Realized too late the importance of leadership and commitment in ECs

Applying to College
1

<p>I am a rising senior in high school and am concerned that I have not committed to enough extracurricular activities. My résumé feels lacking.</p>

<p>I have been taking piano lessons for about ten years. However, I did not commit to it nearly as much as I could have because I came to regard it as a hobby instead of a passion. As a result, I feel as though I have not achieved anything worthwhile in that department. I feel similarly about tennis, which I take weekly.</p>

<p>I have volunteered at health access fairs (only ~25 hours) and plan to put in more time over this summer.</p>

<p>I've dabbled in a few other things such as student government and a linguistics honors society. However, I feel as though these points of interest will not serve as suitable credentials on my application due to my short-term affiliation with them.</p>

<p>On a more positive note, I have recently discovered what I believe to be my "passion", which is some intersection between economics and mathematics. Rather vague, but still something.</p>

<p>My questions/concerns are as follows:</p>

<p>Assuming that my application essays are at least passable, will this relative lack of committed extracurricular activities seriously jeopardize my chances of being accepted to such schools as UC-Berkeley and USC?</p>

<p>Should I attempt to explain why I did not pursue as many extracurricular activities as I could have on my application(s)?</p>

<p>Is there any way to embrace my newfound passion in what little time I have left before college application deadlines in a way that would help my application? Of course, I am not looking to do anything that would solely serve the purpose of embellishing my credentials; I am looking for options and ideas that would be appealing to me as well as beneficial to my applications.</p>

<p>For reference, I have:
a 3.8 unweighted GPA (4.3 weighted), 2220 SAT (760 CR, 790 Math, 670 Writing)
Two SAT Subject Tests (World History 800, Math Level 2 800)
6 APs and plan to take 5 more senior year. (Got a 5 on World History exam, awaiting results on other 5)
2 college classes from a precollege program (Stanford Summer Session) </p>

2

<p>Assuming that my application essays are at least passable, will this relative lack of committed extracurricular activities seriously jeopardize my chances of being accepted to such schools as UC-Berkeley and USC?</p>

<p>-Yes lack of ECs will jeopardize your chances. </p>

<p>Should I attempt to explain why I did not pursue as many extracurricular activities as I could have on my application(s)?</p>

<p>-I would only try this IF you have some kind of emotional hardship story to tell.</p>

<p>"Is there any way to embrace my newfound passion in what little time I have left before college application deadlines in a way that would help my application? "</p>

<p>-Work with what you have a polish up your current ECs as much as can. Plus think of anything else you can call an EC. e.x like being a math tutor (to your friends). </p>

<p>From what I seen for at least schools like USC and UCLA and Cal it’s more about quantity and not quality. </p>

3

<p>Do not try to explain it unless you have a concrete reason, like taking care of your family. Don’t lie, either.
Piano and tennis are very typical ECs(especially among Asians) and I would not count on admission to UCLA, USC, or Berkeley. As a rising senior, you have a summer, but colleges are very good at seeing through last-minute application padding. I agree with bomerr’s last point. Even getting a job this summer(at Starbucks, etc.) will help.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the input, but one last question:</p>

<p>I was diagnosed with autism, so I was not the most social person and thus was not inclined to pursue extracurriculars that required significant social interaction (what I did do was not very social because it only involved myself and a teacher). Would this constitute a “concrete reason” that I am late to get involved, or would it seem too much like I am trying to blame my condition?</p>

5

<p>Personally I think if you use Autism PURELY to explain than no ECs then yes it will sound like and excuse but if you go deeper and explain all sorts of problems relating to autism it will sound more genuine. </p>

6

<p>Okay, thanks. I will do all within my passion, and only within my passion, this summer.</p>