Is it ok if you do not have many ECs freshman year?

Answered

Hi, I'm a freshman as well. You have some leadership which is great. I think colleges are looking more for commitment and growing in leadership so you're off to a great start. (stay in these ECs and then try to eventually get better leadership positions & try to join more extracurriculars). It's a great idea to do things over the summer (your volunteering).

You can try doing more ECs on the weekend if you're having trouble keeping up with homework. Perhaps you could do more consistent volunteer work on the weekend. Don't know if this helps, but you can try to start a club that doesn't take up too much time for you instead of trying to find ECs that aren't a huge commitment.

If you want to expand on extracurriculars that occur after school, maybe you need to rethink your study habits so you're not spending too much time on homework/studying. I like to make daily schedules of how long it'll take to do complete each homework assignment/studying to plan ahead. (e.g. If I have rehearsal on Tuesday, I'll plan to do more homework on Monday/Wednesday so I'm not behind)

1. Treasurer of Science Olympiad Club (first year, barely got going, no competitions): seems like a tier 2 or 3 because of your leadership

2. Member of Interact Club (very little commitment, service projects often clashed with EC 3): seems like a 3/4 depending on the service projects

3. Cricket (I play cricket - I am the captain of my U16 Club Team, and in this year alone have been in 2 nationwide tournaments where I have represented Houston): tier 2

4. I am also an assistant coach at a cricket academy every Wednesday from 6:30 - 8:30, where I coach a batch of 10-12 U13 and U11 kids: tier 2/low tier 1

Don't forget that you can check the tiers each of your ECs are in CollegeVine chancing simulator under the colleges tab above. It's probably a more accurate guide that you can better decide which tier each extracurricular falls in.

Hope this helps. Good luck! :)