<p>Hey everybody! Thanks for taking the time to read this, it means a lot!</p>
<p>Ok, so. I'm a sophomore in highschool, and am VERY confused as what to do with my ECs. I feel as if they are random and all over the place... but they make sense to me? I don't know. I've been reading that colleges want to see you committed to just a few ECs seriously. As of right now, the ECs I plan on continuing next year:</p>
<p>Leadership Roles:</p>
<p>President of SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions)
President of Interact (Volunteer Organization)
Vice President of MUN (Model United Nations)
Vice President of Key Club (Volunteer Organization)</p>
<p>Sports:</p>
<p>Show Choir (Huge commitment at my school, 2007-2008 we were #1 in Nation. We have over 500 people participating at show choir in my school and just one varsity group of 40 people. I made it as a sophomore, which is a big deal)</p>
<p>Tennis (JV Freshman and Sophomore, Varsity Junior and Senior... we have the biggest Tennis team in the state...)</p>
<p>Other ECs:</p>
<p>Debate (I like it, I was really good at it, but due to my class schedule and show choir conflicts the coaches rather take a different person to big tournys)
Volunteer: I want to volunteer on my own time more. Next year, maybe 4-5 hours a week?</p>
<p>As you can see, they are... interesting? I want to do something in International Relations or use my languages somehow.</p>
<p>Can you give me advice on how to focus my ECs? Or are they fine how they are now?</p>
<p>If you care about all of them, and I mean genuinely care, then don’t drop anything. You shouldn’t leave your interests just for colleges. That being said, I don’t think you can have an amazing commitment to 7 different organizations, and admission officers probably don’t think so either. It’s fine to participate in different clubs, but people recommend that you intensely focus on 1-2 and become really good at them.</p>
<p>I mean. If I had to choose I’d drop Tennis and Debate. Even though I enjoy both I don’t want those to be the reason that colleges think I don’t commit myself.</p>
<p>I would keep all of them. Over time you’ll find one or two of them more interesting than the others, and you’ll naturally start to focus your time more on those activities.</p>
<p>No, it wouldn’t necessarily be bad. If you have committed your time to all of these activites, there’s no point not to include them on your application. It would be bad if you have a million activities and titles but no real achievements in each, but if you have the time and energy to focus on all of them, then I personally don’t see any problem with that. You may just be one of these people who’s really good with time management. </p>
<p>I think some posters here would disagree with me, but… I don’t see your activities as too much.</p>
<p>And what kind of achievements could I recieve as President of SADD, for instance? All I’ll be doing is running the meetings, running the blood drives, student recruiting, etc. There aren’t really any achievements in that.</p>
<p>Most colleges don’t factor ECs into admission.</p>
<p>The ones that do tend to be the most competitive colleges in the country and are interested in seeing what you accomplished in your EC.</p>
<p>For instance as president of SADD, are you taking advantage of that position to organize projects, etc. or are you basically just using the office a resume dressing? Just holding an office and having weekly meetings isn’t enough.</p>
<p>The same is true of other organizations. Are you basically maintaining the status quo or doing what your advisor tells you or are you implementing some new ideas, etc.?</p>
<p>Recommendations, essays, interviews, accomplishments (such as whether you got awards) are how the colleges that care about ECs determine whether you were truly a leader or simply were someone who showed up or was elected but didn’t really do anything special.</p>
<p>Get ideas by Googling SADD and seeing what other schools’ chapters are doing. Also Google for ideas about substance abuse prevention and preventing other destructive decisions.</p>
<p>^ Excellent idea. I’ll make sure to do that for all clubs I have a leadership position in.</p>
<p>Another question: Since I’m unfamiliar with what the college application looks like, do they have a spot where you estimate how many hours you’ve put into the club? Or like x hours per week?</p>
<p>Yes, they do. (Although I don’t think it’s that important, only viewed as an estimate, because you’ll have no way of proving the hours.)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You can bring in keynote speakers (people whose lives might’ve been impacted by drunk driving, etc.), have movie nights/afternoons, or, if you have the persuasive power over the administration to make this work, you can organize a field trip to prisons as a part of a prison sponsored visiting program. They do have those and they’re said to be very memorable. </p>
<p>Way back, the SADD kids at my school also came up with a parent-student contract on which the student promises to always call the parent and never attempt to drive home himself if he drinks, and the parent would sign to promise in return that he or she will always give a ride to the student at any time of the day, no questions asked. That contract is still being dispersed today in our high school’s health classes. Also, this other club at my school goes to the middle school to teach short classes on health-related topics. Funny acting/dialogues combined with free presents, those were really popular at the middle school. The ideas are countless :). Good luck!!</p>
<p>Oh! I really like the last idea about going to elementaries/middle schools! I think I’ll try that for sure!</p>
<p>Also, for the volunteer work, I’ve been setting some stuff up where I teach ESL to Spanish workers in my capital city, since I live in town really close. As well, I’m trying to set up things directly with ESL in my school. Good? What other ways can I volunteer and show that I’m passionate about culture and languages?</p>
<p>^No (unless you count awards, which doesn’t really pertain here), but you can elaborate on them in essays, and if you’ve really made an impact on your school, this will likely come through in recs as well.</p>
<p>The common app gives you a small line to write details. I dont know why nobody has said this yet, but definitely include all these. You want to show them where your leadership roles are. Colleges dont like it if youre a “serial joiner,” and if youre in a leadership position, youll avoid that tag.</p>