I'm worried about how my extracurriculars will look to colleges. I'm not sure if they're very good at all, or if they'll be enough to get into top tier schools. Are there other activities I should be doing? For reference, I'm interested in Space and Music, and I want to major in Astrophysics/Physics. I'm a straight A student with a 4.0 Weighted GPA.
Freshman Year:
Earned Varsity Letter for marching band. Became a 1st Yellow Belt in Taekwondo. Started a part-time job as a cashier. Was 2nd Chair trumpet during concert season. Had a lead role in the school musical. Finished second year of Del-Tech's Academic Challenge Program.
Sophomore Year (current):
Still at part-time job. Joined and voted as Vice-President in the Tri-M Music Honor Society. Voted as Librarian for Band Government. Still 2nd Chair Trumpet. Will most likely get cast for another lead role (knock on wood, but I'm the favorite for it). Managing Variety and JV Lacrosse in the Spring. Applying for NHS
Junior Year (future):
Hopefully still everything else. Managing Varsity and JV Volleyball in Fall.
I think it's good for you to apply for a "music" major. your extracurriculars may give you an edge there. you can change your major once you're admitted.
they're not bad - i'd say your part time job is nice, provided you continually dedicate yourself to it and not enter the "diseconomy of scale" of having too many positions
to really evaluate these we need to know if there are a load of sports teams/opportunities like the ones above you had, depending on the size of the school it gets evaluated differently (e.g my school does not have a lacrosse team, we're pretty small!)
i'm going to support my fellow junior here and say that you're doing well! i'm also an astrophysics aspirant, and there is one competition you might be interested in joining (in the future, qualifications are due in april)- the IAAC, for that extra honour. for majors, i've heard that taking a physics major makes you more competitive for astro grad school, but i'm not sure, these are my own two cents!
good luck!
To keep this community safe and supportive:
Why would it give me an edge? Would it hurt my overall career path and process to get a PhD?