Will I Look Too Well-Rounded?

Applying to College
1

<p>I've visited a lot of top college information sessions (and by a lot, I mean A LOT A LOT--Like over 60), and one constant recurring theme is, "We would rather admit a student who does 1 activity with great dedication than a student who does a laundry list of 10 activities. You don't NEED to fill in all the spots on the common application!"</p>

<p>Now, I personally have two larger themes/vein of activities running throughout my application: politics, and performing arts. In the former vein of activities, I do speech and debate, advice state legislators, etc. In the latter, dance and band.</p>

<p>However, in addition to these, I am a member of the school newspaper and the math club... and I volunteer... and I did economics research. It sounds like a laundry list on the surface.</p>

<p>But I do dedicate about 2 to 3 hours/week to the newspaper and the math club each--I am editor-in-chief and president respectively, and I really love doing both of them--yet I am worried about putting these on my application because I don't want to look too unfocused or too "laundry listish." </p>

<p>In short, will including these peripheral activities in my application make me look too unfocused/too well-rounded/too undesirable? Should I leave these off and just focus on emphasizing my main passions? Or should I include them in my application because I have leadership roles?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Upload a resume where you can list all of your activities. It will be obvious that there are related activities that represent your greatest interests. You can even group them together to make it more obvious.
Don’t worry about having too many activities, many of the kids you are competing against have TONS of activities, especially if you are applying to prestigious schools.
What the colleges don’t like to see is someone who jumps from one thing to the next in an effort to build a big list but who clearly isn’t interested in anything.</p>

3

<p>While many kids applying to top schools have tons of activities, the ones who get in usually have a high level of impact/achievement in one or two areas. That doesn’t mean they didn’t do lots of things - but they really excelled (and thereby differentiated themselves from the pack) in one or at most two areas. Nothing wrong therefore with listing all the things you’ve done - but keep the focus clearly on your two ‘themes.’</p>