No clubs -> disadvantage?

Colleges & Universities Harvard University
1

<p>Goodmorning,</p>

<p>I’ve got a question. My school is growing fast, but it’s still very small (like 150 students total). Also it is in the Netherlands, where there are not clubs like in the US. (We have no clubs at all, actually. Almost no school has a Debate Club, Spanish Club, Volunteer Cl… well, you get it.) But my school, as it is so small, is a real exception because it also doesn’t have a school paper, student council or whatever. </p>

<p>Well, I have already created a school paper (am editor-in-chief as well), and set up an MUN-team (which is growing fast). Next year, I will try to set up a student council. I know it is a good EC to start all these things (costs a lot of time, though), but since there wasn’t anything when I got here, I couldn’t be a debater for 4 years, for example. (I am a sophomore now, so I will be a debater for 3 years.)</p>

<p>Does it negatively affect me that my school does not have any clubs or something like that?</p>

2

<p>If you want to be a competitive applicant, you should start a couple of other clubs. You would be like a nation-builder haha. ;)</p>

3

<p>I would suggest starting some clubs; afterall, the school is new, allowing you endless possibilities.</p>

4

<p>^^Of all the Knights of the Round Table, you picked Gawain? I remember reading Mallory’s ‘Le Morte’ de Arthur’, and it seemed like Gawain lost every battle.</p>

5

<p>Thank you for your advice. However, it will be hard to start (more) clubs, since it isn’t common (actually, I’ve never heard about one before in the Netherlands) and my school is very small. Despite that, I will see whether it is possible to start a (successful) club.</p>

6

<p>Do what you enjoy and do it well. Do not worry about the title of “club” being tagged onto one of your activities. My daughter was in zero clubs in high school but she was very involved in the activities that she did and had been doing the majority of them since she was young. These were things that she was interested in doing and none were done for the sake of a college application.</p>

7

<p>Harvard wants you to do something (or many things) that show interest, leadership, initiative, maturity, etc…these often times are clubs but they don’t have to be, as smoda said. A lot of people come from small/foreign schools that don’t follow the same “EC” paradigm as the typical US high school does…Harvard will understand this but it means you gotta show leadership in some other way.</p>