections. My dream schools are Boston College and NYU and from the forum for BC RD a lot of kids have amazing extracurriculars and lower grades but those with better grades than extracurriculars are waitlisted so I know it's kind of late but I want to do everything I can.</p>
<p>Honestly it’s a little late to be adding a bunch of new activities. The admissions officers will know that you’re only doing them to get into college. Right now you aren’t doing a whole lot so you better have stellar academics and test scores to get into BC and NYU. I really hate to sound like a downer but the only thing you will do all 4 years is Greek Club; you have no sport and no real “art”. If I was you I would continue working at your dads store, maybe try part time during the year, and keep with your activities but I really don’t know if it will be enough. I’m sorry but just from me reading it, and I am not an admissions officer, it looks like you’ve just joined things for your resume because your counselor or whoever said you needed more ECs. Sorry, but I hope this helps.</p>
<p>How is that supposed to help? I am asking for help not your take on the situation. For your information the clubs at my school suck and you really can only participate if you are a senior because they are the ones who run the club. I didn’t even know when club meetings were happening at my school. You could only join in the beginning of the year and when you are a freshman you really are confused on how to join things and my school doesn’t help with that. Only reason I knew about Greek Club is because I’m greek and found out from greek friends.</p>
<p>Oh I have an idea. I spend a lot of my time writing so maybe if I enter a writing contest and maybe win over the summer or in the fall I can put that on my application? Does anyone know any contests in the NYC area or online?</p>
<p>College Admissions, would rather see consistency and dedication to one-two activities, compared to someone who joins everything. Your list of extra-curricular activities are unique (compared to the usual NHS, Stu Council etc.), and your success/leadership in the Greek club can make a positive difference.</p>
<p>How have you been spending your free time in the last three years? Clubs are only one type of extracurricular pursuit. Certainly, they are the easiest to explain and fit best in the boxes on the Common Application, but there are many other things.</p>
<p>For example, my daughter didn’t really find much at her school that she wanted to be involved with, but she spent her time outside of school doing various things that were pretty worth doing. She liked learning languages. She taught herself Latin, took a non-credit class in Farsi, went to a summer language immersion program in Hebrew, enrolled in a community college course in Arabic. She lumped all these together as “extra-curricular language study,” because it was. None of it was at school. </p>
<p>She had other activities as well that weren’t at school, so were a bit harder to describe.</p>
<p>Finding a way to write down what she was doing with her time to explain where here “extracurricular” energies had gone was more challenging than if she’d just belonged to clubs at school, but she figured it out.</p>
<p>Kids who work for pay are spending their time productively as well, even if they are not doing clubs and sports. Don’t worry too much about not belonging to enough clubs, per se.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions and encouragement POLYSCINYC13, VHSgrad2014, and DeskPotato instead of saying I have no hope…
The most I do is write so I will put that down and maybe this is the encouragement I need to finish a book I have been putting off lately with finals and everything. I have looked online and there are contests that if I win would give me a unique edge I guess.</p>
<p>Now, be careful with the book idea.
There are two ways that could go:</p>
<p>The bad way:
Colleges might see this as a last ditch effort to make yourself look published, credible and official. It might show procrastination and frantic nature. </p>
<p>The good side:
No matter what they see in it, it demonstrates that you care. Caring enough to join Spanish club is one think, caring enough to write an entire novel is in a category of its own. It will show your writing style and give them an idea of your personality ( especially if you manage to get them to read excerpts). </p>
<p>All in all, you must show that the idea has been an idea you have always had and not just constructed as a savior to make up for weakness in other areas. Make it the center of your passion and educational strong suit. This will be beneficial. Good luck! Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Writing is by no means anything I am doing for college. The novel is for myself. The writing contests that I will enter are for colleges but actually they look fun so even after the college process I will continue. I never thought about giving them excerpts of my novel as well that is an interesting idea.
Your insight really has helped so thank very much :).</p>
<p>I think you want to think about EC’s that take the strands that are already there, and take them to the next level. For example:</p>
<p>It appears as though you have passion for helping others, as demonstrated by your work with children with disabilities and the elderly. Could you organize a group through school to coach a Special Olympics team, or put on a holiday party at the nursing home, or something of that nature? </p>
<p>It appears that your faith is important to you. Could you look for other options to volunteer that are connected to this? It looks like you attend a faith based school, but if you’re also a member of a house of worship, you could probably approach the clergy there about doing some volunteering over the summer? Most churches, temples or mosques will have something that needs done, and would be eager to accept your help. </p>
<p>Writing is a great area of interest. You could take that to the next level by putting together a portfolio for an arts supplement, with an excerpt from your novel or other writing. You might also be able to tutor freshman or adult literacy students in writing, or volunteer to help the special ed teachers at the place you volunteer by writing and publishing social stories for the students.</p>
<p>Are there things you can do related to your Greek heritage? Maybe some volunteer work in the Greek community (volunteering to help the youngest students at a weekend language school, or visiting the elderly, or translating for new immigrants)? </p>
<p>The point isn’t that you should do those exact things, but rather that you’ve already got some really wonderful things going, and rather than trying to add something new, you should be thinking about showcasing your strengths.</p>
<p>I like the points you made Jane and really appreciate your input. I will look to go deeper in my activities instead of what I normally do now. I especially like your input on writing and on working in my Greek community.
Thank you for your time I really appreciate it.</p>
Hope this helps!</p>