<p>Hello, I am a junior in high school and I was wondering what the effects of EC’s that are more self-studying or solo, at least they aren’t “chess club captain, math team” w/e.</p>
<p>-For instance my idol is Henry David Thoreau so I have obviously read alot of early Transcendentalist works, plus the classics (e.g. the Illiad, Odyssey, and hopefully the Vedas soon).</p>
<p>-Another example that will be very apparent in my essay’s is my spirituality, which I won’t talk too much about other than I am an avid meditator/self-improver.</p>
<p>-Sponsored skier (this one has consumed ridiculous amounts of my time, I even do Dual Enrollment classes because of it).</p>
<p>I am not going to go join a bunch of clubs because they look good on my resume, I am going to be myself; heres the dilemma though; only recently have I become interested in the Sciences especially, and I don’t have much substantive evidence of any long term out of school interest other than what may be self-reported in my essays.</p>
<p>A friend and I are thinking about starting a robotics club at the community college I attend (I’m dual enrolled) but other than that I only have things that are very subjective. If I have a 3.8 gpa and Dual Enrolled classes/at least 2100 on the SAT (haven’t taken it since 9th grade so I am pretty sure I will improve upon my last score greatly) how will this affect my admissions chances?</p>
<p>They want to see you getting involved. The first two examples you listed aren’t going to do much unless you start some transcendentalist club or are an active member of a religious organization. The third example is very cool, and they will like that. </p>
<p>Reading classic literature isn’t an extracurricular, unfortunately. There needs to be a social aspect to it, like a competition.</p>
<p>Your skiing is a powerful EC. Your spirituality, while not an EC, is an interesting facet of your life.</p>
<p>I’m not a fan of resume padding but you may want to join a club or two at school if only to show you’re a sociable type who will get along with people on your college campus.</p>
<p>I have already signed up for a year teaching in Mongolia as soon as I get out of high school, and my plan is to trek around there the summer after, in the spirit of Thoreau!</p>
<p>That’s a good idea - start a transcendentalist club. I’ll have to talk to someone about it!</p>
<p>Also I am/was a Team Captain on my Freeride (skiing) team so I’ll throw that in there too. </p>
<p>Basically what the others have said. The skiing is great, the other two although interesting are not great in terms of college applications. You need to be able to document things and have accomplishments. Win awards, be selected as a leader in an organization or some other accomplishment that you can document.</p>