<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I'm a rising junior who has participated in a number of ECs, mostly last year. I was in a couple of honor societies, Science Olympiad, a small club I started that never really caught on, and maybe a few others.</p>
<p>My interests are mainly in computer science and mathematics.</p>
<p>I have dropped out of a few clubs - all "honor societies" that don't actually do much or are not really in my interest area... these were the obvious ones that just didn't fit. My question is whether I should drop out of the rest of my ECs. Sure they are great for making friends, but each meeting makes me feel empty, as if all we talked about during the meeting was about dates of the next few meetings. The worst part is watching people running for officer positions... it's like watching someone say they want to end poverty when it's completely out of their control to do anything... and the election turns out to be a popularity contest.</p>
<p>Please don't laugh at me, but honestly I'd much rather pull out an algorithms book and read rather than participate in a "wear green on Earth Day" type of club. The reason why I haven't yet dropped out is because I want to have something to put down on my college applications. I know it's much more important to have a meaningful EC rather than several common ones, but what about no ECs at all? In the end though, I think those students with some extracurriculars, regardless of their interest in the ECs, end up with a better chance at their colleges than a person with really nothing to say besides academics.</p>
<p>I am doing something though... mostly independent studies, but it's difficult for me to show my passion in this for college applications.</p>
<p>So... what do you think? Keep some ECs and try to exaggerate my passion for it or take a gamble and quit?</p>
<p>The great majority of colleges don’t factor ECs into admission, but make admissions decisions based on students’ academic stats and – for public schools – state of residence.</p>
<p>The exceptions are places like Harvard, which can use ECs and nonacademic factors to pick and choose from their pool of applicants with awesome academic stats.</p>
<p>Consequently, for most applicants, the importance of EC is personal. ECs can help you learn more about fields and activities that interest you. ECs can be fun. Ecs can help you develop social, professional, and leadership skills. Otherwise – unless you plan to apply to a very top college – ECs aren’t necessary.</p>
<p>Still, have you ever suggested ideas or tried to organize projects that would make your ECs more to your liking? If all you’ve done is sit back and be bored, you haven’t really given your ECs a chance. One doesn’t have to be an officer of an EC to advance and organize a project.</p>
<p>It would be helpful if you listed your stats and the ECs you are thinking of quitting.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies! Sorry, here they are:</p>
<p>GPA: 3.9 UW, 5.2 W
SAT: around 2000
ranked top 5%
5 AP’s last year, mostly 5’s</p>
<p>Interested in applying for:
UNC
Morehead Cain Scholarship
Carnegie Mellon
Stanford
Possibly UPenn, but not Wharton
MIT</p>
<p>ECs:
National Achievers Society
school’s Science Honor Society
Mu Alpha Theta/ National Math Honor Society</p>
<p>I am also referring to the ECs that I had planned to join this year, but right now I’m considering dropping. These are:
National Honor Society
robotics team
Science Bowl</p>
<p>I think I put in a reasonable amount of effort into the clubs… Good point about ECs being personal though. I won’t deny that even though the ECs were not what I was looking for, they did help in some way.</p>
<p>In terms of just something I can write passionately about in my college application, is staying just to say something better than saying I study complex algorithms that I don’t learn in school in my spare time?</p>
<p>From what you’ve posted, you seem to have a laundry list of ECs with no major leadership or other achievements with them. I don’t see anything with your ECs that would cause you to stand out for a UNC Morehead or for admittance to top colleges. Your SATs also are not at the level that usually is required for applicants to be accepted to such colleges. </p>
<p>Typically when it comes to ECs, top colleges want to know what you’ve achieved in them such as projects organized, money raised, national and state competitions won, etc. Those colleges use ECs to pick and choose from their overabundance of high state applicants to find the applicants who’ll most contribute to the campus and community’s clubs and other organizations.</p>
<p>+1 to what Northstarmom said.</p>
<p>When you’re applying to selective colleges, such as the ones you listed, it will look extremely transparant when they see that you have been involved in Science Bowl, NHS and the Robotics Team only for a few months…and let’s face it, nothing significant gets done the first few months of school. </p>
<p>Your ECs seem to be mostly academic honors…is there anything else in your school that genuinly peaks your interests? </p>
<p>You really need to pull up your SATs for the schools you’re applying to…2200+. </p>
<p>What’s done is done. Don’t drop anything - unless it requires a lot of committment and you’re hating it there. If you really like the ones you are planning on joining, go for it. For now, I would focus on pulling up those SATs.</p>
<p>Since you’re a rising junior, my opinion is that you still have time to “craft” your resume. If you really don’t like the clubs you are in, then don’t stay just because you think it will “look good” to colleges. I have heard that admissions officers will be able to see through fake passion in a second. (Your lack of passion for a club will also show through if you barely contribute and are involved in many seemingly-unrelated clubs.) I would definitely NOT recommend no EC’s though. There has to be something that you are interested in your school or community. EC’s are important because they show that an applicant is more than just their grades and test scores. Just find something that you’re passionate about and stick with it.</p>
<p>An SAT score of 2000 for a rising junior is pretty good. There’s some 18 months left before taking the second or perhaps third iteration, so I’m not sure why there are critical comments about OPs SAT scores. Not many students take these tests as sophomores :-(</p>
<p>Of your ECs one strikes me as where you can apply your computer science and math skills and show them off. It’s robotics. Build something unique; enter it in a competition; etc. Or pick a national science competition (e.g. Intel) and compete. Better that than studying algorithms in the abstract. Apply them to some real problems, and show them off. Checkout a local college and see if you can intern in the computer science department. This is a path that will take you away from boring meetings into an arena where you may be able to apply your skills, and develop new ones. To the extent that you succeed with one of these ideas you’ll strengthen your application (certainly for the likes of CMU) and grow.</p>
<p>Yeah I realized that my college list is a stretch. UNC and Morehead are a bit more likely though since I’m in state, but for the others my main selling point is my academics. I would have taken at least 7 college maths by senior year and would be pretty far in computer science courses as well, which I know won’t cut it, but it doesn’t hurt when applying to math schools. I’ll work on those SATs.</p>
<p>Right now, I can’t think of anything in the school. I’m doing some self study for some competitions, but otherwise nothing. I’ll keep looking.</p>
<p>As far as significant achievement/leadership, I’ve stayed out of student government or running for officer position because of what I saw in the campaigning. Is actually having a position a necessity or being able to write about standing up for certain issues or taking initiative to do/change something?</p>
<p>I hopefully will be able to conduct research, but I won’t count on it yet. I believe I can make the connections to find a mentor, but it’s difficult to find one in computer science or math. Otherwise, I might try an internship.</p>
<p>I’m not huge on hardware, but robotics does make sense.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! This has helped a lot. I think NAS and SHS would be the first ones to go, but I’ll reconsider the rest.</p>
<p>“Is actually having a position a necessity or being able to write about standing up for certain issues or taking initiative to do/change something?”</p>
<p>What you accomplish is what’s important, not your title. </p>
<p>From what I’ve seen of students on CC who’ve won the Moorehead, you need exceptional ECs – including real leadership with impact (not just a title) to win it, not just being in state with excellent academic stats. You need to be the type of person who, if you don’t like what an organization is doing, has the initiative to suggest and organize some projects of more interest to you.</p>