Exactly how important are your activities?
 

Ok I'm not a boring person with nothing to offer. But I haven't really gotten involved AT my school, something I'm really regretting now and one of the reasons I'm looking forward to college - so I can start fresh.

I'm pretty athletic, play a lot of tennis and run in my spare time. I do a lot of creative writing in my spare time as well. But for my recommendation letters, I can't write under "activities" stuff like "Played Varsity Tennis" or "Co-Captain of Cross-Country team," since I did these things on my own, in my spare time. As of now I don't have many activities - I do Speech & Debate and Model United Nations and have won good awards in both, I was a staff member for the school newspaper last year, and I am currently an editor for my school magazine.

But that's basically it. Sports-wise, like I said I have nothing to say. I do a bunch of volunteer work though - at the animal shelter, homeless shelter, afterschool tutoring kids in a problematic area - which I'm hoping could make up for my slight shortage of activities.
Will this affect my chances a lot, if on my rec letters I don't have many activities listed? I'm confident that ACTUALLY rushing, speaking with girls from all the chapters, won't be too much of a problem for me because I'm a people-person and have lots of speaking skills plus I'll be able to talk about how I do have several big interests.

This fall I'm starting my senior year of highschool, so I still have time to get a few activities in and such (not JUST for the sake of going greek) but I'm wondering if as of now this would put me at a significant disadvantage...?

School paper, school mag, speech, & model UN? That's more than a lot of girls rushing have. That, along with your other activities, sounds fine to me. Don't force yourself to join a school sports team or other activities if you're not going to like it. That would not be fun for you OR the people on the team.

I would get the heads of the places you volunteer at to write a short paragraph extolling your wonderfulness though. :)

How are the things you listed not activities? I don't get it.

Like, does it say specifically SCHOOL activities?

The thing is I can't really say for my rec letter "I play tennis in my spare time" or "I do a lot of creative writing." I mean I could but I don't think it's really impressive AT ALL unless I have titles or awards to go along with it...?

So why not include them as hobbies or interests?

And the volunteering? Not an activity?

ETA: Also, personal recs are best, and alumna who knows you will be able to include the running, tennis, and writing stuff if you get to know her first versus getting an info-only rec.

Ooh wait aren't they separate? I mean I read all the info threads for rec letters, but I kind of automatically figured that they separate volunteer work from extracurriculars like a lot of places do..?

:) Thanks a lot to the other 2 who have commented so far. Still gonna try to get a bit more involved at school in the year I have left.

I don't understand what this is for, I guess.

I'm assuming, and correct me if I'm wrong, that you're putting together a resume to ask for recommendations? If this is the case, you can certainly include hobbies.

Some schools have a place to put hobbies/interests on recruitment application forms, but I don't know why someone who is going into their senior year would be worried about/filling that out now.

Yeah I'm already planning ahead to get rec letters. Sorry if it was a bit confusing. I guess I'll include them as hobbies.

I mean I've seen sample resumes that people have sent in and a lot of them "differentiate" between awards/special positions held, volunteer work, and hobbies. So that was my question - if not having a lot of awards and special positions (ie "school varsity xc team" "president of _____" "won 1st place at ____") mentioned in my rec letter would harm me.

I have already asked around a bit and haven't found a single person to ask for rec-letters. Still gonna keep searching but chances are I might have to go for an info-only letter.

That's actually a lot of good stuff that you just want to put together in sections of a resume for your rec writers. It would be something like this for example:

School Clubs and Activities

Model UN
(Junior and Senior Years)
-Served as president during Senior year

Debate Team
(Sophomore, Junior and Senior Years)
-Won XYZ Award Sophomore year
-Placed 3rd in all state competition Senior year

School Newspaper
(Junior Year)
-Staff editor

Volunteer Work

My Town Humane Society
-Volunteer adoption counselor
-Recognized as Volunteer of the Month in April 2010

My Town Homeless Shelter
-Volunteered as math tutor for at risk homeless youth

Hobbies and Other Activities
-Running
-Tennis
-Creative writing

Ooh, this is really helpful thanks a lot! :)

You have lots of time to find alumnae in random places. Try school, church, if you have a part time job, where you volunteer.

Include any part-time or summer jobs on your resume. Include your volunteering, and include your hobbies. The more personal a rec-writer can make it, the better.

Also, long-term activities look infinitely better than short-term, unless it's like Habitat for Humanity or a mission trip.

You can't do one year of sorority unless you're planning on terminating your membership.

This would not be unusual for competitive recruitments, and is actually a pretty good idea.

That's more than I had, to be honest. How much your activities matter will depend on the college you go to and the campus culture. On my campus, it's great if a girl is in a bunch of clubs, even better if she's president of an honor society, but a short list of activities is no deal breaker with a good GPA and other qualities. And of course on competitive campuses it matters a great deal. It's good to be planning ahead, but make sure you focus more on your senior year than your freshman year of college, at least for now.

It's not unusual for a girl entering her senior year to already be filling out the recruitment application (at least a) year in advance?

I mean... it's one thing to be mindful of it, or check it out so you know what to do, but... campuses accept applications that far in advance? I mean, at this point, she probably hasn't received an acceptance letter to whatever college she intends to go to yet.

Getting recs together I understand (although obviously you'd want to KNOW what school you're going to, first), but... filling out the application?