<p>Alright, in the beginning year of 9th grade, I was in French Club, Spanish Club, Literary Magazine, Writers' Guild, and Lasallian Youth Group.</p>
<p>But I realized that I didn't like Spanish, so I didn't like Spanish Club. I realized that I did not like Lasallian Youth Group, either.</p>
<p>So, I quit Spanish and Lasallian Youth and will not mention it on my app or anything.</p>
<p>So, I am down to three clubs that I go to every meeting of. Three clubs that do not have leadership positions. I guess three clubs doesn't make me well rounded enough for selective and highly selective colleges. I also study my butt off in German, but I don't think self studying languages really matter. I'm worried about my ECs. So, now what?</p>
<p>It is better to leave than hang on with unwanted wings. Hope you kept your grades high and were at the President position on all three clubs. Quality would matter!</p>
<p>Still a freshman!
Here’s what you need to know, then: there is a great big world outside of your high school. Volunteer for a non-profit or join a community group. Get a job doing something that interests you. Teach someone something that you are good at.
You should not waste any time on clubs that do not matter to you. But you do need to spend your time in meaningful ways…you get to choose what that is.</p>
<p>Self studying a language is a pretty big thing. If you can show competence in it, then it will be really impressive, moreso than just “joining a club.”</p>
<p>That said, the best way to get a leadership position is to create a club. Find something you like to do. </p>
<p>And you don’t have to limit yourself to in-school activities.</p>
<p>You probably only want 3 clubs.
And I mean join 3 real clubs that do real activities
It’s gonna be hard to keep up with more than 3 hard-core clubs</p>
<p>My son wasn’t involved in any clubs in high school. Just band and 2 years of a sport. He helped out at church for a a couple of hours per week and that was basically it.</p>
<p>He did live a pretty interesting/involved life outside of school and that is what he focused on in his essays. He got into every college he applied to and is now a sophomore at a HYPS type school.</p>
<p>Frankly, I think that once you cover the basics (i.e. gpa and test scores), colleges are mainly looking for interesting, passionate people…kids that somehow stand out amongst their peers. Sometimes this is reflected in club membership, but oftentimes, not.</p>
<p>Absolutely. Listing a bunch of clubs just becomes EC diarrhea. You’re not fooling around with quantity, only quality. Certainly awards and leadership positions go a long way but attending meetings for a club is not impressive. </p>
<p>I ABSOLUTELY WOULD include your German studies. To do it on your own shows passion for learning as well as a taking initiative. That’s the sort of kid colleges want - - intellectually curious and doing something about it. That’s the sort of thing that can stand out on an application from the usual stuff admissions sees all the time. It might even make a good essay subject as well.</p>
Member of 10 clubs isn’t going to help you at highly selective colleges. They don’t care how many clubs you’re in, they care what you do. Stanford says it best in its admission FAQ
<p>I worry that you seem to have so much anxiety here and in some of your other posts about whether you will ever be able to properly prepare yourself for college, feeling as if you’re kind of behind the eight ball and as if you’re not measuring up at your young age. I think it’s great that you’re taking responsibility for your future, but you’re doing fine! If I remember correctly, you have a scholarship at an excellent high school (Good for you!) where you are working hard and are highly motivated. You are already taking an honors course in 9th grade and doing well in it. You are in three clubs and self-studying German. </p>
<p>There is absolutely nothing wrong with what you’re already doing, and nothing missing from your 9th grade experience that will keep you out of a good college! </p>
<p>As others are saying, you do not have to be in 10 clubs (or take 10 AP’s, or be in all honors classes in 9th grade, or already have 2 or 3 leadership position) to be able to get into an excellent school later on. You just keep doing what you’re doing, keeping your grades up, developing relationships with a couple of teachers you like, maybe adding another honors class next year in the subject area that you are absolutely the best at and like the most, figuring out where your interests lie and pursuing a couple of in-depth EC’s in those areas. </p>
<p>With EC’s, it is seriously OK to have one or two that you really like a lot and in which you actually do a lot – better even than being elected to a leadership position in a bunch of school clubs if you can’t demonstrate that you are doing something meaningful and really care about all of them. Your interest can even be something unusual. For example, say you like birds. You start birdwatching and keep birdwatching notebooks. You try to start a birdwatching club at your school, but it doesn’t work out, so you find a group of birdwatchers in your city, and you go on outings with them every month or so if it’s OK with your parents. You start a blog about the birds you observe. You learn a little more about photography so you can photograph the birds for your blog. You find out if the ornathology section of your local natural history museum will take volunteers. You volunteer at a local animal rescue group to help care for the birds. When you are older, maybe your science research project can be about birds. (The thing is, you’re not doing any of this for college specifically, but because you really like birds and you keep looking for interesting things to do that relate to birds.)</p>
<p>Or let’s say you just like animals a lot. Can you volunteer at the zoo? Can you help out a local vet on a regular basis? </p>
<p>I’m not saying that you should be doing any of these particular things, but advising you to look within to see what you really find interesting and enjoy. Not what you feel you should enjoy or what you think will look good for college, but what really makes you feel great when you’re doing it or thinking about it. It could be cooking or singing or movies or writing poetry or computers or helping out elderly people at your church/mosque/temple or working with little kids. IMHO, it is more important for your growth as a person – and believe it or not for college – for you to be spending time doing what you like to do in a purposeful and constructive way.</p>