<p>Hi,
I now live in Brazil and I´ve spent all of my childhood in Africa.
I´ve noticed that nearly all of you have pursued extra-curricular activities and some have even engaged in community service. My problem is that I have NONE of these options here, I go to a French school and there is absolutely no activity offered. It is also quite unsafe to do community service in the slums here because there is the risk of getting shot at any time.
I am afraid that this might be interpreted as a lack of interest outside school and severly hurt my chances in getting accepted to the prestigious universities. Is anyone in this predicament or able to give me advice ?</p>
<p>IF you are an academic heavyweight, then maybe you can get through without ECAs. And if the adcoms know about the situation , then maybe they will be lenient towards you. But remember, there are lots of kids applying who are in the same position as you are and take initiative and manage to participate in some form of EC. </p>
<p>Don’t you play any sport?? Namely football (soccer)?(sorry, but i tend to think all Brazilians are great football players…lol). Sport is a great ECA.</p>
<p>impacto …i have a very similar situation. no ecs except soccer for about ehm 6 years…
supposedly colleges will understand that you were not given the chance to excel in ecs in your community.</p>
<p>Hm…I come from a school that is known for its athletics and I participate in none. My gpa is around 3.5 however I took some extremely heavy courses as a Sophomore, and will be taking even more for my Junior year. I’m in a rather sore position but what I’ve done is I’ve started a club of my own in the school and so maybe you can do something similar? Also, if you take advantage of your summer to show your involvement in the community/in activities then I’m sure that will make up for it.</p>
<p>Either way I’m worse off than you are, if that helps :P.</p>
<p>I’ve lived in South Africa for three years so I know exactly what you’re talking about when you say there’s a security risk involved in Brazil. Yes, there is. But if you can find an organization there that is reliable and reknown and if you can volunteer and help there, then I’m pretty sure you can get something going. </p>
<p>For example, when I was there I took up horseriding. If I were still there and in need of comm. service I’d volunteer my work there. Basically any organization should work, especially one where people you know/educated people frequent, since those are most likely safer as well.</p>
<p>Well I most certainly have the same problem. I’m from Bulgaria and our education is at a very low level
We don’t have any clubs or any kind of activity offered at school. We don’t even have a school paper, neither a sports team, so I’m also worried that even if my SAT scores are good my chances of getting in a good college are extremely low. I really don’t know what to do…</p>
<p>@ Violina</p>
<p>actually when speaking about you high school please dont generallize about the whole country… even though i graduated severel years ago we had everything at school… varsity sports…extracurriculars… etc
Dont post messages that create wrong impressions. No offense please, but i was surprised…</p>
<p>wish you all the best with your studies and dont forget bulgaria… i never do…</p>
<p>haha dont make excuses.
this is wt i would do in ur shoes,
round up a group of people who would want to do community service,
ask the police if they can supervise u.</p>
<p>or mebe do it in a less violent section of the city u live in brazil</p>
<p>Perhaps I’ve expressed myself too sharply, for which I appologize. What I’ve said doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate everything that my teachers and the bulgarian school as an institution have thought and done for me over the last 12 years. But I think that indeed the education could be far better because we have the abilities to improve it.</p>
<p>basically ECs are just to show colleges what you do in your spare time. it doesnt matter what they are, just as long as you are not sitting around watching tv all day, or just spend your life studying; the colleges want to make sure they have interesting students on campus. it makes no difference if you work or play soccer or sing. the only exception if whatever you do is truly exceptional, then it would give you a push.</p>
<p>Any personal interests you have… art, music, etc.</p>