Hi all, I am a sophomore in high school and having doubts about my extracurricular, and wanted to know if I should continue investing my time in them.
Currently, I am in:
the top orchestra in my high school of 4,000+ kids
-baroque ensemble (a orchestra group where we play on period instruments, only 2 of these groups in high school in the US) where i will be president of the club my senior year
strings board (a orchestra leadership club where we help with concerts, summer camps, and involving ourselves in our school’s orchestra program) i will be either vice president or president by senior year
peer tutors (a club where kids can tutor classmates in different academic areas)
class board (student government club) where i will be vice president or president next year
my own initiative project where I go to middle schools with other members of my orchestra and help out younger students
-pit orchestra (where I play in the pit for our schools musicals)
Next year, I will also involve myself in National Honor Society, and Tri M Music Honor Society. The amount of clubs at my school are 100+, and I wanted advice regarding my extracurriculars and if there’s anything I should change. I am not sure what I want to major in, but I know music performance will be my minor in college. Thank You!
Don’t worry about ECs unless you’re aiming for selective schools. Even then, only consider the impact of your ECs on admissions after you feel confident that you will have the stats (GPA and standardized testing) that put you in the running at those schools.
You can get an idea of the stats range for admitted students by looking at the Common Data Set for each college you’re potentially interested in. Google XXX Common Data Set, where “XXX” is the name of the school.
In Section 3 you’ll find the standardized test score, GPA and class rank ranges for accepted students along with admission rates.
Many kids get so caught up in their ECs that they neglect their GPA and standardized test score.
Thank you for your advice. However, my GPA is currently at a 4.6 weighted on a 4 scale, and my SAT score without any prep from beginning of freshman year was a 1300. I believe my GPA and SAT will be adequate scores for selective universities, and was wondering if you had any advice regarding the quality of my extracurriculars. Thank you.
If music is your primary EC interest, go all in on the music with top tier summer and/or all year programs. For example:
Interlochen
Tanglewood
New York Youth Symphony
Curtis Summer
Julliard
Etc.
And/or:
If you have particular academic interests, go the extra mile with them.
Math, science, social studies/history, writing, etc., all have summer programs/competitions/olympiads/advanced course work - at colleges, online or self study - for motivated HS students.
The idea with ECs isn’t just to rack up a big list, but to show that you pursued your passions with dedication and enthusiasm.