Hi, I’m not super set on Ivy League or anything, but I do want to get into a pretty good school (like one with a 20-50% acceptance rate.) I am a very accomplished writer and artist, and do some journalism stuff as well, but I have social anxiety and kind of hate being a part of clubs. Is this something I have to do to seem more well-rounded/desirable in my application (say I’m talking about a tier 2 school? I know leadership positions and stuff were supposed to seem like a big deal to colleges, would this get in the way?
It could but there are equivalent publics that don’t look at ECs at all.
There are hundreds of very good universities in the US.
Perhaps the top ranked 10 or maybe 20 get a large number of applications from students whose academic record is close to perfect. This tiny handful of top universities use extracurricular activities as one way that they decide who to select from a very long list of very strong applicants.
However, there are a large number of very good universities that you can get accepted to with very little in the way of extracurricular activities. Some won’t even ask.
Also, a wide range of different activities can be considered “extracurricular”. A job can be a very good extracurricular activity. If you write articles for a student newspaper that can count as an EC. Tutoring another student counts. Helping an elderly relative or younger siblings can count if you do it regularly. You might want to think about whether you would want to join the chess club, or some other sort of competitive game club.
If you are an accomplished writer, have you gotten any article or paper published? Publishing in a student newspaper counts. If you are an accomplished artist, have you entered any contests? One daughter did at one point win something in a contest and get to attend an event where all of the many winning paintings were displayed. It was cool seeing her work there. She walked away amazed at how many students there are who made very good paintings, but she still enjoyed the experience.
It is generally a good idea to do something in life outside of just your classes in school. However, you should do what you want to do.
In terms of university admissions, I wouldn’t worry about it.
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So there has been a movement lately to recognize that there are many different personality types, and many different ways of being a leader on a team, in a group, or in a community. Like, you don’t have to be the sort of person who likes to stand up in front of crowds giving speeches and such. You can instead lead by example, in one on one mentoring sessions, and so on. All those and more are ways of being a highly valued member of a team, group, or community, whether or not any sort of formal title is associated with that role.
And I do think being comfortable playing some sort of active role in team/group/community settings is an important life skill for most people, and I think sometimes the more selective colleges might be looking for some demonstrations of that in their successful applicants.
However, not everyone takes to that as naturally as others. Indeed, many of us have had to work on our group social skills over long periods of years, and we eventually became much different people as working adults than we were as kids. So for you it is fine to be more toward the beginning of that process than the end.
So that is what I would suggest to you. On the one hand, you don’t have to try to get formal leadership positions in clubs and such if that is not your thing. On the other, I think in the long run you want to become a person who is comfortable taking some sort of active role in team/group/community settings. And so for now, you can think about ways in which to make reasonable progress in that direction, understanding it will likely be a process that takes many years.
But that might involve a little bit of challenging yourself sometimes, feeling awkward sometimes, and so on. And if that prospect is producing a lot of anxiety, you might think about working with a professional who is an expert in helping kids with such a process. Again, this is a very common thing for young people, and I think as usual, getting some help from an expert might be a good idea.
But that is all up to you. And frankly, you can do none of this, get good grades, get at least solid teacher recommendations, and have lots of good college options anyway. But more for your sake than college admissions per se, I would suggest you put intentional social development on your agenda for HS, whatever that means for you.
Yes, I have like 7 awards and more than 100 publications. those extracarriculars are solid just not school sanctioned.
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ECs absolutely do not need to happen at school.
As others have said, extracurricular activities do not need to have anything at all to do with your high school.
To me it sounds like you are doing very well. Just keep doing whatever is right for you, do it well, treat people well, and keep up good grades in your high school.