HI! I would like to know if too many extracurriculars hurt my admission odds to elite colleges. I have 7 extracurricular activities I have in mind that I would most likely be doing: Jazz Band, my church’s band, my own band, track, cross country, yearbook, and some coding stuff that I like to do (possibly creating an app or website by the end of my junior year). From those activities you could see that I like music, running, journalism, and computer science. I am doing yearbook out of curiosity. Would it hurt to have too many interest, should I drop yearbook, or just simply not list it on my extracurricular list? Please consider that it might be the easiest for me to get an editor position in yearbook and possibly section leader in jazz band.
You should pursue what you want to pursue as long as you have the time to pursue them without interfering with your grades. And, you should avoid taking on so much that you will end up having to shirk your responsibilities and/or commitments.
Thanks
Do you know if I have to list all my extracurricular on the extracurricular list?
Also, can I just list all the bands under music as one catogory?
You certainly could, but you only have 150 characters to describe an activity or a group of activities on the Common App, so I’m not sure if you want to group them.
Some people write them in the Additional Information section though, so I don’t know maybe you want to write it in there.
Grouping is a very good strategy, as is using the Additional Information section to expand on ECs. Many people leave out activities - especially casual ones that aren’t a focus - in order to concentrate the effect of their more important ECs.
I think its a fine line between doing what you can to get into the college of your choice and having fun doing what you enjoy. I would participate in the ECs that you enjoy. If you enjoy all 7, have time for academics and just to hang out/chill, go for it.
On applications, I would list the ones that are the most important to you. Ideally you would be the most involved in those. Would look better than ECs where you are just casually involved (and there is nothing wrong with those ECs).
So, if I was just doing year book out of curiosity and as a chance to improve my writing skills, should I still put it on my EC list even though it is not like super super important to me?
But I would be doing it for all 2 or 3 year
Follow your interests on yearbook: sign up for year 1. If you like it, keep it. If you don’t, move on. It is perfectly reasonable to taste-test stuff!
Thanks!