List of Questions from a Confused Class of 2023 Student

Applying to College
1

Hello!

I’ll be applying to colleges next year, and I have a bunch of questions about the process and what / what not to do. I hope you can answer them!

  1. I became a semifinalist for a scholarship (not national merit, but a high esteemed one for a summer program) but did not end up getting accepted. However, by becoming a semifinalist, I advanced from over 60% of the total applicants. Should I still put that in my awards as an accomplishment, or does that look like I'm stretching too far for just something to put?
  2. I'm planning on going into film and writing, and basically all of my extracurricular activities center around that, including design, which is my hobby. However, I have been in Science League since freshman year and in sophomore year I received an achievement award for the club for attending 2-3 competitions (I forget). Should I leave out science league as it doesn't go with my pattern and will look like an outlier? And if I should keep it in, should I put in the award even though it is a small club one? Very few people from the club actually got it (probably less than half) so it'd look good in that respect.
  3. I took a class for creating a business where I created designs for a potential business and pitched it to professionals in a group (I made the business card, website, poster, tshirts, logo, among all the other designs). Although it was done for a class (which I had to get accepted into) would that be a good thing to put in extracurriculars? I want to emphasize the fact that although I'm not going into it, design is one of my hobbies.
  4. I have volunteered at a certain program every year during the summer. However, I'm not sure if I can do it this year due to transportation issues that will arise due to my parents' new work schedule. If I don't volunteer in the program this year, will it look bad for colleges who think I just quit? Or should I write somewhere why I couldn't do it this summer?

I’m sorry for all the questions, but thank you so much for answering! Any other advice would be greatly appreciated as well.

2
  1. Hard to know without knowing the competition level of the actual scholarship and what your other ECs are. If it's a very competitive award and you don't have many other ECs it might be worth listing.
  2. Unless I misunderstand your description, this sounds like an award for attendance. Don't include attendance awards.
  3. Depending on how you describe this - yes. Especially if it was something you did outside school.
  4. There are many reasons people stop participating in an activity, not a big deal that you're not doing it this year and not something you want to waste space on your app explaining. On the other hand, this doesn't sound like something that should be listed first or as a primary activity. Think hard about what you want to convey to the college and list your ECs in the order that conveys that message.
3

@milee30 Thank you!

  1. The acceptance rate for the program is about 15-20%, and I made it to the top 40%. I hope that gives some background.
  2. Alright thank you, I won't include that. But should I include the club in general?
  3. I created these designs mostly in school because I didn't have the resources outside of it, but it was about 6-8 months of work I put in, including doing some during lunch periods. I'm not sure if that's still something to emphasize?
  4. And yes, I won't list it as a primary activity but it is something I love to do and have been doing for the past 3 summers. Thanks for the additional tips!
4
  1. 3. - tough to know without seeing what your overall app including essays and EC list/description look like.

If you’re applying to colleges that have a holistic review process (most privates and some publics), then your app isn’t just a list of accomplishments; think of it as a story. Everything you list tells a part of your story. How you describe things, the order you list them and even what you choose to include tells your story.

What do you want to convey? Think about that message first and you’ll be able to answer your own questions. If you want to show yourself to be a creative artist with a business background that pursues learning outside school, would an attendance award contribute to or be irrelevant to your message?

5

@milee30 Alright, thank you for your advice! I’ll try to think about the story I want to convey.

6

Bump?