Title says it all. I am currently a freshman involved as an ASB Secretary, CSF Rep, and regular member at Key Club, MESA, and 2 small clubs (Drama and a bee research on its decline). Do they care if you are an involved officer? Do they focus more on involvement, if so, involvement of what activities? Hope this made sense. Basically, what activities should I focus on the most?
I have a sophomore child and from my understanding, first and foremost, you want to find sth that u really enjoy doing (often see people using Passion to describe it and I guess the common sense is that AO could tell whether u r doing sth just to pad ur resume or u r truely passionate about it). And if u r passionate about ur EC, u will 1) doing it for a long period of time (such as four or more years); 2) be pretty good at it (such as certain club leader/achieve awards of some sort); 3) link ur EC with ur future college pursuits. I don’t think u necessary need to have all three but having one or more will definitely show ur dedication.
Better 1 or 2 things you love, put a lot of time/effort in and maintain for a long period (years) rather than a bunch of things with only superficial involvement. It doesn’t matter so much what it is, as long as you’re excited about it.
I agree with the points above. Do what you love to do. Do not worry about college admissions when picking your activities.
You do not know yet what you will learn or achieve from being in each activity. You may not even realize what you have learned or why something you did was significant until you look back at it. One event from my son’s summer camp job became the basis for his Common App essay, and he got into his top choice early decision. He had no idea at the time of the event that that event was significant or would make a great character-revealing essay; he discovered that during the college application process.
Your genuine interest in your activities will do more for your life as well as for your application than an insincere interest and attempt to do things to “look good.”
Enjoy the journey!