But how do they know the activities are not passionate? Is it through the essays that they find out that I am not interested. But I am interested in my activities though, I just do not know whether I am doing enough.
Also by impact does it mean tutoring/cleaning the environment so if I just use my interests to do those things then that shows my interest right?
If youâre truly passionate about something itâll come through in your essays effortlessly. Itâll sound genuine when you talk about it.
If youâre involved in 10 different activities and are spread thin, itâs not clear what genuinely interests you. How could you possibly convey that passion and interest in all 10 things?
What does it mean by impact though?What kind of impact? Like would that be volunteering and cleaning the environment. What are other ways? So basically if my interest is in physics related stuff, would that mean that I would have to engineer a device to clean the environment?
So far however, I have invested a lot of time in my business class/DECA and so I am just curious as to how to further show my interest in it?Like any ideas on how to use those skills to help the community. Me and a club member was going to do like a cybersecurity poster to bring awareness to internet safety and how to avoid getting scammed and I even thought about partnering up with a local software company to do it with but everyone in the club just seems filled with other responsibilities(granted I am more of an outsider to the club) but I feel like it is an important cause. So would me doing something like that outside the club show passion for my marketing related interests because I have already invested a year in DECA. But wouldnât that come at a cost to showing my interest in science but is it already to late for that because it will seem kind of sudden if I do something related to science now because I havenât really shown anything related to my interest in science outside of a couple of tutorings in that club and I have participated in F=ma but never won so even if I design some kind of robot, would it seem to colleges that I am suddenly gaining interest now instead of earlier?
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Doing something meaningful. Making a difference to others.
What activity truly interests you?
Honestly, Iâd suggest you focus more on raising your GPA and test scores (although you could go test optional), and figuring out affordable school choices.
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ECâs seem to have outsize importance for admission to colleges, so I understand why you feel stressed. If you want to try for a very top college, make sure you have one solid involvement at school and one outside school. Accept that this effort may not pay off, so, as others have said, best to focus on activities you actually enjoy.
Many not-very-top schools donât focus too much on extracurriculars, in which case you could just put your energies towards your grades.
In the end try to be involved at school and in your community - you have no way of knowing what admissions officers will make of it but it will make you a more rounded applicant. Good luck!
Yes. If you are banking on your ECâs getting you into a top 30, at this point, that is not going to happen. Your current focus should be on your GPA and test scores because those colleges will ask the counselors for rank and rigor. That should be your primary focus-grades.
Itâs kind of late, in the game, now, for you to now worry about ECâs that havenât been long-term.
Inventing something, that you really donât want to invest in with 100% passion, wont work for you at this point. If itâs not inherently in you, and youâre struggling to create an activity, with a goal and intent to IMPRESS, it will be sniffed out immediately.
I always recommend a part-time job because it is a strong EC. It teaches you about discipline, following directions, organization, working with others, punctuality, and responsibility. Itâs a well-respected EC because it shows the colleges that you can balance your studies with a job and maintain high grades. Plus, youâll earn some cash towards your college expenses.
You will need âstart-upâ cash wherever you land, so instead of trying to feign impressive ECâs, do something that will help you and give you some experience for college jobs. Working in a sandwich shop, Starbucks, grocery store, McDonaldâs (they provide scholarships), etc. is a respectable EC.
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Whatever you choose to do, pick something where you wonât look back and think, âI wasted all that timeâ if you end up only getting into your safety school. I see that sentiment on here a lot and it really saddens me. The point of your ECs should not be to get into X college, but to do something that interests you, challenges you, gets you involved in the community, or gives you work/life experience.
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If you were passionate about your activities you wouldnât be strategically looking for more, and you wouldnât care if they were impressive to colleges. You would do them because you love them.
If you are passionate about something you would do it even if it didnât count for college admissions. If someone changed the rules today and said ECs could no longer be considered for college admissions, would you keep doing your activities or would you breathe a sigh of relief and quit?
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Itâs qualityâŠnot quantity.
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Milton- you are learning a really valuable lesson right now.
There is ALWAYS someone with more. More money. Nicer car. More awards. More service hours.
The goal is NOT to perpetually be in a race to try and catch up. The goal is to figure out who YOU are, and what is going to make YOU happy/fulfilled, not to rack up more hours and more whatevers.
You seem to be missing the point that many of us are making. Trying to shoehorn a modest interest of yours into an abiding passion or some award-winning god knows what doesnât work. So forget the modest interests. Focus on the one or two things that bring you real joy and satisfaction.
This isnât a contest of putting points on the board. You will be very aggravated come admissions time when kids with LESS than you get admitted⊠one or two solid contributions or achievements is much more impressive than a stack of unfocused âI did it for the brownie pointsâ.
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OP- first and foremost, colleges are academic institutions. Which means that the single most important aspect of your college application is âWhat classes did you take and how did you doâ. More rigor is better than less.
Just catching up and I saw the above paragraph from @blossom Not sure you saw or addressed. You are looking to fit ECs in as the override to get you into a school that maybe your GPA/test score wonât. What was written by @blossom above is very important.
Shotgunning presidencies your senior year. Not so. Having awards (most donât) - not so.
Many great schools donât even factor in ECs.
And going to a great school, whatever that means, doesnât ensure success. And going to one outsude the top 100 or just regional, doesnât imply failure.
Hard work, focus, grit, grind and more - yes those things do matter. And will matter more to your success then if you went to UF or Northern Michigan.