Do too many clubs/honors classes in HS actually *hurt* your acceptance chances?

Applying to College
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<p>So I know that everyone always says you should join a million clubs and other extracurriculars in high school because it looks good for college and yada yada yada. But there’s also the opinion that it makes the colleges <em>not</em> accept you because they think you are doing it just to get into good schools.</p>

<p>I’m in a bunch of extracurriculars, but not at all because they look good for college. I love all of them, debate especially. But I’m actually extremely worried that any Ivy League school or other top college will think I’m just trying to impress them.</p>

<p>Here’s what I do/have done: School dance team freshman and sophomore year, dance since I was 3 years old, Natural Helpers, Quiz Bowl, Debate (I’ll be co-captain next year), Latin Certamen (not actually a club, but competition in which only the top 4 students from each grade participate), Language Honor Society, English Honor Society, Social Studies Honor Society, and Science Honor Society.</p>

<p>I’ve been invited to participate in Math Honor Society and National Honor Society for next year, because only seniors can be in them.</p>

<p>I also take 2 languages (Latin and Spanish), and will be skipping a grade to AP Latin next year to catch up with the rest of my class (I only started last year, but have been in the intensive- fast track class to learn everything they learned in the last 6 years in just 2). I’m also in Science Research, a class which only accepts 10 kids out of roughly 420 per grade. All of my other classes are either honors or AP, whichever is the highest level for that class. And next year I’m taking 6 APs. If I keep up all my grades I’ll be graduating next year with an over 5.0 GPA because of all the weighted classes.</p>

<p>This summer I’ll be studying in a neurology lab working on epilepsy and neuro-transmitter research (working in a lab before senior year is mandatory for Science Research).</p>

<p>While all of this may seem fine and dandy, I’m actually very anxious that colleges will think I’m just trying to be an overachiever so I will get into good schools and immediately reject me. The opposite is true, though-- I’m a bit lazy, tend to procrastinate, and tend to “forget” to study.</p>

<p>But how can I convince colleges that I really <em>like</em> challenging myself academically and enjoy these things? I feel like it’s such a fine line between being “impressive” and being viewed as an overachiever. What can I do?!</p>

<p>P.S. Wow this post got long. Sorry for all the rambling. And I really, truly apologize if any of this post came off as bragging, because it definitely was not intended. In fact, around people I know, I lie sometimes and say my grades are worse than they are because I hate the stigma that comes with having good grades. I just really needed to list everything out so you guys could get the full picture of how colleges would see me.</p>

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<p>A lot of activities is good as long as you’re involved. If it’s a ton of superficial memberships, however, it seems bad.</p>

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<p>A lot of activities is good unless you’re not committed to any of them. You still should have at least one thing that you’re really committed to (and hopefully even more than than) even if you have a lot of activities.</p>

<p>If it looks like you did tons of stuff just to write it on your resume, or you didn’t really put effort into what you did, that won’t look as good as one strong commitment.</p>

<p>Basically, it’s better to put 100% effort into one thing than 10% effort into 10, but if you put lots of effort into a few of your activities and a reasonable amount in the rest, that’s probably ideal.</p>

<p>I’d pick one of your activities and emphasize it in an essay so that colleges can see how deeply you’re committed (and that you’re not just making a laundry list of things you didn’t put any effort into but just joined for the resume).</p>

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Not to worry, because the laundry list you have will definitely <em>not</em> impress them! Here’s what one top school (Stanford) says:

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<p>The solution? Do something that will actually impress them. Betcha can’t do it and still be in all your clubs.</p>

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<p>The IB Coordinator at my school recently spoke to an admissions officer at Columbia. Although this isn’t necessarily representative of all Ivy Leagues, I think the officer’s advice was fair:</p>

<p>The admissions committee wants to see depth in your activities (of course). They are looking to see that an applicant can articulate why s/he participates in certain activities and what those mean to the individual. With a bunch of activities, this can’t be done successfully. However, this does not mean a person who decides to switch interests halfway through their high school career is doomed - as long as that person has a reason for the change and can explain it precisely.</p>

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<p>thanks for the replies (:</p>

<p>As for depth, I’m not too worried on that front. I have at least a higher-than-average participation in all of the clubs. And debate especially, as I frequently have to stay 3+ hours after school to practice and miss school for national competitions and spend my weekends at tournaments. As I mentioned, our coach has named me as next year’s female captain (there’s a boy and a girl because the team is so large). Science research also takes up hours upon hours a week, and I’ve spent every single school vacation for the last 2 years at home because I need to go in almost every day to work on my project. The rest I participate in not as much as those two, but a pretty fair amount. I peer tutor for science and language when they need tutors, and am required to go to training courses sometimes on teen depression, suicide, etc, for Natural Helpers.</p>

<p>So I guess, judging by the general action, the more appropriate question here would be: because of the length of the list, would colleges <em>automatically</em> assume that I don’t fully participate in all of them?</p>

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<p>Maybe get some letters of recommendations from some of the club coordinators to show how involved you are! Mention one on your writing section ec essay & why you like it; etc</p>