what to do if your school isn't recognized by the colleges you're applying to.Answered
I (10th grade) go to a small classical private school and there is no club activities offered, and no chance of making one. There are eleven high-schoolers and no ap classes available. I'm aiming for Harvard and Princeton, but don't have any idea on what to do for extracurricular. I'm going to take AP classes this year preferably self study and have no doubt about passing, but I am lost on how to achieve honors and extracurricular. Any advice?
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5 answers
Your extracurriculars don't have to be at school. You can volunteer somewhere. A job counts. College Vine has a list of hundreds of things you can do and even have them in categories. I used this because some things I was doing I didn't even know counted as extracurriculars. Here is the link https://blog.collegevine.com/your-complete-list-of-extracurricular-activities/ One friend of mine did a series of lessons for elementary students and put it on YouTube (she did short science experiments) and counted that. I hope this helps. I was in the same boat. I go to a school for the arts and we don't have all the heavy duty classes other schools have.
Hello there! I experienced this one myself since my former school in 9th-10th Grade also have no clubs or extracurriculars. What I did though is focus on the things outside of school that I can do. Maybe you could start a national organization composing of different student from different schools in you area? Or join a program that really caters to your interests? Activities are found all over and not just at schools so you would just have to be on a lookout for them.
Hi, thank you for asking your question! I agree with the below posts and their suggestions of extracurriculars and honors that you can pursue outside of school. That being said, it does seem like a difficult situation to navigate when you do not have ECs available at your school.
I would focus on understanding what you are passionate about (Science, Art, English, History, Math, etc.) and discover activities and organizations outside of school that align with this. This will help you reach an extracurricular profile that will make you stand out for top tier schools. Check out our blog posts on extracurriculars to learn more about finding these opportunities.
Do what you can outside of school, perhaps get a job, find a time-consuming useful hobby. Play in a sports club or do something you are passionate about outside of the classroom. Maybe explore any online teaching. And tbh the admissions officers look at what you could do in your context you should be fine as long as you find stuff outside
If you are interested in debate, you could look into independent debate leagues. I'm homeschooled but I was in a national debate league (the NCFCA) for 2 years. The only debate leagues like this I know of are STOA and NCFCA. Both are religiously affiliated and primarily target homeschoolers but did accept some private schoolers. If you are interested in gaining recognition in competitive activities, either would be good because they both have competition starting locally but going to a national level.
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Thank you! I love the national organization idea, but I'm not sure what kind of organization to begin with. Academic programs outside of school either don't have a academic competitive aspect ( I'm interested in a debate team and a mathematics team.)