<p>So, for next year, I'm afraid I have too many clubs/ECs picked out. Although I really want to do all of them, if I sign up for all of them, I'll probably only end up doing one or two. I'm a rising sophomore, and I'm taking the most rigorous schedule allowed for me at my school--including a math course normally taken Junior year.</p>
<p>Which clubs should I choose, and which ones will I have time to do?</p>
<p>3D Printing (only during school hours; no competitions; occasional field trips)
History Club (National History Day; I did this in eighth grade and loved it; I'm pretty confident I can get to states or maybe even nationals this year)
Robotics (variety of robotics competitions; I'll probably end up doing FRC and/or FTC; the FRC team has won several awards, and depending on my FTC team, I might win something)
JSA (I don't know how this club works at my school, but the description seems pretty interesting)
Mission Energy (volunteer hours; they try to make our school greener, which I wholeheartedly support)
Model UN (competes in 2-3 conferences a year, so not many; I did it last year as well; pretty fun, but I probably won't do very well at any conference)
Academic Challenge (our school's equivalent of a Math Club, Science Bowl, Quiz Bowl--basically all that stuff combined; members all super-smart, not sure if I'll fit in; you still have to try out to be part of any of the competition teams, and it's very hard to get on them)
MSJ Computer Science (again, I have no idea how this club works)</p>
<p>I'm also the writing editor of a literary magazine at the junior high school, so I have to go down there once a month or so for the meetings. I'm doing Colorguard during the fall/winter season and maybe the winter/spring season (when we're part of marching band), so that's 2 1/2 hours after school 3 days a week. In addition, I'll be tutoring kids in Math Olympiad around once a month. I want to tutor kids at the library, but I probably won't have time for that.</p>
<p>For someone who's planning to major in either Math, Physics, or CS and who is going to apply to competitive summer programs (SuMAC, Stanford Earth Sciences), which ones should I do? How many activities would be a reasonable amount?</p>
<p>Oh, I forgot two more clubs that I want to be part of since they weren’t on our school’s website (they formed too recently):</p>
<p>Biotechnology Club (very new; only had one meeting last year; it seemed pretty interesting)
Neuroscience Club (again, very new; I didn’t even know we had it until I saw something in the school paper about all the new clubs that had formed; I love neuroscience, so it seems pretty interesting?)</p>
<p>My problem is that if I sign up for too many clubs (for example, I signed up for ~20 last year), I’ll miss the meetings of a few and decide not to go to that club at all, or I’ll just slack off and decide that I might as well not do the club. For example, I only ended up sticking with two school activities (three if you count Biotech, which started near the end of the year) last year (although this also may have been due to my lack of a Facebook, since half of the clubs I signed up for sent one email saying to join the Facebook group). </p>
<p>Well, you DON’T want to be just a member in 10 (or 20!! yikes!) clubs. You want to be a leader in 2 or 3. In your case maybe hold a position in 3 and be just a member in 2.</p>
<p>So…let’s feed your interests!</p>
<p>Math
-Academic Challenge
-Tutor in Math Olympiad</p>
<p>Physics
-JSA? not sure what it is but you seem interested…</p>
<p>Sport
-Colorblock (definetly sets you apart from others even though it takes up time) (and it’s social)</p>
<p>You might not want to do these because they don’t fit your interests:
-History Club
-Model UN
-Tutoring at Library</p>
<p>So that is 10 Clubs… let’s narrow it down now…</p>
<ol>
<li>Definetly Tutoring Math Kids because it’s your only volunteering EC)</li>
<li>Robotics, win something, bring home a prize</li>
<li>Neuroscience (you say biotech doesn’t meet much, and you love neuroscience so I would go with neuroscience!)</li>
<li>Colorguard (it’s your one sport, most social, stay fit)</li>
<li>Academic Challenge because it combines Math and Science, go!, be with your people!!!</li>
</ol>
<p>Now for leadership…</p>
<p>You’re just a sophmore (like me!!) but by junior year you should have 1 position, by senior, 3+.</p>
<p>JSA is political science xD And Biotech started fourth quarter last year (during AP testing time), which is why I don’t think it met much then. I don’t know how it’ll be now.</p>
<p>I’m getting paid for the tutoring? It’s at my friend’s house; apparently 60 kids signed up for the class, and since I did Math Olympiad in elementary school, I’m helping with the tutoring. We’re each going to tutor once a month (there are six of us), and we get $20.</p>
<p>I still love political science (I’m thinking of minoring in it), which is why I’m part of MUN and History Club. I also love creative writing (I’m planning on submitting several pieces to the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, and I’m also the editor of the aforementioned writing club (which I guess could be considered a position?). I’m also planning on applying for Journalism next year (I didn’t get in this year because of a botched interview).</p>
<p>The library tutoring is in math and science, but applications haven’t opened yet, so I’m not sure how that works. I probably won’t be able to do it at the library closest to me due to the amount of time it takes up, but I might be able to get a spot at one of the other libraries in my city.</p>
<p>Will it hurt me if I have no ECs that I’ve been doing since freshman year?</p>
<p>You’re a rising sophomore, so I don’t think that having totally different EC’s b/w last year and the upcoming one will hurt you in the future. I do agree with @Spiral7 though - don’t spread yourself too thin. Maybe the best advice I’ve heard which I’ll relate to you is to pick only those clubs that you’re truly passionate about, whether they be completely different like Color guard and Neuroscience or somewhat similar, like 3D printing and Robotics (btw your school is AWESOME for offering all these options). </p>
<p>It’s kind of like that quote which goes along the lines of “if you do what you love, you won’t work a day in your life.” If you join clubs that you are truly interested in, you’ll probably do VERY well in them and, as Spiral recommended, find yourself possibly obtaining a leadership position. </p>
<p>@BPearlman97 yeah, my school has lots of options. It’s not too difficult to start a club–around 4-5 are formed each year, and everybody wants ECs when you go to a supercompetitive school xD My friends were actually the ones who started the 3D Printing club last year, although I guess I won’t join because I’m not that interested. I’ll stick with:</p>
<p>Robotics (probably just FRC, because I can program)
History Club (I just really love National History Day)
Colorguard (well, that was kind of obvious)
Model United Nations (I might be able to attain leadership Junior year and it’s really fun)
Academic Challenge (hopefully I won’t be too dumb)
Tutoring
Literary Magazine
And I’ll choose one of JSA, Neuroscience, Energy, and Biotech depending on how the first meetings go. </p>
<p>I’m self-teaching myself coding and I might enroll in an outside CS program if I get in anyways, so I won’t go with the CS club.</p>
<p>Excuse me while I throw away my dreams of going to Cornell X_X
Lol those are some cool clubs to join, just make sure you have the time to make your commitments worth more than just a place in your future college apps.<br>
Do you do any sports or work? Outside of school stuff…</p>
<p>Hah, at least your dream school isn’t Stanford. That’s an impossible dream… You certainly might be able to get in–who knows? My grades aren’t exactly stellar–we have around 20 people get a 4.0 every year with a schedule chock-full of APs. Thankfully, my school doesn’t rank, or I would have a 0% chance at all the schools I want to get into.</p>
<p>The club diversity at my school is probably due to the fact that we have horrible class selections (although this also might be due to the fact that no one wants to take a class without the AP label in front of it).</p>
<p>I’m too young to get a job in my area, but when I turn 16, I want to get a job at Sandia Laboratories (it’s sponsored by the DOE and people from my school have gotten research positions there, since they allow high-schoolers; if I can get something in physics or chemical engineering, I’d be the happiest girl in the world). I don’t think anything in my area, even fast-food restaurants (which I’d never work at because I’m vegetarian and I’d have to handle meat), hire anyone below the age of 16. The Math Olympiad stuff could sort of be counted as work? I’m thinking of tutoring kids for the middle-school math placement test, but I don’t have space in my schedule (unless I’d like to let go of every ounce of my free time, which I’m not willing to do).</p>
<p>Colorguard is my only sporty activity; I’ve never been very good at anything except dance (and that’s only in specific types). I did Bollywood dancing last year (competitive group, but I’m not that good at the style my teacher teaches), but I’m not sure if I’ll have the time to continue this year. If I do, it’ll only be during competition season (the spring; we only go to two competitions, but we have a lot of practice).</p>
<p>Haha nobody really does know. We all have verrrry slim chances, but a chance is more than nothing. And if you can get that job - DO IT. And yeah 16 is usually the age for franchises or factories, although I was able to get a job reffing in roller and ice hockey when I was 14 (off the books). No opportunities like this you have around me in Upstate NY, take advantage of what you’ve got! </p>
<p>Yeah, I really, really want that job. I’m thinking of asking professors at Berkeley if I can shadow them or something, but that would be really scary (and I’ve heard most don’t care and ignore emails). There aren’t really many opportunities where I live–there are plenty of older high-schoolers looking for jobs as well (I live in a very large suburban city). I’m going to apply to internship programs the summer before senior year, and I’m planning on applying to the Stanford Earth Sciences Internship (unpaid), SuMAC, and COSMOS next summer (SuMAC is my top choice, but I probably won’t get in and if I do but I don’t get enough financial aid, I won’t be able to go).</p>
<p>Hey, I went to COSMOS this summer! It was pretty cool! If you have any questions later you can ask me! I’m gonna try to go to SuMAC this summer but my math skill has gone down so I probably won’t get in.</p>
<p>How hard is it to get into the UCD Math or Astrophysics programs? Astrophysics is my first choice, but I’m putting it down as my second since Math (which is my second choice by a small margin) is a first-choice option only.</p>
<p>I’m afraid my AMC scores aren’t high enough for SuMAC, and I got a B+ in math first semester of freshman year (I got a 95 second semester; I was just slacking off and not checking my answers). I didn’t really try on the AMCs since I didn’t actually think I’d need them for anything; and although I got significantly higher scores in middle school (I think I got around a 95 in seventh grade and around a 106 in eighth grade), I’ve forgotten my exact scores, so I can’t put those scores down. Hopefully I’ll get my AMC 10 and 12 scores back before the due date for next year’s application. My teacher rec will be really, really good, though, so hopefully that will make a difference. I looked at one of the old practice tests, and I think I’d be able to do most (if not all) of the problems. I’ll be applying for Program I, how about you?</p>
<p>The club selection at your school is stellar, my school has hardly any academic based clubs. I would say join the club(s) which you think you would do best in, as the awards and all would like great on applications. </p>
<p>Yep, we have a lot (probably around 50-60?) of clubs. But we’re a very big school (around 2500 people total) full of people who are very, very invested in college, so…</p>