3rd degree black belt (by the time I get to senior year I would have been doing Tae Kwon Do for 10 years)
a violist in my school chamber orchestra
founder and president of volunteer club called Pencils of Promise at my school
1st place in school for science fair freshman year, 2nd in regionals
attended the Midwest Chamber Clinic in Chicago with chamber orchestra in 2015
president of math team
member of math national honors society this year (I’m a sophomore)
got selected to go to attend governor’s honors program in math this summer after sophomore year
had highest grade in honors biology and Spanish 2 honors last year as a freshman
got nominated for governor’s honors program in communicative arts
was a peer tutor for math all of last year
this summer I am starting a “STEM and math enrichment camp” with a friend
planning to do an internship senior year at a hospital
got nominated for National Honors Society, which I will definitely do next year for math, science, english
Sorry for the long post, I don’t have much help at home or at school about college applications, so I’m pretty lost on what position I am at in terms of ivy league applications. My dream is to pursue biomedical engineering at Stanford, and I am not too sure what I should add to my list of extracurriculars to stand out from the rest of the applications. Thanks so much in advance, any help will be greatly appreciated!
For any college or university, it is depth not breadth that matters. Membership in a group or club, in and of itself, isn’t going to do much for you; but leadership positions, or involvement that shows a passion for the EC, will be more important. I wouldn’t be so concerned about adding ECs, as doing more with what you already have.
When you look at the extracurricular activities of students who have been successful in getting into top colleges there are a couple of things they often have in common. First, achievement at some high, quantifiable level - state champion for example. Often these students seem to have a common theme with their EC’s which is aligned with whatever career objectives or interests they have. If they are interested in medicine they have volunteered to work in a hospital, they have shadowed a successful physician or they have actually done some kind of research. Also, they frequently challenge themselves academically by taking college courses in the summer because they actually want to learn. It does not help if you have a long list of activities with which you are only superficially involved.
Oh ok thanks, I know that my ECs aren’t too good, I just wanted to have someone’s opinion on what they think my chances are. And I wasn’t really planning on adding more extracurriculars, I just wanted to see if I should do better and go more into depth on what I have already.
I agree with @Wje9164be. To get into a school of this caliber, you really need to demonstrate excellence in a specific field. This could mean excellence in research, leadership, community service, or anything else that you are passionate about. If I were you, I would work towards achieving depth in one or two ECs.