I have put out a couple of posts trying to gauge how big of a chance I have for certain schools.
When people get to my EC’s pretty much all of them say that I don’t have them focused in my areas of interest (law/surgery).
Is that really a huge deal?
Here is my list: Student Council, Science Olympiad, FBLA, Mentor to 9th graders, Counselor to 6th graders, Tutoring, NHS, Golf, and Lacrosse.
This is literally every EC besides music and robotics at my school. So I know I don’t have any law and surgical things, but there aren’t very many options at my school.
Is this gonna be a drawback, and are colleges going to view me unfavorably if I explain that?
Also if this helps I have a black-belt in tae-kwon-do after 5+ years of study and I did the People to People student ambassador program and went to the UK.
In case anybody wants it I have a ~3.9 UW and a 4.32 W, with a 710 in CR 730 in M and 610 in WR
With about 300 Volunteer hours.
I don’t think people are telling you that you have to have ECs focused in law or surgery - how would a high school student get a surgical EC? (No, I really don’t want to know. My imagination is vivid enough as is.) What they are telling you is that your ECs aren’t focused - meaning, they are a list of everything your school offers instead of painting a compelling picture of what really interests, drives and motivates you. Not that this matters at most schools. Most schools don’t care about ECs. And many that do care, just want to know that you’ll participate in and contribute to the campus. But at the selective schools, they are looking for a high level of achievement in your ECs as well as your academics. That’s hard to do if you are involved in 10 different things. If you care about tae-kwon-do, then take it to another level. Student government matters to you? Good - what have you accomplished in your time there? Tutoring, mentoring and counseling younger students (all different flavors of the same thing, it sounds like) - that’s great: How does this impact your life and why do you continue to do it?
This is the area where 99% of high schoolers just don’t get it. EC’S GO WAY FARTHER THAN THE CONFINES OF YOUR SCHOOL!!! Do not be limited by your school. If you’re interested in law, you could start a club (mock trial or something of that sort), you could seek an internship with a local lawyer, etc. If your interest is law/politics, then it’s even more wide open. You can get involved with the local school board, get involved with city politics, run for a state position for SGA, etc. As far as surgery is concerned, I have no clue where you could go with that. But just remember that your school does not limit you! Go beyond the schoolyard!