<p>1) I just recently started looking at the college applications for the schools that I’m serious about (+ the common app), and I’m having problems figuring out what to do with the “academic honors” section. I’m a straight-A student, and have been in all but one class since the first day of kindergarten, and I was on the honor roll every year through 8th grade, but in 9th grade I changed to a private school that didn’t offer any academic honors or honors or AP classes (they were academically challenging though). In 11th grade, I became a full-time student at TTUISD, which means all of my courses are correspondence (online). The school doesn’t offer any academic honors whatsoever that I can find, nor do they have AP classes (I’m taking some honors classes though). I’m also graduating next August, so I don’t have a ton of time. However, I feel like leaving the section blank would put me at a huge disadvantage. Any ideas? Also, I would be glad to know about any kind of competitions (preferably writing/history/government, as science/math aren’t my strongest subjects) you could suggest or other groups I could join individually, without school affiliation.</p>
<p>2) ECs: As the school is online, there are also no clubs/activities/organizations available to join. I was in choir in elementary school and big into band through junior high, but again, when I moved to the private school there was only academics offered there. Therefore I also can’t join NHS (as far as I can tell), or any similar honors organizations. I’ve spent hours upon hours for a number of months searching for non-school related organizations in my area, and can’t seem to find any that are a good fit or that allow minors to join. I took piano lessons for 7 years but stopped in the 8th grade due to illness, and I took horseback riding for 5 years, but stopped midway through 11th grade, and since those things weren’t in high school, I’m pretty sure they don’t count. I’m working on getting a volunteer position with Habitat for Humanity, but I want to do more than just that. Any ideas on nationwide (or TX) ECs that I could do would be greatly appreciated (that don’t need school affiliation). Or if not, what I should do with that section of the app since it’s so long?</p>