If this isn’t the right topic please guide to the right place as I’m new to this site.
Hello everyone I’m a high school freshman who plans on graduating early so I’m basically a sophomore. I do an online high school so there aren’t any clubs with leadership opportunities as teachers control everything and there isn’t even a student government, further more I don’t live in the U.S as my parents sent me to their home country in Africa so there is a severe lack of normal extracurriculars to do.
To try and compensate for that all the courses I take are honors and I’m starting online dual enrollment classes next semester. My current unweighted GPA is a 4.0 and I know I’m good at school I intend to take the SAT summer of 2026 to see where I stand. I also plan on applying for a summer study abroad program in France( Do you all think it’s worth it? Would it help my applications?)
Anyways my question is pretty much the title, with little access to common extracurriculars how can I make my application stand out? I was thinking of maybe a blog, study abroad, or organizing English classes for kids in my neighborhood. I really want to get into the best university possible I would love to be able to go to CMU, Purdue, North Western, or Georgia institute of technology. I would love to study cyber security or information systems. My safety would be my instate, Ohio state University( all of my dual enrollment credits would apply there too.). I’m asking for extracurriculars/ advice not just for college applications but also because I’d love to receive an AFROTC scholarship so if you have any experience with that I’d love to hear your insight.
Overall I’m asking for advice/ help with finding creative extracurricular ideas and AP course recommendations. Are there any awards/ summer programs you think I should apply for? I plan on also doing online volunteering. I get really intimidated when I see all those chance me posts with like 15 leadership opportunities and internships at NASA.
Yeah thanks for you input on the English class idea I plan on starting this winter break.
Regarding the graduating early I know it’s not exactly the best idea but I just want to get out of here as fast as possible and I think that if I spread courses out over the summer I should be able to graduate at least a semester early without too much added headache.
My parent’s have a house in Ohio and work remotely so they’re here with me. I asked them about spending some of my high school in the U.S and they said that it’s just not possible as there’s no one to stay with me. So high school in the U.S is off the table.
Yeah I understand how difficult it would be to determine my chances I just wanted to get some input from the people here to see what I could do to make the most of my situation thanks a lot for your input!
My Uncle is currently living in the house. Yeah we do have residency in Ohio as my parent’s have an Ohio driver’s license and they pay Ohio State taxes. So I think we do.
I think the schools that are strict about residency require “physical presence”.
Also, some schools may not accept online courses. Some universities expect you to take HS sciences with at least one lab. Online may not count.
I think, because of your limited transcript, i.e. graduating “early”, you may risk not being accepted anywhere. Your transcript will show minimums for graduation, but not necessarily full HS coursework.
Before you plan on being an admitted student at Ohio State, you should call or email admissions about your situation. You’re making assumptions about a straight admission and that may not happen. It’s a competitive school and your transcript will be limiting. ECs do not make up for a weak transcript.
Edited to add: I would caution you if you plan on attending a university before you turn 18, to find out how restrictive that would be. I know that at our state universities, if you’re not 18, you can’t sign housing contracts; you can’t go into adult areas where you might have study groups. Legally the adult age is 18.
Any roommates may not want to “babysit” a minor child. Some parents on this website have reported about being early graduates and having had a miserable time as early freshman.
Some college towns have curfews. They’ll expect you to have a driver’s license with an age-appropriate date of birth.
Our state licenses were used as our ID’s. Do you plan on getting an Ohio State drivers license before you arrive at your college? That takes time and lots of paperwork at your Department of Motor Vehicles.
Since your question is about extracurriculars, I’ll focus there. Colleges understand limited access to clubs due to online schooling and geography, so what matters most is initiative and impact, not formal titles.
Starting a blog and organizing English classes in your neighborhood are both strong ideas, especially if you do them consistently and can show growth or results. You could also look into local volunteering—helping younger kids, working with community organizations, or offering tutoring. Virtual opportunities count too; many students volunteer online as tutors or mentors.
Since you’re interested in cybersecurity and information systems, consider skill-based activities: learning to code, participating in online cybersecurity challenges, building small tech projects, or documenting your work on GitHub or a blog.
A summer study abroad program can help if it’s academically focused or tied to language or cultural learning, and a summer job is also a meaningful extracurricular.
Don’t be intimidated by students with long activity lists. A few self-started, well-developed activities are far more impressive than many shallow ones, especially given your circumstances. You have plenty of time, so just start with one thing and go from there.