<p>Hi,
I’m a junior and my extracurriculars are really below par. (I moved from Hong Kong a few months ago).</p>
<p>Does anyone know which universities consider extra curriculars and leadership experiences the least important in admission? </p>
<p>I know state and less selective univs do, but I’m looking for more selective ones.</p>
<p>Since I only have 1.5 yrs left untill the end of high school I really have no time to build and good resume. So, any ideas?</p>
<p>Thank you</p>
<p>Dear Hong,
Every university weighs extracurriculars to a degree. More selective universities definitely think they are important, but they are willing to overlook weak extracurriculars if the transcript and SAT/ACT scores are strong. If you participated in some activities in Hong Kong, you should definitely write those down. I wouldn’t sweat it too much though; the fact that you just moved from Hong Kong makes you extremely unique and therefore extremely appealing to colleges. You should probably write your common app essay about the difficulty of that move, or something like that. Use your move to your advantage; it will compensate for your lack of extracurriculars on your app.</p>
<p>State schools weigh extra curricular activities less. I would recommend applying to top tier state schools such as University of Virginia, University of Michigan, Penn State, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks. I’ll research those universities. The thing is I don’t know if moving from Hong Kong would help me alot since it’s not uncommon :C</p>
<p>I do hope the adcom thinks Hong Kong schools don’t offer as much extra curriculars. My school actually did offer quite a lot its just that I didn’t commit to it.</p>
<p>Well, schools will evaluate you in the context of the opportunities provided, but if there were opportunities and you just didn’t take them, then that’s on you. That said, most public schools are far more focused on tests scores and grades than on EC’s.</p>
<p>Yes, I regret not commiting to my extra curriculars. But, I feel its too late now since one year of consistent extra curriculars won’t help me much. Plus, transportation is a problem here. I had really good public transportation system in Hong Kong, but here it seems like I can’t get to anywhere if I can’t drive D:</p>
<p>So public universities don’t look at extra curriculars as much? Okay, THANK YOU. I’ll look into some :)</p>
<p>I don’t know what your stats are but most universities do’t look at EC’s that much. You could get into anything outside of the top 30 without a single EC. (given you have good numerical stats)</p>
<p>Phew that’s a relief 
About my stats, well my grades are okay (so far I’m geting all As, but we’ll see after my finals - ahhhhhhh jkdfjdskj). But, I don’t know my GPA yet because I just moved so my school’s trying to work it out at the moment. </p>
<p>The rigor of my courses, however, are really below CC standards :(. </p>
<p>This year (Junior yr) I’m taking only 2 APs: AP Chem and AP Macro Econ.
The rest are:
Health (grad requirement),
American Lit
Algebra 2& Trig Honors (I’m really really embarrassed about this. But, I feel I can handle more advanced material. Most of the math in Algebra 2 I’ve already learnt IGCSE Math and I got A* :S)
US History</p>
<p>I feel that my courses are less rigorous than those from my old school. In Hong Kong, I did the IB Diploma.
English HL
Econ HL
Chem HL
Philosophy SL
Math SL (not math studies)
Chinese B/SL</p>
<p>Although I didn’t get top marks I wasn’t failing. 32/42 (Didn’t do TOK, EE and CAS yet)
My SAT: 2010. 
not great, but still okay, I hope. </p>
<p>Right now I’m getting better grades than before. But that’s because my course load is wayyyyy lighter. </p>
<p>So, I have no idea which universities (decent ranking) would take me (not much extra currics and below par course load)</p>
<p>:C</p>
<p>Even if you don’t have steller EC’s you would have a decent at some good schools like NYU CAS and Umich with your reasonable academic stats. You’re still a junior so try to get the SAT scores up a bit and you’ll be fine.</p>