Do you have to have a long list of achievements with activities to get into good schools?

Answered

So Iris is such a great YouTuber. Someone else asked for essentially a freshman prep list so this is a one size fits all type of list so if something doesn’t fit exactly it’s becuase it’s a copy and pasted list

So great job on getting started early a very catch all list for new high schoolers is

A: Have good grades a bad one can axe your chances. For ivies out of 6-8 classes a semster get at maximum one “B” a semster and that’s being kinda generous. Should in a 4.0 scale be 3.85+

B: Have as much rigor as is practical/feasible. Try taking AP classes that are major related. Personally I’ll take an engineering class that isn’t AP but it is major related make sure to do it if available as you can see if you’d like that major. Rigor includes IB AP Honors. If you have no advanced classes you can only be judged on what your opportunities are. 2/2 APs are better than 3/20 (3 being APs taken 30 being # of APs your school offers). 0/0 is perfectly fine.

C: Have meaningful ECs. My general rule of thumb is to Join apprx 5 ECs freshman year and if you don’t like one you can drop it. A lot of the most impactful ECs are at the age of 16/junior year. You’ll likely not be prez of a cloud until Junior/senior year also most jobs require you to be 16 though it varies by state and employer. Some ECs will be school sponsored some will be community based like youth group and some will be personal projects like entering a contest unrelated to school.

1 point of clarification is that Covid messes everything up so if you have no ECs this year while not great is understandable.

An additional point of clarification is all holistic schools meaning they just don’t look at test scores and GPA prefer quality not quantity. If you are a member of 20 different clubs that is easily overshadowed by competing at a National tournement.

Typically to find if an EC is good for you and your resume is to determine if it meets

A: you like the activity

B: it has responsibilities/achievements it can be winning National tournament or as simple as holding a successful fundraiser. Also you actually do something joining a club where you just sit around and talk about a topic isn’t impressive if you organize an event then that’s good.

Always self advocate to the club sponsor/student president and just help out. If a leadership opportunity arises go for it such as student board or becoming a club officer.

C: Some should be some mix major related/community based/family based. Whether it’s having to babysit sibling due to parents working til 6 volunteering in a nursing home or you join robotics to study mechanical engineering.

D. Awards are overestimated unless it’s very competitive. ECs are king.

E: Have a plan to balance coursework and personal activities. Mental health is important.

F: Do not neglect SAT/ACT prep start doing free review sophomore year and if at all possible take the PSAT. SupertutorTV on YouTube has some great videos.

G: Make sure to meet graduation requirements and not just take interesting classes and if different than high school requirements make sure to meet college enrollment requirements. In my state 3 years of math is required for graduation but my dream school requires 4 years. Also a select school have abnormal requirements. For example Harvey Mudd requires Calculus which is not normal. Also take a full course load that will help you latter down the line. If you want to go into economics take AP microeconomics over a music class as an example.

So that’s the list finished but to answer about long lists is that you simply need to have accolades personally at Harvard MIT while at UCLA I have excellent according to Collegevine I have strong ECs despite only having on average F tier ECs with my highest being a D tier. While that’s me personally you may have a B rated EC and then a few Gs just make sure to in general follow the “requirements” as they are incredibly basic and aren’t concrete. Having a national championship in solo tennis example and only having 3 other basic ECs is perfectly fine

TLDR it’s the achievements that matter not the quantity.

As for your last question just whenever you start to compare yourself to others say to yourself I’m not them and they aren’t me. I will worry about myself not. We are different. Or depending on mentality just think to yourself I can do it and challenge yourself and set “milestones” and break the 5 mile run into quarter mile runs. Do it piecemeal it’s easier to do small tasks than larger tasks after all.

I’m not a life coach so take this as suggestions not as an answer

Hope this helps and please comment if you need clarification as I’d be happy to help clarify!

Best of luck!