Will my ack of ECs have a great effect on college admissions?

<p>Ok so first of all i have no time to participate in afterschool activities because after i get home i go straight to my parents restaurant and help them out pretty much until the evening. I do all my hw there aswell if its not too busy so it's like a second home. Im scared this will have a great affect on my acceptance into a good university :( what should i do:((</p>

<p>Stop worrying.</p>

<p>Colleges don’t actually care all that much whether you’re the vice president of your school’s Model UN club. They want to know how you use your time outside school. Not only is helping run the family business a perfectly honorable use of your out-of-school time, but it’s also one that many, many colleges and universities respect very much.</p>

<p>You have an extracurricular activity. Actually, you have a huge one that takes up a lot of your time.</p>

<p>Your job is so much better than the typical laundry list of a bunch of meaningless officer positions that involve no actual responsibility.</p>

<p>Agreed. Pretty sure colleges are tired of seeing privileged rich kids with a bunch of meaningless ECs. Your story is much more interesting than most kids’. :)</p>

<p>I agree with everyone above me completely. Helping out with the family business is more commendable than participating in far too many EC’s just for the sake of saying you did them. I would think admissions officers would agree.</p>

<p>okay, so then i have a question. let’s say you had passion in an extracurricular, did it for a long time, and did something to benefit the community. would that be just as good as a leadership position (i.e. president of Model UN Club)?</p>

<p>^ Actually the benefit to the community thing would be more impressive than the club presidency.</p>

<p>Admission officers have been to high school, so they know most club and council positions are more of popularity competition than anything else. If being a club president has fruited into something SUBSTANTIAL (fund-raising, wide recognition, etc), that’s when the leadership position actually becomes meaningful.</p>

<p>Thanks i guess i never saw it that way… I just hope admission officers will understand:)</p>