<p>My school is considered fairly rigorous in my circles, but it's not actually that academic. I'm self-studying two AP's because my school doesn't offer any senior year and I'm studying for the SAT's, but there's only so much I can do of each in one night before I get bored. I basically finished the material for the AP's anyway, so it's just review now. While I am taking the only honors classes my school offers (Pre-calc and Chem), I don't get a lot of work. My school doesn't have any EC's and while I can find some outside of school that I will be passionate about, I'm nervous adcoms will think I'm just loading up on EC's to impress them. Thoughts?</p>
<p>What do you mean by loading up on ECs? I highly doubt the ECs you acquire will be enough to look back.</p>
<p>IMO its not about having a lot, but how much time you have dedicated to them, and what you have reached with them.</p>
<p>I understand that they won’t be significant, but will it appear as though I’m doing a bunch of extra EC’s late junior year in order to impress adcoms, even though the real reason is boredom? I don’t want it to reflect negatively on me during the admissions process.</p>
<p>What is “a bunch of ECs”? You say there aren’t a lot in your school and you can find “some” outside of school. “Some” won’t attract negative attention form an adcom. </p>
<p>Adcom don’t scan applications looking for areas where an applicant could have manipulated their chances.</p>
<p>I apologize for not clarifying! By EC’s, I mean extra hospital volunteering, overnight hospital respites, teaching myself Latin and piano, photography work and possibly volunteering for two other medical related organizations. Until now, I have decent EC’s, but not stellar, and the sudden change in amount is my concern. Thank you.</p>
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<p>I don’t think those will be look down on. If anything, they’ll see it as you taking more interest in your future field. There are so many reasons why someone would take on some more ECs. They were finally old enough, they got reliable transportation, their course load lightened up, more time to devote was available, etc. etc. etc. There’s no reason to assume an applicant is doing it to impress the adcom.</p>
<p>Do the EC’s that you WANT to do. Colleges would FAR rather see deep, intense interest in 1 or 2 EC’s, and some indication of Leadership skills- than see additional EC’s that appear to have been added for the sake of filling up a sheet of paper. It will also greatly help your applications if you can write in depth about your EC interests. Doing more " hospital volunteering, overnight hospital respites, volunteering for two other medical related organizations" etc, etc, is going to “count” far more than just randomly picking an EC to “look good” . Can you ask to do some medically related research with a DR or at nearby college? Can you start a Science or Med Club at your school? Could you join or start and academic Quiz team to compete with other HS’? Are there some science competitions you could enter?
Saying you spent time teaching yourself Latin or Piano- without being able to verify it with some sort of credible outside source- a piano teacher , awards at a piano competition, or an AP test score- really wont do you any good as far as colleges are concerned. Focus your additional time on doing something that your are interested in doing.
Quantity does NOT trump quality when it comes to EC’s.</p>
<p>Also, even though I’m really fairly certain it wouldn’t ever count against you, you can choose not to list it and only list extracurriculars that you feel would help your application.</p>
<p>Menloparkmom- I wish I could start a science related club or med club but my school doesn’t want me going to a regular college, let alone med school, so there’s no way they would let me start such a club. They don’t even have any clubs to begin with. But I wish…I attend a small Jewish private school where plenty of girls won’t even be going to college. Thus is the mentality of my school, so my options are extremely limited. As far as the piano and Latin goes, I’ve been wanting to learn both for a while, but as Becca said, perhaps I won’t write them.</p>
<p>P.S. Menloparkmom, assuming you live in Menlo Park, I go to school about five minutes from there. 
But I commute, so I live farther away.</p>
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<p>Oh, and any research or academic opportunities or pre-premed programs are out the window because they require transcripts and my school refuses to give them to me. We don’t even have a guidance counselor.</p>
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<p>Imo just do what you want if its something you are passionate about / interested in, rather than preoccupy yourself with whether or not adcoms will like it. :)</p>
<p>then I think you need to get an outside college counselor who can talk to your administrator asap. For any school to refuse to supply students their own grades is outrageous. </p>
<p>PM me . I have a good one to recommend. She is in Redwood City. Will your parents be willing to pay for good outside college counseling?</p>
<p>It is never a bad idea to start doing something new. If you’re passionate about it, then do it. It might look that way if you do like 10+ but just picking 5 things you want to put a lot of time into is a great idea.</p>