I live in a small southern town where very few students end up attending college, and it seems like the main focus of my school is raising the graduation rate. It may also be important to include that my counselors are completely unhelpful and unpleasant despite my best efforts. It may be a mix of unqualification and disinterest but they cannot help me, so please do not recommend that I talk to them. My school offers few AP classes but I have taken the absolute hardest course load they offer so I am not worried academically. In terms of extracurricular activities, my school offers basic sports like football, soccer, baseball, basketball, wrestling, track, cross country, tennis, golf, and that’s it. I played varsity tennis and plan to do track. In terms of clubs, there is basically one club for most college majors, a couple community service clubs (Beta club, Key club), and NHS. I tried Beta Club and Key Club for a year but left because they do not contribute to the community whatsoever and are simply an extra line to add to a resume. NHS was basically the same, the community service you preform is not meaningful and it feels like all the community service opportunities are just teachers being lazy. For example, some community service opportunities that were strongly pushed by my chapter leader were: help set up her classroom, move chairs for a freshmen orientation, or even bring in tissues and hand sanitizer to donate. Student government wasn’t really a thing at my school either. This has left me pretty uninvolved in my school and instead I decided to look outward for better opportunities. I attended my church youth group every week and completed tons of fundraisers, charities, and mission work in state, out of state, and even out of country with them for weeks at a time. I took advantage of my church as a way to help the community, but this left my professional interests unattended. I plan to major in business, more specifically finance, and in my area there seems to be next to nothing that could really help me. I decided to go online and I ended up freelancing/making my own business in a super tight niche that quickly died but I made around $1,000 in a month with $0 investment and I had a blast. Afterwards I decided to invest in cryptocurrency and I ended up making $400-$500 of profit with my previous $1000 invested. My question is, will colleges overlook my rather weak ec’s and maybe even appreciate my outside efforts? Also, what should I do in the remaining year of high school and what could I have done, if anything, in my past years?
Don’t sweat it if your school doesn’t offer great clubs and activities - that just means you get to avoid some of the cliche sameness that so many apps get. This is actually a great opportunity for you - make your own activities. Do your own projects. Create your own outside work. Not only is this just as valid, but if you describe it appropriately, it can help you even more than just participating in a canned club because you will have shown initiative and intellectual curiosity.
Seriously, figure out a few major activities or projects you can do on your own (or organizing others) and just do them.
Without knowing what the rest of your app shows or what you want to do, it’s tough to know if the activities you’ve listed will be helpful on your app. But if I could make some general suggestions - don’t focus on or even list the $ amounts. Colleges don’t care. There’s not a magic $ amount that validates you or makes a college interested. Instead, it’s about what that activity demonstrates about you. So approach describing these things knowing it’s about showing them what you did and will bring to the table. When you created a business, what did you teach yourself, what did you learn, how did you interact with others, how did your experience change you, what new knowledge did this spark, how will you apply this in the future? Those sorts of things are what will make a difference on your app, not how much money you made.
If you have a year left before you’re applying, you still have time to do some really awesome and interesting projects or activities on your own… go figure out what interests you and do it. Good luck.
You don’t have weak ECs, If anything, you have strong EC’s because you took the initiative to find ways to get involved outside of your school. List those activities on your applications, and use your essay to show what you learned from your experience. The point is to take advantage of whatever is available. If your school doesn’t offer much, you go elsewhere. Plenty of students attend schools that don’t offer much - my daughter’s school has ZERO sports, and a small handful of academic oriented clubs (debate, math team, robotics, NHS). because they draw attendance from many school districts - kids can’t easily stay after school to participate. That hasn’t stopped anyone from getting into top schools (Class of 2018 with about 75 graduates, 3 going to Yale, 1 to MIT, several to other top schools).
I would not mention investing in cryptocurrency, whatever you do. Given you are going into senior year and will be applying to college over the next few months, it’s probably late to start anything just for the sake of adding it to your application (though I encourage you to try new activities for enjoyment). However, all is not lost. You can probably form a good essay around living in your small town and your search for knowledge, experience, and opportunities, the challenge of creating your own (by way of your business), and that will lead nicely into why you’re a good fit for a college and they’re a good fit for you. Colleges will consider how you made the most of the opportunities you had, not on the things outside your control.
I realize there is a lot of controversy surrounding crypto and for the most part they are or are at least perceived to be a blind gamble, but I still gained a lot of knowledge and insight. I did well in the market even when the market as a whole was losing and I made complex trades that I felt were well-informed decisions. Do you still think I should not mention it to be safe in case they have some negative notions, or maybe I should rephrase it in some way?
Also, https://www.accounting-degree.org/college-cryptocurrency-blockchain-courses/
Many top colleges have some affiliation with crypto or at least student-led organizations concerning crypto
I think it’s ok to mention your crypto interest as long as you discuss it intelligently (ie, don’t come off as either an ignorant fan boy or predator/opportunist). Also, don’t worry about not having joined enough clubs. A long list of club memberships impresses nobody. Just create a cohesive story around the interests and pursuits you followed in high school…which it sounds like you have done.
You are not limited to what your school offers – ECs include activities in your local community, religious community etc. So you were wise to seek out activities in your church. If you want business related activity, why don’t you see if you can take on a role as treasurer for the youth group or for a fundraiser or maybe volunteer with the person in charge of finances at your church? Also keep in mind that a part-time job is viewed as carrying similar weight to an EC.