<p><b>What are most colleges looking for, well-rounded students or students who are extremely passionate about one or two subject areas? Do you think it varies by college? What about the Ivies? How would you classify yourself, and do you think it will work for or against you?</b></p>
<p>Personally, I never understood kids who did thing like Key Club and such just because their friends were there, or it was "a nice thing to do." When I went into High School, I knew that my focuses were German and Music, and that's what I did. I have an impressive list of extracurriculars including study abroad and founding my school's German club, but when I see people's lists of ECs that looks something like this...</p>
<p>Key Club
Varsity Soccer
Varsity Swim
Math Olympiads
Literary Magazine
GSA
Ping-pong club
Spanish Club
Concert Band</p>
<p>...I get intimidated. On a logical level, I know that there's supposed to be truth to the fact that most schools don't want well-rounded students on an individual basis, but a student body that is well-rounded over all...meaning they don't care if that kid who plays classical harp can't do much else, as long as they're good at harp and have decent academics and represent their school in harp playing, or whatever. I don't know though, this is just what my counselors have told me, and they're rather incompetent.</p>