Chances of me getting into a good college? Impact of extracurriculars? Is leadership important? SOS

Applying to College
1

Hey all,

This is my first post, so apologies if I go against the status quo or something of the sort (to be completely honest, not even sure this is the right place to post haha).

My parents and I often have disagreements on my chances at getting into college, so I figured I’d try to get a more objective view from you lovely group of people. My dad says I might as well just apply to community college, while my mom is, generally, on my side. However, I’m afraid they both have extreme viewpoints; my father being too hard on me, while my mother seeing me as the perfect-child-who-can-do-no-wrong. To get the best understanding of who I am and my chances, I’ll jot down every piece of information I can think of that may have an effect.

To start off, I’m a 17 year-old junior, Caucasian, male, currently living in New Jersey. I’m quite torn between going into the film industry or cyber security (possibly with the Air Force

Background:

Fairly interesting, in my own opinion--I have been raised in a military household (USCG all the way, baby!). This, tied with my parent’s belief in that experiences > money/pretty much everything else, has allowed me to see much of the United States and some of the world. I was born in Alabama (lived there for two months), then moved to Florida (about two months), then Puerto Rico (four years), then Detroit, Michigan (four years), then Northern California (four years), then New York City (six months), and now, New Jersey (four years). Throughout all this, I’ve visited 45 states (missing Texas, Alaska, Louisiana, Maine, and Rhode Island) and seven countries (some from the Caribbean, Canada, and a couple in Europe). I’ve done just about everything you can do in all those places, and my experiences have made me who I am today.

Academics:

Where my parents and I have our discrepancies. To be honest, my grades don’t reflect how intelligent I am, more so my work ethic when it comes to school. But that’s beside the point. I maintain a 3.3 GPA. I haven’t taken the SAT/ACT yet, but I got a 26 on my PACT and I’ll be getting my PSAT scores back in January. Every intelligent person I know scored around a 1700 on their first PSAT (save a few), so I’m expecting to be somewhere around there. I do believe, however, that I could fairly easily raise my ACT/SAT score fairly easily, considering I did not prepare for either, nor did I really care about how I did on either of them at the time (my viewpoint has obviously changed within the past few months). I’m in a couple honors classes and taking two APs this year.

Extracurriculars:

I’m very active in my ECs so I don’t really think the quality vs quantity thing works here. That being said, I do have a lot, so it might be possible for college admissions to get the wrong idea. I could write a lot about how they impacted me, but, being that this is already pretty long, I’ll just list them. Here they are:
 -  Clubs:
      o French Club – Grades: 11, 10, 9
             Vice President this year
      o Debate Club – Grades: 11, 10
             Assured Presidency next year
             Sort of a founding member (didn’t start it but was one of the first people in it?)
      o Ethics in Science and Technology Regional Bowl Team -  Grade: 11
             Inaugural team member
             High chance at going to Nationals next year, but I guess that doesn’t really impact now
      o Improvisation Club – Grades: 11, 10, 9
      o Garden Club – Grade: 11
             Vice President
      o Art Club – Grade: 11
      o Choir – Grade: 9 
 -  Theater Performances:
      o Lead, "Beauty and the Beast", 2013, Role: Gaston 
      o Supporting, "Seussical the Musical", 2015, Roles: General Genghis Khan Schmitz, Wickersham Brother, Citizen of Whoville
      o Supporting, “The Wizard of Oz”, 2016, Roles:  Uncle Henry, The Guard, Crow
      o Cast, "Gypsy", 2014, Role: Young Tulsa
      o Cast,"All in the Timing", 2014, Roles: Sebastian the Waiter, Hood Geek
      o Cast, "Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Abridged", 2015, Role: Juliet's Boyfriend
 -  Other School Functions:
      o Harvard Model Congress – Grade: 11 
             Delegate
 -  Outside Groups:
      o National Youth Leadership Training – 3 years
             (NYLT is a selective training camp one can be nominated to go to through the Boy Scouts. To become staff, you must be selected as exceptional during the course)
             Assistant Senior Patrol Leader (position could be equated to a Vice President Position)
             Troop Guide (we break the participants into groups of 6 to simulate a “patrol”. A Troop Guide is directly leads this group and is mainly in charge of the lessons. There more to it, but that’s a rough idea of it) 
             Participant
      o Boy Scouts of America
             About 40 kids. Leadership below.
             Working on Eagle Scout Project.

Leadership:

I actually already said most of it, but here’s a more complete list:
- Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, National Youth Leadership Training, 2016.
- Senior Patrol Leader, Boy Scout Troop 74, 2015-16.
- Troop Guide, National Youth Leadership Training, 2015.
- Crew Chief, Sea Base High Adventure Crew #(forgot the crew number, will have it for college apps), Bahamas, 2015.
- Patrol Leader, Boy Scout Troop 74, 2014-15.
- Medical Chief, Expedition 702-B, Philmont Scout Ranch, New Mexico, 2013.
- Vice President, French Club, 2015-16.
- Vice President, Garden Club, 2015-16.
- Troop Guide, Boy Scout Troop 74, 2015.
- Scribe, Boy Scout Troop 74, 2013-14.
- Participant, National Youth Leadership Training, 2014.

Volunteering:

All totals out to around 226 hours, and if I count NYLT (it is volunteered time, but I’m not sure it counts) to would be around 826 hours. I haven’t really stuck with one place to volunteer at, not sure if that is detrimental or not.

Athletics:

I’ve been playing on travel teams since I was in 4th grade, and started playing for clubs in 6th. I’ve played JV for the last three years and will be playing Varsity next year. Also was on the JV tennis team freshmen year and will be this year.

Awards/Certifications:

  • Anticipated Eagle Scout, September 2016.
  • The Boy Scouts of America’s Triple Crown of National High Adventure
  • American Red Cross Lifeguard, First Aid and AED Certification, March 2014

Work History:

I’ve worked as a seasonal lifeguard since my freshmen year. During the summer of 8th grade I worked maintenance as the local pool. I just got a part time job as a non-seasonal lifeguard at a different pool. Additionally, I was the lead in a short film, and have been featured in two other feature films.

Recommendation Letters:

I’m fairy nervous about this part, because I’m not super close with any of my teachers. They all love me, know I’m highly intelligent, but they also know I’m not a hard worker. I know I should get a decent one from my AP Physics teacher. Do they accept Letters of Recommendations from people not affiliated with my school? I know someone who sits of my Boy Scout Troop’s Parents Board who is also the CEO of a company, and I’m sure he’d give me a fantastic letter.

Well, I think that about convers it. What are the chances I have at getting into a pretty good college? Will my extracurricular help me in the end? Are my leadership qualifications going to help me in the end? Will school ever not be stressful?

P.S. thanks for reading my whole spiel. Apologies if there are any mistakes, its 3:42 AM right now (oh, did I not mention I’m an insomniac? Haha). Thank you so much for your time.

2

Apologies for the extracurriculars part. I spaced in out–not sure why it didn’t come out correctly.

3

It also doesn’t seem to want to let me edit it…

4

Schools in the 3.3 GPA/26 ACT range aren’t as focused on extracurriculars, so I wouldn’t worry too much.

Try using the SuperMatch tool on the left hand side to identify schools you can get into based on your current stats. There are a lot of good ones.

5

What types of schools are you aiming for? If you are looking at elite colleges, I am afraid you definitely need higher grades and test scores. Your ECs frankly seem to be affecting your grades. It’s great to have a busy and varied life outside of school, but at the end of the day, all,those ECs don’t mean much without better grades to become the focus of your future applications. BTW, you have 15 minutes to edit a post. The gear wheel will appear in the top right corner of a new post, only for 15 minutes.
Just reading through your post again. I am going to be honest here. You sound a bit cocky. No,college is going to care, or know, about your travel,history. They are not going to care or know about how intelligent and hardworking you are if your grades and test scores don’t support your claim. You might be hardworking, but a 3.3 GPA isn’t going to wow anyone. And if you do very well on ACT or SAT and your grades are still not that high, they might think you are lazy. Just sayin’.

6

Let me emphasize this for you: Schools that admit students in the 3.3 GPA/26 ACT range aren’t as focused on extracurriculars

So in the time remaining, you should slough off ECs that will affect your ability to turn in homework, study for exams and prep for ACT or SAT. They are actually detrimental to your stated goal of getting into the best college program possible. You say your metrics don’t correctly display your actual strengths? Fine. But that’s all the colleges will consider.

Your background and ECs simply are of no consequence to the types of schools that would consider you.

7

That’s unfortunate to hear, and, to be honest, also quite surprising. I had always been told how important it was to have good extracurriculars; they were probably meaning after my grades were stellar should I start focusing on them. It’s good to know though.

My issue doesn’t reside in me having an abundance of ECs–in fact, it’s quite the opposite. In truth, its the byproduct of my laziness when it comes to school. I don’t do homework, and that has really affected me. I’m not sure if I try now it’ll change much. I plan on studying a lot for the ACT/SAT to try to offset my less than stellar GPA.

I’m aware that colleges won’t care or be aware that my grades reflect my intelligence. However, I thought it might be good for you guys to know. They certainly reflect my poor work ethic.

If schools that admit people in my range aren’t focused on extracurricular, what are they focused on? I feel like that would be the only way to distinguish between students of exact or similar GPA/ACT/SAT.

Thanks for the reply–the information is good to hear. Eye opening for sure.

8

If there is a kid with a 26 ACT and a 3.3 GPA with amazing EC’s and a kid with a 30 ACT and a 3.8, colleges will almost always take the higher-stats kid. However, your ECs will make you a stronger applicant compared to others with identical stats. Grades and test scores are most important in the vast majority of college admission processes. Ivy and elite schools are the exception- they are known to focus on ECs once a kid’s GPA and scores are high “enough”.

9

They are focused on grades in test scores.

Ivy Leagues focus on extracurricular activities because everyone applying has high grades. There is too much demand and too little supply, so they actively look for people who exhibit leadership and other qualities through extracurricular activities.

Thing is, at schools whose range of admitted students are around the 26 ACT, 3.3 range, they are not very selective and usually have a lesser demand, so they don’t mind admitting all the students who fit their academic criteria.

10

If you bring up your ACT by a couple of points, you should have a good shot at Rutgers.

11

The reason why your grades are a problem is because colleges will think you are not ready for the rigor of college level work. If this is your lifelong work ethic, don’t aim high. You can’t be lazy at a very selective college. You will fail, and colleges that are highly selective won’t take a chance on you. Put a little more effort in, it will be worth it.
@rdeng2614 is right too. There are very few lazy people at top colleges. Everyone is smart, everyone works hard. That is when impressive ECs come into play. If you want to be honest with yourself, just stay in the track you are on. You will go to a perfectly fine college and probably do well. If you are enjoying yourself, why change?

12

@Studious99 Just curious, what would the GPA and ACT Scored be to be “high enough” for Ivies, in your opinion?

13

You should really start your own thread for this. You can easily Google to find the 25%-75% test score ranges for each college. Assume you want to be above the midpoint of that range on all scores to be comfortably in the category of students who can do the work, which is what the colleges care about first.