Worried about extra-curriculars!

<p>This is what my ECs will look like when I'm applying to college so they are ~predicted. </p>

<p>I am the only source of income in my family so I spend all of my time outside of school working, etc and therefore don't do any school clubs. I'm a little worried about how this will look. What do you all think? </p>

<p>I'm hoping to apply to top 40 schools and major in Computer Science.</p>

<p>[ul][<em>]Working: 40 hours/week in IT. Passed the CompTIA A+ and Network+ exams.
[</em>]Carer: Sole carer of parent.
[<em>]Writing: Awards (Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, etc). Summer program in writing. Published articles. Hoping to try and publish a novel. ;-) Also review books for a national newspaper.
[</em>]Business: I am self-taught in web and graphic design. I blog to earn money to contribute to my family as well as running a web/graphic design business.
[<em>]Athletics: I'm a sprinter who is hopefully D1 competitive! I don't want you to take into account whether I get recruited or not though! Just whether my ECs are competitive...
[</em>]Volunteering: 1500+ hours. [/ul]</p>

<p>Honestly, ECs are fantastic. Don’t worry.</p>

<p>Oh, you shouldn’t worry at all! Mine are much more worrying, yours are great!</p>

<p>^Thank you so much to the both of you! :slight_smile: I’m worried because I don’t have any leadership or typical clubs and ‘presidencies’. :/</p>

<p>^To be honest, I think it is far more impressive that you have still maintained grades competitive enough for “Top 40” schools while carrying the burden of providing economically for your family than having any “club leadership positions”. Kudos my friend and best of luck! :)</p>

<p>^Thank you Hockeydude! I really appreciate it. I hope the schools that I’m applying to see it the same way. I wish you the best of luck too! :)</p>

<p>Care to chance me back bunnyears?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1282445-chance-mit-other-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1282445-chance-mit-other-schools.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Well, leadership roles matter, but colleges mostly want to see that you’re passionate about what you do, and you seem to me, so just explain your most important EC’s and your passion behind them, and I think you’ll be just fine!</p>

<p>Thank you andreaval! Me and a friend have plans to start fundraising and raising awareness of a charity around where we live so hopefully I can show some leadership through that. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>Hockeydude, I will do my best to chance you with the knowledge I have but take it with a pinch of salt. ;)</p>

<p>~ Bumping!</p>

<p>Those are excellent EC’s. I’m also plan on majoring in Computer Science (although not at a top 40 school) and my EC’s are much less impressive.</p>

<p>Thank you so much, aoeder! :slight_smile: </p>

<p>I was expecting a lot of negative responses.</p>

<p>One suggestion - use “care-giver” instead of “carer” when applying to schools in the US and Canada, as it is the more frequently used term. At first, I thought you mis-spelled “career,” and it took me a minute to figure out what you meant!]</p>

<p>Ah, thank you for that Got2BeGreen! I wasn’t sure what the US term was. :)</p>

<p>~ Bumping again!</p>

<p>Your EC’s are great!!! How did you self-teach yourself so many things?!!</p>

<p>Thank you Foodlover! Are you talking about the web & graphic design? :)</p>

<p>You’re welcome. Yes…how were you able to learn it?</p>

<p>I started when I was quite young. I learnt HTML when I was eight or nine from a HTML for Dummies book. :smiley: Since then, I’ve just picked up bits and pieces from other languages as I’ve needed them (CSS, etc). </p>

<p>Graphic design involves a lot of experimentation and online tutorials. </p>

<p>If you’re interested in learning yourself, I can direct you to some websites? :)</p>

<p>Wow, you’re very smart! Yes, I’d love to see some websites! Thanks! By the way, I’m taking computer science as an elective next year, so some practice will help…:)</p>