It seems every college wants a gregarious and outgoing student who is involved in all kinds of stuff at school, taking the hardest classes they can. Basically a textbook overachiever type.
There are kids in my grade who are very outgoing, join every club and team. But I prefer to spend time at home with my family, go skiing and surfing, and protect my free time. and value having free time to relax. When I was younger my parents forced me into activities that I did not enjoy and it was a constant struggle. They have chilled out and let me do my own thing now.
Is it because colleges have so many clubs, societies, groups if they accepted all kids like me those things would die out?
That is like the opposite of my personality, I am interested in doing a career in business or tech, making good money, and then pursuing my interests. Will colleges fault me for being more introverted in admissions and not being super involved in any kind of activities. My grades are pretty average I am like a B student.
I donât want to misrepresent myself to the colleges pretending I will be part of all these clubs and leadership roles that their school when I most likely wonât. Are there any colleges that prefer students who donât get involved in anything?
Colleges donât want just outgoing and gregarious kids. They do want kids who will contribute to life on campus, but there will be plenty of choices for a student like you. Itâs probably fair to say they would like to admit kids who wonât just hide in their rooms. Wanting to relax, being sociable, and being an introvert donât have to be mutually exclusive. But remember, thereâs a good reason why itâs called earning your degree. Youâre going to college to learn., not just relax.
Consider SUNY Geneseo too. Frankly, you can get an MBA after you finish undergrad. Wanting tech at a Liberal Arts College and being a B student is a bit trickier.
At least in our experience extracurricular activities (ECs) are important for a small number of very selective universities (Harvard, Stanford, MIT, âŠ) that are choosing from among a long list of applicants with nearly perfect grades. For most very good more normal colleges and universities (perhaps ranked below about 20 or 50 among the thousands of colleges and universities in the US) ECs are not as important.
One daughter had almost no ECs at all prior to her senior year of high school. She also values her free time. She was accepted to every university that she applied to. She did not apply to Harvard or Stanford, but that is okay. Where she applied were schools that were a good fit for her.
You are most likely not applying to top 20 universities anyway.
There are many, many very good liberal arts colleges in the US (and a few more outside the US).
There are a lot of introverted people working in high tech, as well as in biotech.
You should not and do not need to misrepresent anything.
Try to keep your grades up for the rest of this year. Treat people fairly. Look for colleges that are a good fit for you, and make sure that you apply to at least a couple of safeties (where âsafetyâ means that you will get accepted, you will be able to afford to attend, and you will be willing to go there).
I would not worry about a lack of ECs. You do you, and look for a school that is a good fit.
There will be lots of colleges for you - a ton - donât worry - and you need to be yourself.
What year are you in? What is your interest geographically, recreationally - you want to be in the mountains or in warmth? Business and Tech are obviously different although there is crossover - and people can make money or not - coming from anywhere.
Be yourself - if you want to get involved, do so for that reason - you want it - otherwise, take the right classes for you, be yourself, and when youâre a Senior or 2nd semester Junior, come back and if you have a list of schools then great - and if not, we can help you find some to check out.
Be the best you that you can and want to be - and the world will appreciate it.
I honestly think you have some misconceptions. I donât even think that the typical school activities and leadership roles are as important as you think, even at highly selective schools. I think most colleges value authenticity in an application. Many schools are focused on assembling an interesting class, with diverse talents, background and perspectives.
Donât âpretendâ anything!
What are you genuinely interested in? What do you do while home? Is there an interest you pursue on your own, outside of school, even if by yourself and at home? THere are many possibilities.
I suggest you look at the Colleges that Change Lives webaite. I also think you may have an interesting essay topic hidden here in your post.
There will definitely be a place for you, I have no concerns about that.
If you enjoy skiing and surfing, I suspect youâre on the west coast. Here is a list of schools that offer the majors youâre interested in, would have great proximity to one or the other of the sports, or is located between the two (and none too far from the other sport), and are small or medium in size. This doesnât take budget into account and is not a guarantee of acceptance at any of these.
You donât need to be focusing in on any particular colleges at this time: the point of this list is to show that you will have options that would probably fall as safeties, matches, and reaches.
I think we tend to traffic in tropes and stereotypes here on CC and I am just as guilty of it as anybody. Itâs easy to fall into the rabbit hole of chasing the perfect âpersonalityâ for a specific college (See, the âAsian in Chance Me and Similar Threadsâ thread.) But I donât think highly rejective colleges require everyone to act and behave the same way. There are lots of spikey students who will not necessarily have the same score on a Meyers-Briggs test as a recruited football player or member of an a capella singing group. Best advice is to be yourself.
You may be able to use simple statistics in your favor. For example, the University of Puget Sound accepts 88% of its applicants. If you were to submit a well-crafted application there, you would be likely to be admitted.
âpreferâ is pretty strong, and I doubt you will find a US college that will say that.
Different colleges want different things.
The big state universities that you arenât interested in donât mind at all whether or not you do anything.
The small LACs that you are interested donât need you to do anything in particular- but they do want to know that you will be a good member of the community.
For a start, all those teams and shows and concerts need people to watch them as well as be in them! All those activities the various âclubsâ organize need people to do the activity.
Also, âclubsâ in college are different than âclubsâ in HS. You like to ski & surf? At an LAC, you may find that you enjoy being part of the Ski / Surf club, even if it is just as a member who gets discounted ski passes or goes on the trips you want to go on. That is a way of being a part of a community, and you control your degree of involvement.
Think it through: do you really plan to stay in your (single) room by yourself, except for class, or when you take yourself off-campus to surf/ski/whatever by yourself? If so, why go to an LAC, where being a part of a community is central to the experience? You could just do an online BA and find an online job and poof! you are good to go.
OrâŠgive yourself a chance to grow a little. There are introverts at every,single.college. Research LACs until you find some that feel right to you. You might take a peek at St Lawrence (great skiing options), Rollins (surfing), UVt (technically not an LAC, but nearly so in practice, and has great skiing), or Syracuse & URochester (small unis with good skiing).
Puget Sound was my first thought too. Itâs a(n) LAC with a strong business program, which is somewhat unusual. Itâs not super close to surfing, though, unless you want to ride freighter waves Freighter Wave Surf Locations on Puget Sound
Salve Regina in Rhode Island makes several lists of good surfing schools, and itâs not too far from New England skiing⊠and the department of business and economics has several undergrad business majors.
Sounds like youâd like to be close to your family, so it would help to know what state, or at least what region, you are from.