Specific Question about Volunteering/ECs/College Apps

Applying to College
1

<p>Well, I'm in an odd situation. At my highschool volunteering is highly stressed for something to put on college applications (for the 25% of us who care... it's a public city school, eh). I have always been looked down on by my fellow students because I haven't volunteered or been involved in as many ECs as everyone else.</p>

<p>The real reason for this is because I come from a family of seven kids, and our dad has epilepsy (fully controlled, but it means he can't work). I am the oldest one who still lives at home so I have a lot of responsibilities with taking care of the other kids, cleaning, etc. to help my mom take care of all of us (because of which she can't work either), and I can't get rides out much. This has never really affected my life except that, because of this and my exhaustive school schedule and job, I never got to do the volunteering and activities I wanted to. Recently my dad told me to start I had to do more for myself because he knew I wanted to.</p>

<p>The thing is, I'm worried about this on college applications. I don't want them to think I'm a heartless and/or lazy kid. I'm not sure where or how to explain it. Interview? Essay? I really don't want to be another one of those "hardship and perseverence" essays, although I guess it's better than a "look how many extra curriculars I did" essay.</p>

<p>Thanks for listening...</p>

2

<p>Also, as an additional note, I do have a few extracurriculars, like editing some literary magazines, NHS, theater with a local company that has a festival for highschools to perform Shakespeare, tutoring, writing like crazy whenever I have time, and going to the New England Young Writer's Conference at Middlebury College.</p>

<p>Am I maybe just being a little paranoid here?</p>

3

<p>Colleges do not require volunteering or ECs. Most colleges care only about your stats -- grades, test scores, courseload, class rank.</p>

<p>The relatively few highly competitive colleges that care about ECs, including volunteering and other productive activities that students do outside of taking classes, view having to stay home to help out with siblings or an ill parent as a strong EC. Just make sure that either your GC describes what you do at home or you describe this on your application or in your essay.</p>