I’m an upcoming sophmore in high school, and I’ve just found that I may have screwed myself over already. It appears I have that stereotypical. “jack of all trades” thing going on here. I’m learning 2 additional languages, playing the clarinet and trombone, lead roles in theatre, etc. and I haven’t realized how bad this can be.
The worst part is that I’m in a rural, small town, and I’m white. I cannot access many extracurriculars relating to my intended major (economics), other than a small plant business and a small in-school organization I’ve created.
Should I just say goodbye to Berkeley and UPenn?
I know this may seem as if I’m over-reacting, but I do take my future seriously.
First of all, you will need a high GPA and SAT/ACT scores. Business related EC’s are not that critical considering where you are coming from.
The “jack of all trades” thing doesn’t mean you’ve screwed yourself over, first of all.
And second, as the above poster said ^^ the most important thing is your standardized test scores and a high GPA.
I completely agree with @TomSrOfBoston and @yonceonhismouth. It really is important to show colleges you can handle maintaining a GPA, and studying for SATs. I would research some business summer camps. Good luck!
The UCs don’t give good financial aid to out-of-state applicants, so Berkeley probably wouldn’t be affordable even if you got in. I would recommend running net price calculators to get an idea of the financial aid you’d get at each school on your list (for example, here is [Berkeley’s[/url] and here is [url=<a href="Submit My Documents | Penn Student Registration & Financial Services| Penn Srfs](Financial Aid Estimator - UC Berkeley Financial Aid and Scholarships Office)). Make sure you have at least one safety school as far as both admissions and financial aid.
Yes, you are over-reacting. You’re asking whether your EC’s are going to be judged as too spread out and then complaining that you have only 2 business related ECs. How many more do you think you need?
Just do what you find interesting and worthwhile and stop worrying so much about the unpredictable judgements of some stranger in an office somewhere. What you are doing isn’t bad and you aren’t screwed. Most of the “wisdom” you are reacting to isn’t true anyhow.