Stanford and Extracurriculars

StanfordMan1891
Sun, 17 Feb 2013 23:28:46 +0000

I am a junior in southwest Colorado and I plan on applying to Stanford REA (November 1st deadline). Stanford has always been my first choice and I am also a legacy. Over the past few months, I’ve come to realize that I am not your quotidian high school student that aspires to go to Stanford. Here’s why: I have barely any ECs and none of them are anything special (but they are all special to me personally).
Here they are:


Varsity football (9, 10, 11, 12)
Track & Field (9, 10, 11, 12)
Destination Imagination (11. I won’t do this senior year)
Designated tutor for my high school (11, 12)
Interned at two companies in Jakarta, Indonesia (summer of 10)
Self studying Indonesian and Russian (10, 11, 12)
Volunteer at local human society (10, 11, 12)
Philosophical blogger (10, 11, 12)
Amateur poet (10, 11, 12)
Self studying piano AND trumpet (10, 11, 12)


My academics are top notch, but what worries me are my ECs. I never joined any clubs in high school because honestly, I didn’t find any of the offered clubs that interesting. I didn’t create any clubs because what I enjoy doing, I can usually do alone (learning new languages, instruments, heavy thinking) <– (I am a major introvert obviously)

My first question:

Do you think my lack of interesting ECs will be detrimental to my REA application?

My second question:

For my last summer before I apply REA to Stanford, I can either be an intern in Indonesia again OR I can get a “real” working job in my hometown. Seeing as I’ve already interned at two companies my sophomore summer, which do you think would serve me better in the eyes of Stanford REA Admissions? (Personally I’d like to go back to Indonesia and I would raise the money myself)

So what should I do during my last summer before applying REA in November?

Intern in Jakarta?

OR

Get a summer job here in Colorado?

Thanks for reading!