<p>Man, now I feel lacking in extracurriculars. I’m really involved in the theatre program at my school, and that takes up a lot of my time. I’m also captain of the math team, and president of spanish club, spanish honor society, and NHS. Besides those, I really don’t do much, I just feel busy all the time!</p>
<p>I founded the chess club at my school, but its a really casual thing so it’s not that big. I really wish I had done some research or something because I feel that would have helped a lot. I applied for an internship at Fermilab over the summer, but I didn’t get it. Hopefully my essays and recs make up for it!</p>
<p>@carter Yes please! I’d love to debate and match minds with you sometime. :)</p>
<p>@fireballs Aww I really don’t think you have too much to worry about! First of all, you’re president of 3 clubs and founded one, captain of an academic team, AND you’re super involved in theater! You sound plenty busy to me even without research, and you seem extremely passionate and diligent about what you do, and that’s really all anyone can ask for 
</p>
<p>As for me, I want to go into health policy, and I know most international health policy experts have research experience so I just really wanted a taste of it. I came up with my own research ideas and proposals, and just found great labs that were willing to sponsor my project 
As long as you’re doing something you see yourself being involved in in the future, you can’t go wrong :)</p>
<p>You guys are just awesome… My biggest extracurricular is running a nutrition blog :l plus varsity captains with some club memberships haha but I really don’t think you guys should be worried!</p>
<p>Okay, now some of you are just being ridiculous. You can’t seriously be unsatisfied with that caliber of extracurriculars. Or maybe you’re just seeking praise. Sorry, I’m normally an easygoing person , but just listen to yourselves. CC’ers…</p>
<p>@WhyAmIOnThisSite I’m going to say that it might not necessarily be a result of genuine dissatisfaction or praise-seeking, but maybe just nerves? Decision day’s so close, yet so far…</p>
<p>That being said, your username very precisely describes my thoughts 50-75% of the time I’m on here. :P</p>
<p>@ultrachromatic - Yeah, I can empathize with that…I was a mess of unconfidence right before my Columbia decision. Got rejected, as expected. 
I don’t know, I just wish people would be more confident in themselves, you know? (If they’re truly not seeking praise, that is). And lol on the username thing!! At the time I made it, I thought this site was for only the college-craziest students to gather. Never dreamed I’d become an active member :P</p>
<p>Everyone here is headed to great places and worrying over whether founding a club is a great EC or not isn’t going to change things. Complaining about insignificant presidencies just makes people with less stellar EC’s feel worse about themselves. 
I guess what I’m trying to get at is, think before you post.</p>
<p>@WhyAmIOnThisSite</p>
<p>Sorry, I didn’t mean for it to come off that way. I think ultrachromatic hit the nail on the head - I (and presumably others) are at the point where we’re nervous and doubting our chances of getting in. I was just reading through the thread about all of the really fantastic ec’s people have done (research, state/national awards for speech, etc.) and I felt like my involvement in school was lacking.</p>
<p>I’m not dissatisfied with my EC’s, 2nd in state for Mock Trial HAS to hold some type of weight.
My essays though… For my extended I compared the structure of a sandwich to the structure of success. I mean, why is it that we can eat a sandwich and it tastes good but if we stuffed the sandwich he’s elements into our mouth, piece by piece, it doesn’t taste as good?
For my why UChicago essay, I wrote about why being a scholar is important to me and how UChicago will grant me the scholarly education I’ve always desired (not really challenged in HS). For my favorites essay I wrote about my favorite philosopher :p</p>
<p>@fireballs619 - Nah, don’t worry about it. I COMPLETELY understand what you’re feeling right now, and I’m sorry if I came off as harsh too. But for what it’s worth, I think your EC’s are amazing. As long as everything else was solid as well, you have a great chance of getting in. Well, assuming luck is on your side too…:D</p>
<p>I’m just at the point where I realized that obsessing over past results threads, reading this year’s Columbia/Harvard early acceptance results, wondering what I did wrong to not even get a deferral…it really doesn’t do anything for me. So I’m working on RD essays now and I feel a lot less stressed over decisions :D</p>
<p>@carter001 - That sandwich essay sounds EPIC. I’d like to see the admissions officer who isn’t at least intrigued by that one :P</p>
<p>@carter001</p>
<p>My Why UChicago essay was similar. I wrote about how I wanted to be in an environment that valued learning, which is the vibe I got from some college visits there. My extended essay I wrote about my bookshelf (I compared it to a rock outcropping at one point). </p>
<p>My favorites essay was all over the place, I tried to just fit as much as I could in.</p>
<p>@WhyAmIOnThisSite I hope that all of us reach the same, more logical, reduced-stress point - good on you for already arriving at it! :)</p>
<p>@carter Essays! I REALLY want to read your extended one now - it sounds so fascinating and delightfully weird ^_^</p>
<p>My extended one is kind of hard to describe - but it’s basically autobiographical, about when I was stuck at a stopover in Gibraltar on my way to Sudan and decided to walk 3 or 4 miles to the Strait of Gibraltar and look across at Africa. I wrote it in the second-person and it tied to language and its limitations, cultural flux/international development, philosophy, and - oddly enough - a teeny bit of physics (largely a linguistics and policy nerd here lol). It was the mantis shrimp topic, and I’ve never had so much fun writing an essay before in my life.</p>
<p>I said this a bit earlier, but for my favorites essay I wrote about my favorite essayist (Teju Cole), neoclassical composer (Nico Muhly) and modern artist (Dieter Roth); and then for my Why UChicago I talked about intellectual vibrancy and boldness, and maaaaaybe name-dropped an alum for whose Congressional campaign I interned this past summer ;)</p>
<p>OK guys, I get that we’re all stressed out, but comparisons are not going to do anybody any favors. Once we get our results there’s a point to posting, but right now there’s really no good that can come of it–it’ll just add to the frantic obsessing and second-guessing that I know I for one am pretty prone to. What if we maybe posted things to distract from the wait instead? Kind of like the stuff on Chicago’s email list of reasons to get your app in on time. To start things off, Jenna Marbles being awesome: [Better</a> Names For Foods - YouTube](<a href=“Better Names For Foods - YouTube”>Better Names For Foods - YouTube) . I know I for one need a break from trying to be sophisticated and witty. Aaanyway, just an idea! I hope this doesn’t offend any of you, I think your ecs are plenty sexy :)</p>
<p>Feeling terribly unqualified. X(</p>
<p>And I love Jenna. Swearing is usually vulgar (no kidding lol), but when Jenna does it, it’s like hahahahaa.you’re.so.funny.marry.me. lol</p>
<p>I wrote a long essay on that “You are yourself and your…” … I wrote about my desk… which… may be is somewhat creative? My college counselor said she love this essay… I just hope my not-so-polished language doesn’t affect too much…</p>
<p>You guyz had great essays! I struggled with the history one</p>
<p>Ohhh ***** ultrachromatic I see what you did there ;D that’s awesome! I’ll definitely let you guys read it! Don’t get too excited, there was only so much I could fit into 500 words haha</p>
<p>I was kind of proud of my essay, I did the “Explain your favorite joke without ruining it” one but I’m also nervous because it may very well be terrible (my parents liked it, but they’re biased because it’s about my dad)</p>
<p>^ as long as you got your point across, it should be fine, that one was too risky.</p>
<p>Also I tend to freak out about lacking extracurriculars? Most of mine involves theatre, a random intense devotion to Quiz Bowl because it is my love, work experience, and a summer course (my ~charitable~ work mainly focuses on Breast Cancer Awareness for personal reasons) I also have NHS but that’s like a joke to admissions officers right?</p>
<p>(Unless you’re an officer or do a lot of fundraisers I mean)</p>