Are my ECs good enough? What else should I do?
I am a 10th grader in India (US Citizen)
My ECs so far are—
• 126 hours of volunteer work at local art gallery, LoR received,
• 2 internships at a small writing organisation (about 60 members), LoR received,
• Applied for another writing internship started by UC Berkeley students, I think I'll get accepted (it's virtual),
• I was placed first for a painting competition, an advertisement campaign competition, and a henna making competition in my school,
• Doing a virtual program from the country's space agency where if I have 70% and get a 60% on the final quiz, I'll get a participation certificate,
• Got a class rank of 2 (gold medal) in NSO in a class of maybe 50?
• Got a gold medal in a French competition, not sure but I think it was for scoring 85%+,
• Was the vice president of my school's creative writing club.
• Am the participant of the robotics club, the public speaking club, and the writing club,
• In the US, I was placed in the Honor Roll and then in the Distinguished Honor Roll (9th grade) but my overall GPA was still just 91.7%.
• In India my overall percentage in 9th grade was 92.7%. (yes, I moved and had to repeat)
• I self studied AP Psych and AP English Language (am expecting 5s on both) as countey doesn't offer AP courses
• I plan to take part in math and science olympiads, although it's very difficult to get a high rank at them.
I feel that my ECs are not top-tier enough. Can someone please help me? Also please tell me what I could add to my ECs! Thank you
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3 answers
As a 10th grader you are doing more than most Americans so good for you. I recommend that you narrow your focus on some ECs. Decide if you want to have STEM (Robotics, Space, Math, Science) narrative or a Humanities (Writing, Art, French) narrative.
Also keep your grades up. It's important for Int'l students to submit an SAT or ACT test score. So I recommend that you start studying for one of those immediately.
Good luck.
You will get into a US school. Keep doing EC's you like.
Your ECs are certainly competitive for top-tier schools. The only other thing to think about is what career direction and major you are aiming for. If you already have a direction and it is showcased by your activities above, you can focus on reporting the most relevant activities in the 10 slots on your EC list. You could possibly add another EC or two to hone in on your long-term direction as well. Hope this helps!
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I'm actually extremely passionate about writing (but I won't choose it as a major in college) and also STEM, I don't have a lot of ECs for STEM, that is what I'm worried about. I want to get into MIT because of its hands-on research experiences provided to students, but I don't think my ECs are good enough