Help with Extracurriculars!!!

Applying to College Common and Coalition Application
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Hey all! So I am currently applying to a couple liberal arts schools on the east coast (Sarah Lawrence, Bard, Vassar, etc) and I am having a bit of trouble narrowing down my list of extracurriculars. I feel equally passionate about all of them, so I am trying to focus on which ones the schools I am applying to would like to see.

my ECs include:
Co-founder of non-profit charity organization, Burrito Buds (pass out food to homeless in Hollywood)// Grd 10,11,12
Co-founder of a Theatre Company, The Last Orchard Theatre Company// Grd 11,12
Founder and President of a Vegan Club (promote health and awareness of meat/dairy industry//) Grd 12
Vice President of Chess Club// Grd. 12
Participant in Food on Foot// give out food and clothing to homeless and help them find jobs/apartments// Grd 9,10,11,12
Tutor with CSF, offered free help to students in chemistry, english, algebra, and us history// Grd 11,12
Artistic designer for the Last Orchard Theatre Company, created logo and am in charge of all posters/ads// Grd 11,12
Secretary of “Zine” Club, my school’s version of a school newspaper (collection of art, short stories, etc)// Grd 10
Co-Founder of school’s first GSA Club (Gay-Straight Alliance)// Grd 12
Director of a play, Out of Gas on Lovers Leap (fundraised, blocked, costumed, organized, promoted, etc)// Grd 12
Participant in Encompass Service Learning (using theatre to show teachers how to handle bias in the classroom)// Grd 12

ALSO:
I have 2 summer activities that I want to include in my application somewhere, so where would be the best place to talk about these??
–> summer between 10th and 11th grade: traveled to Thailand and Laos with a small group, built temples, dams, and community centers and was awarded with 96 hours of service

–> summer between 11th and 12th grade: studied with the Cambridge Tradition program, taking courses in Psychology and Photojournalism. I was the sole recipient of the Outstanding Student Award in my Photojournalism class.

Any help is much appreciated! :slight_smile:

also, idk if this means anything, but I go to a prestigious arts high school where the arts are definitely stressed and academics are not my school’s primary focus.

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sorry this is a lot to read and there are a couple typos
:-/

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i really need some help!

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I would definitely leave out the chess club; vice president isn’t nearly as impressive as all the clubs you’ve helped to found, and your incredible commitment to community service.
Try combining founding the theater company and being artistic designer. If the play you directed is with the same company, try to combine that as well.
If you still need to leave something out, I would take out your secretary position, since it’s only one year, and, again, isn’t quite as impressive as the bigger leadership roles you’ve had. The Cambridge program would be the next thing I’d remove, since it’s neither leadership nor service. I think you should have room for it, though.
You have some incredible ECs! Good luck :slight_smile:

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Be aware that to many AdComms this is seen as a privileged summer adventure; if you include it definitely do not describe yourself as have been ‘awarded’ with community service hours.

Similarly,

can be seen as a fancy summer camp for kids that (to quote from a dean of admissions) “simply tells us that their parents can afford to send them there”.

I can guess that you will vigorously defend how hard you worked both summers and I will tell you that the same dean went on to say “we don’t care what you do with your summer- we just want you to do something. What we are interested in is what you did with what you did”. That is, what did you learn, how did it change you, and (she stressed this part) what have you done to integrate that change into your life.

You have a lot of ECs, and @nerdwriter’s advice is good- try grouping them. Put all the theatre ones together, for example, all the community service ones, etc. When you are filling them in on the Common App, make sure you put the ones that are most important to you first.

Finally, while Sarah Lawrence, Bard and Vassar have very strong reputations in the arts, at least at Vassar, academics are the primary focus- just be sure that you know what the schools are like in practice.

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@nerdwriter @collegemom3717 thank you very very much! :slight_smile: