TOO many extracurricular activities?

Applying to College
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<p>Is there such a thing as too many extracurricular activities on a college application? </p>

<p>Not to come off as egotistical or anything, but I'm president of three clubs next year and would that seem like overstretching to colleges (btw, I'm didn't run for president because of college apps; I truly enjoy these clubs and want to make them better (speech/debate, key club, and national spanish honors society). </p>

<p>I'm asking this because I got secretary of National Honors Society and I'm thinking of not accepting it and allowing someone else to. Is National Honors Society looked highly upon in college admissions at all or is it just pointless?</p>

<p>And I'm also stuck on a dilemma between lt. governor for Key Club as opposed to president for my school's club. Lt. governor manages six schools and is a district position--does that look better?</p>

<p>Thank you for any help you can give!</p>

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<p>I don't think that's overstretching, as long as you are actually dedicated to whatever to join (if you are only spending 1 hr/week for an activity, that's not very involved and if you still listed it-even if you had a leadership position-a college could assume that you are just packing your resume). But otherwise, having lots of leadership positions is great. Come on, this is CC; almost everyone you encounter here has been president of at least 2 clubs in the past! :D </p>

<p>As for national honor society, I wouldn't even bother taking the position unless you really cared about that club (you seem to have plenty other clubs that you care about more). Your other clubs are 10x more interesting/exciting/appealing, and I'm sure colleges aren't going to reject you because you didn't have 4 leadership positions instead of 3.</p>

<p>As for lt. governor or president, it honestly doesn't matter. Most college apps don't give you enough room to explain exactly what you do in your extracurriculars anyways, unless you detail it in an essay/short answer. Both sound sophisticated enough</p>

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<p>Titles aren't what matter. What you do matters. You can be president of the Key Club, but a vanilla member who takes the initiative to set up an after-school tutoring program, recruits fellow students to staff it, etc. is going to have a much more believable and persuasive essay when she writes about her passion for helping others, to say nothing of better recs. That's what colleges are looking for.</p>

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<p>No! 3 is not "too much"...it's the people you read about in Newsweek/NYT...who are captain of 3 teams, president of 4, student council prez, tutor manager, part time job, liasion between PTA and students...etc, etc...</p>

<p>...just being a senior, you can tell that it would be highly unrealistic for someone to do a good job at even half of the above without doing a bad job at the other stuff.</p>

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<p>"Not to come off as egotistical or anything, but I'm president of three clubs next year and would that seem like overstretching to colleges (btw, I'm didn't run for president because of college apps; I truly enjoy these clubs and want to make them better (speech/debate, key club, and national spanish honors society). </p>

<p>I'm asking this because I got secretary of National Honors Society and I'm thinking of not accepting it and allowing someone else to. Is National Honors Society looked highly upon in college admissions at all or is it just pointless?"</p>

<p>Only accept all of those club offices if you really have time interest and time to be an effective officer. Otherwise, accept the offices that you truly are able to do well in.</p>

<p>There are some students who can be effective officers in a variety of clubs. THere are others who are just looking to decorate their resumes.</p>

<p>Any office can impress colleges -- if you really accomplish something in that office.</p>

<p>I have been an alum interviewer for Harvard, and have been very impressed by some students who could juggle lots of things including coursework while handling all of their responsibilities in an exemplary manner. As is the case with many interviewers, I ask pointed questions to find out exactly what students do in their ECs. I want to find out what their responsibilities are, what challenges they've faced and overcome, and what impact they've had on the organization. Students responses reflect who was really a hard working club member and who had an office only as resume dressing.</p>

<p>In the real world, some of the busiest people with high level jobs also are hard working members of professional and service clubs. For instance, one of my friends is a single mother, who runs a city department, and is an effective member of 12 boards. </p>

<p>Most people, however, don't have her organizational skills, so if you don't, only commit to the organizations that you are interested in and can devote the time to fulfill your responsibilities.</p>

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<p>Thank you all for your replies! </p>

<p>I think I'll take your advice fa-la-la-lena and not do NHS. And yeah I agree with you all; I rather be more involved then just take titles. There are people at my school who do that and it's so annoying. </p>

<p>Just curious, on average how many extracurricular activities would you suggest listing on your college apps?</p>

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<p>List as many ECs as you truly are actively involved in.
In most cases, it's a waste of space to list, for example, community service that you only did for a couple of hours, or a club that you are only a member of.</p>

<p>The exception may be NHS, membership in which can lead to scholarships at some (typically second tier) universities.</p>

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<p>The common app has room for what, 5 or 6?</p>

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<p>Viktory,</p>

<p>Be proud of what you have accomplished, especially because you have devoted so much time to them. Schools do not want to see a laundry list of things. They want to see students do three or four things well and with passion and dedication. I keep telling this to my students, and they just do not get it. They join because "it looks good on an application." Well, it doesn't if you don't do anything except join!</p>

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<p>Generally, holding a position at the regional level is more impressive than at the school level, so I would accept the lt. general position of Key Club. Otherwise, agree with above posters.</p>

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<p>the common app has room for 7, lol. u can list volunteering in the "jobs" section i believe</p>

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<p>You can never have too much but it's best that you only list the ones that you've really established. i.e. participated in for an extended period of time.</p>

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<p>^I would disagree. </p>

<p>If someone is the president of 5 clubs, it almost dilutes the value of them and looks like resume padding and titles for the sake of having them. While 3 wouldn't be too much, it would seem like the maximum number before it hurts the effectiveness of other positions. </p>

<p>The whole depth vs breadth thing applies even if you're officer in all of those clubs. An application is supposed to be focused and driven, not scattered and padded.</p>

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<p>sorry to kind of "steal" your thread, but it's a quick question and very related. </p>

<p>what if i'm involved in a lot of activities.. but they generally fall into three or four categories.. instead of listing like music club, orchestra, accompany choir, piano lessons.. as separate activities.. can i list "piano" as a category and explain it on the right? and like litmag, newspaper, and creative writing together and stuff like that?</p>

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<p>I don't think there's anything wrong with having a long list of offices per se; I'd say they can only start hurting you if your grades decline due to overcommitment. After all, without the actual academic preparation and numbers, your list of ECs won't mean much either way.</p>

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<p>Having offices is good, though, because it shows that you're a leader instead of just a joiner. If you aren't an officer but have done a lot of leadership in the club that is also good.</p>

<p>classof09: You're taking Piano lessons, right, not giving? I would only put Piano if you've participated in concerts or solos or something that you can quantify.</p>

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<p>haha both... and i compete nationally and i'm definately sending a supplement... so yeah, i'd say that it's something that means a lot to me and i can really back up.</p>

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<p>haha I like how this made the featured discussions.</p>

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<p>Oh question. I'm in the mayor's commission, governor's commission, and the national youth council and someone replied on here, "But the commissions and councils might be tiring on an adcom eye after a while." </p>

<p>What are your opinions on that? I thought that focusing on certain ECs in the same area would be better than having 234349 different ones. (I do have other ECs like speech and debate, etc. I'm just into youth advocacy)</p>

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<p>agreed. viktory, i'm sure you're fine... i think they like people who focus in on specific things.</p>