Hello! I am currently a junior and I do not think that I have good extracurriculars. I was wondering how much this will hurt me and if there’s anything I can do to change it or if it is too late. My ECs are:
• Newspaper, President (joined 10th grade, pres this year)
• Debate, no leadership (joined in 10th grade)
• Volunteer during summer but not too many hours
• Getting a job this summer in which I will work about 20 hrs a week
I plan on majoring in public relations. Is there anything I can do now to increase my chances for a school like USC or should I just focus on my test scores and essays at this point?
To see what is important to a college for admissions, google “ Common Data Set” and then look in section C7. USC says that ECs are “Important” (as oppsoed to Very Important or Considered).
My suggestion would to be to see if you can do something related to public relations…for example, do you belong to a church or house of worship? Can you work with someone there to help publicize events?
Or can you write stories for local newspapers like the Patch?
Also check out this book (at your local library) for more ideas:
Check out “How to be a High School Superstar” by Cal Newport.
“The basic message of the book is this: Don’t wear yourself out taking as many classes as you can and being involved in every club and sport. Instead, leave yourself enough free time to explore your interests. Cultivate one interest and make it into something special that will make you stand out among the other applicants and get you into the toughest schools, even if your grades and scores aren’t stellar. Newport calls this the “relaxed superstar approach,” and he shows you how to really do this, breaking the process down into three principles, explained and illustrated with real life examples of students who got into top schools: (1) underscheduling—making sure you have copious amounts of free time to pursue interesting things, (2) focusing on one or two pursuits instead of trying to be a “jack of all trades,” and (3) innovation—developing an interesting and important activity or project in your area of interest. This fruit yielded by this strategy, an interesting life and real, meaningful achievements, is sure to help not only with college admissions, but getting a job, starting a business, or whatever your goals.”
They look stronger then mine. Lol. Just show some passion and pursue it. From talking to the reps that visited our school, they like to see a drive. Why are you doing these activities?
What about working on building up experiences so you have enough substance to draw on for your essays.