Are there any other ways I can appeal to colleges without doing extra curricular activities?
Because of the rising Covid-19 cases and my states relentless desire to open schools this year my family and I decided that it would be best if I got homeschooled. However this decision has brought a variety of issues to my attention one of which being, how will I appeal to colleges without an outlet in which I can perform extra curriculars? If anyone has any ideas for me im open to anything. Thank you in advance. :)
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4 answers
It would be hard to be accepted from top/very good universities if you don't have any extracurriculars. That being said, I think that you might have too strict of a definition of extracurricular. Literally anything could become an extracurricular. Do you babysit your siblings, cousins, or neighborhood kids? Extracurricular. Do you play a sport and maybe go to tournaments/competitions? Extracurricular. Do you like to create your own games/machines/websites in your free time? Extracurricular. Do you like to sell things (clothes, homemade items, etc.)? Extracurricular. These are just a few examples but I think it would be really hard to have no extracurriculars at all. If anything, you can comment something that you do and I can tell you if it is already an extracurricular or how you can turn it into one.
I don't think you'll have an easy time getting accepted into a university with no extracurricular activities unless you have a perfect SAT/ACT score and incredible writing skills AND you aren't applying to any slightly prestigious schools.
BUT... I think you could still do ECs. There are online service opportunities and groups. If you take private music lessons, that would count as an EC. If you have a church youth group, that would count. In the extremely unlikely case you can't find any EC you are comfortable doing, you can create one. Learn a new hobby and make it into something more than a hobby (like if you learned how to crochet and then donated scarves and hats you crocheted to a charity). You could also create an online group to work on and discuss one of your interests. For example, I love to write. I could organize a writing group through social media. The group would meet via Zoom to discuss writing projects and progress and get tips, suggestions, and opinions from other writers.
Hi there @frolickinghearts,
This is a great question and especially relevant to the pandemic. If you're worried about having weak extracurriculars, the rest of your applicant components, such as GPA and test scores, should more than make up for this. However, this is a lot of pressure to put on yourself and I'd suggest an alternative - beefing up your extracurricular resume.
There are still ways to do this virtually, with self-driven activities. We have a ton of guides on the site here to get you started. Check out this article: https://blog.collegevine.com/extracurriculars-you-can-do-at-home/
Most likely not, unless your SAT/ACT score is the perfect score. Other than that all I can think of is do projects. For example, I want to major in Computer Science, so I'm learning programming languages for it and plan on doing some projects with it. Try to do something like that. But You can still do EC's online I believe! Hope this helps!
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It's quite extreme to say it's hard "getting accepted into a university." Perhaps it's meant getting accepted into a highly competitive university? Not having any ECs last year and a sprinkling of any old kind of activities is fine for most colleges and you don't need perfect scores or high scores. Get involved in something, including a job, and depending on where you are aiming you should study for and take your SATs due to your home schooled status. Half the colleges, at least, can't be picky.