<p>What kinds of special extracurriculars do you guys do? My high school is nothing special, and my peers think that getting decent grades and being in clubs will send them to Harvard.</p>
<p>Hahahah, sounds exactly like my school. This dude thought he was going to get accepted at Harvard and Stanford with a 1900 SAT and a 3.6 GPA. I laughed at him and told him to go to Penn State. </p>
<p>As for me, I don’t have many special extracurriculars, though give me an example of what you mean by that.</p>
<p>Haha thanks for the reply, and I just meant anything “special” as in something other than basic clubs and sports.</p>
<p>Note that my ECs are the weakest part of my application, and they are not competitive for HYPSM-esque schools. But my list is a good example of how ECs don’t have to be sponsored by your high school. </p>
<p>Piano (9, 10, 11, 12, not good)
Working at McDonald’s (11, 12, don’t get many hours)
Math club at dual-enrollment university (vice president, 12)
Editorial internship with online magazine (12)
Physics of Atomic Nuclei summer program (12)
Local chemical engineering mentorship (11, 50 hours)
Book/filmmaking club at local public library (cofounder, 10, 11)
Volunteering at public library (9, 10, 11, 12)</p>
<p>What kinds of activities do you think would be competitive for HYPSM?
I think yours are pretty cool- especially the chemical engineering mentorship! And by mentorship, is that like an internship, or were you mentoring someone else?</p>
<p>I volunteer a lot at the public library. I tutor children and help them with their homework. The kids there all really like me, and the woman in charge of that section of the library is very happy with my work there, which lead to me getting a position as Co-President of the local Teen Advisory Group (we try to get teens to more actively use the library, a cause which I greatly support).</p>
<p>Just keep your eyes open to opportunities, and build on them. Also, volunteer for the things that interest you.</p>
<p>Thanks! I feel like I have missed out on a lot of opportunities though, and I’m finding out about things pretty late in my high school career.</p>
<p>@Hoping4Stanford, one thing I have learned from this site is that there is no special type of activity that can get you into HYPSM. You just do what you love and love what you do. You go in depth into one activity that you are passionate for, write a good essay on it along with great scores and other EC’s like clubs and sports, and then hope for the best. I see it as HYPSM wanting specialists not a bunch of rounded individuals as stupid as that sounds to you. This is one of my conclusions after reading hundreds of College Chances and Results Threads from HYPSM students.</p>
<p>The mentorship program is this local thing where they find someone in a career you’re interested in and you go shadow them for a few months, for either 30 or 50 hours. And you complete a project related to your field of interest, and then you can compete for scholarships. So it was something like an internship, but it wasn’t competitive to get. </p>
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<p>My activities could be competitive for HYPSM if I had done them for longer and been more involved in them than I was. It’s not really a matter of what you do…they just want to see dedication, long-term commitment, signs of passion.
Of course, winning prestigious awards can help, and I didn’t do that. (In my case I should have done the AMC tests and probably submitted stuff to Scholastic Art & Writing, but this will depend on your interests).</p>
<p>Stage manager is a huge one, I don’t leave school until 9:30 most nights. Also robotics captain, physics olympics, I teach art classes, I’m a math tutor, NHS, some other stuff</p>
<p>Seriously, there is no way to get a substantial, pre-application edge for HYPS, so just find a niche and dig it. My EC’s so far:</p>
<p>Six languages (English/Russian//Spanish/French/German/Mandarin)
AMC State Qualifier/something or other
Piano (2004-present)
Guitar (2011-present)
Wikipedia edits on history/sports (2010-present, over 10000)
5th place in the National Geography Bee (state) in 5th grade, qualified in 7th grade
German/Russian summer camps
Sports blog
Numismatics
Traditional Games Club. Exactly what the name specifies: 2 hours of playing chess/other games each Thursday.</p>
<p>My school doesn’t offer that many clubs or teams, but I’m in Model UN, FBLA (officer), and Interact. Last year I also did pit, which took up A LOT of time - 6/7 hours a day. To be honest, I don’t think I’m going to even mention Model UN or Interact to colleges.</p>
<p>I’m more active outside of school (and I enjoy the things I do more, too):
-Interning at a local radio station for a foreign-language talk show
-Flute (Pre-College Music program in 9th grade, Chamber Group in 10th, and obviously private lessons)
-Lincoln-Douglas Debate Team
-Tutoring children at a foreign-language school
-Painting lessons (not really a major ec, but I really enjoy it and I’m working on a portfolio)</p>
<p>Then I just have a bunch of smaller things going on and random volunteer hours collected from helping out at the library, local fairs, school events, concert halls, etc.</p>
<p>Teaching Academy! Whoop Whoop!
I ran to be activities director, but I lost to.some girl. I hate it because that would of been a awesome thing to put on my app. 
P.S the girl isn’t even applying to a UC school. Just CSU Monterey bay. 
I was like thanks for taking that chance of making my app awesome away from me.</p>
<p>There are many things you can do in and outside of high school, do something you really like. Colleges like well rounded students who can keep their grades up and focus on other things like community service or clubs. Its also a good way to build your resume and get recomendations
I graduated from high school in June and this is what my activities looked like
Fresman year: Technology center and Teen newpaper
Sophmore year: medical interpreting internship, chorus
Junior year: Courthouse internship, honors society, chorus and community service
Senior year: honors society, school newspaper, community service, prom commitee and internship at a law firm</p>
<p>I really recommend internships, you can always find something you like and as a bonus you earn some cash.</p>
<p>Start something.</p>
<p>Start a business. Start a volunteer effort. Start a chamber music group. Start an anime film fan club. Start a comparative religions reading group. Start and produce a podcast.</p>
<p>Admissions officers are always looking for leadership, and being a founder demonstrates it even more than being elected the president of an established group. It’s hard to lead something that is new, unproven, and still not fully formed. It’s hard to commit to something when you don’t even know if it will take root.</p>
<p>Willingly taking on that kind of challenge…that’s special. And when you think about it from the admissions officer’s perspective, it becomes very special indeed. </p>
<p>One of the ways universities build their reputations is through the accomplishments of their alumni. Every university wants to admit future founders of companies, NGOs, national and international non-profits, etc. </p>
<p>How happy is Wesleyan that they can say “Hey, Joss Whedon went here and now he makes well-loved television and film”?</p>
<p>How happy is Harvard that they can say “Hey, self-made billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates may have dropped out here, but we were savvy enough to admit him”? Or that they can add “Oh, and we also expelled Buckminster Fuller. Twice. But we’ll still take credit for his awesomeness”? ;-)</p>
<p>If you want your ECs to be “special”, don’t just join something. Start something.</p>
<p>Then you look like one of the future movers-and-shakers of America.</p>
<p>These are mine:</p>
<p>Dance for 13 yrs-ballet (pointe) and modern-advanced level, have had lessons with prominent dance figures and spent the summer putting together an arts supplement</p>
<p>Assistant for a kindergarten and first grade ballet class (9, 10, 11, 12)</p>
<p>Aerial silks lessons (like in Cirque du Soleil!) Really fun. (11, 12)</p>
<p>Creative writing, working on an ever progressing novel and other short stories, was involved in a personal correspondence with a published author in 9th and 10th grade</p>
<p>Writing Center tutor (9, 10, 11, 12) leadership position</p>
<p>Running-not with the school, on my own, placed in half marathons for my age division</p>
<p>Member of the same Girl Scout troop since kindergarten</p>
<p>Church Youth Group throughout high school</p>
<p>Lots and lots of tutoring.</p>
<p>Probably some other stuff I’m forgetting. But do what you love!</p>
<p>Halcyonheather, how good are you at piano? What piece(s) are you playing?</p>
<p>Something I guess not a typical CC activity I do is photography… I’ve been featured around various internet places and once at the W Hotel in Chicago, where I’ve never even been haha. Also I started a photography club at my school. Also I’ve sold prints and made money taking portraits. And for some of those selective Ivy Leagues I’m submitting a photography portfolio… and I wrote my common app essay about photography…</p>
<p>I guess I’m kind of pushing that EC haha. </p>
<p>Oh also I volunteer with adults with disabilities every summer, so I have like 600+ community service hours from that. + VP of best buddies at my school. </p>
<p>Nothing I do is really CC-esque… No olympiads, AMC or whatever, quiz bowl, no debate club. Mostly because I never heard of these things at my high school. Is that a disadvantage?</p>
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<p>I can play things like this:
[Clementi:</a> Sonatina in C major, op. 36 no. 1 (complete) | Cory Hall, pianist-composer - YouTube](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_Ksi2qmW0A]Clementi:”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_Ksi2qmW0A)</p>
<p>TL;DL: I’m not that good.</p>
<p>I do nothing special. All that I did that was different was be a majorly ****ed-up Asian.</p>