I am approaching the end of 11th grade. How can I improve my extracurricular portfolio?
I am nearing the end of my 11th grade year. My general academics are pretty decent, with 12 honors classes, 5 AP courses (my school only offers 7...), and 9 dual enrolled college courses either planned, enrolled in, or already taken. In addition, I have made high As in every class I have taken thus far, and I currently have a 35 on the ACT. However, unfortunately, my extracurriculars are paltry at best compared to the people I will likely be competing against for college admissions.
Some background: I attend a more or less rural county highschool in a developing suburban area, and many competitive programs that would be relevant to me (as an intended physics major) such as science / math olympiads, are unavaliable. I applied to a Governor's school in 10th grade and was waitlisted and eventually accepted, but my parents made the decision to withold me from attending. I also applied to a summer research program provided by ORNL, but was rejected. I also have very little community involvement due to not having access to reliable transportation, and I am therefore unlikely to be eligible for participation in NHS at my school.
The best extracurricular achievements I have are as follows:
- National Beta Club's science convention - I have placed both at the state and national levels every time I have competed thus far.
- Governor's School - At least I was accepted...? I would have attended if it was my own choice.
- NSDA - I placed top three in a local debate competition. I haven't really competed since, though, since I find formal debate to be a draining and wholly unpleasant affair...
- School-level (attempted) leadership: I have ran for vice president in my school's student government every year, I got it freshman year but have failed every consecutive year.
... That's it.
As I'm sure is clear, my extracurricular portfolio is somewhat lackluster... I wouldn't personally consider any of these points to be major accomplishments, and yet they are the very best accomplishments I have. Is there anything that can be done?
[Edit]: I now realize that I did not make my interests / intended program of study very clear. I intend to enter a STEM field, likely something in mathematics or the natural sciences. I'm not entirely certain what I want to do just yet, but I do have an interest towards physics in particular.
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1 answer
At the very least, it’s clear you have a real interest in STEM. It’s good that some of your extracurriculars have to do with STEM, but you need more. If you can’t participate in STEM clubs at your school because there are none, then the answer is simple: start your own. Even if your school doesn’t have very many resources for things like science Olympiad, colleges love to see that you’ve risen above the odds and found a way to overcome challenges like this one. You don’t necessarily need all the resources in the world to start a club, and even if you, it looks even better if you lead a fundraiser to get things like equipment and supplies (I know nothing about physics. I plan to study sociology so I probably sound like an idiot talking about school resources). And even if you can’t do something like that, you can always do something simple that involves science and math, like tutoring. My opinion is that any new extracurriculars you add should involve your field of study in some way, but the more the merrier, so if you find something you really want to do, go for it, but don’t join anything just to add more filler to your list. Good luck!
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