Split Decision

This is the second in a series of blog posts by Megan R. It's mid-October, and she's hanging in there!

    I never thought I would have to make this choice.  I had played my cards right since the 9^th grade, joining Model UN that year and Spectrum and Science Olympiad in the year following.  I set myself up to have a leadership role in all three clubs by senior year, dedicating time and effort to each club and even missing school for some of them.  That’s when I read the newsletter with the activity schedule for the 2013-2014 school year – all three clubs meet on Thursday. 

    What were the odds of that happening? The only three clubs I’m in, and they all meet at the same time.  I’ve done Model UN since freshmen year, one of only four people in my grade to have joined that year.  I’ve been to six conferences and missed school multiple times.  I’ve also been writing for the school paper since 10^th grade, and I was fortunate enough to be a section editor last year as well.  Science Olympiad has been another one of my passions, and I’ve spent many a Saturday morning in the 6^th grade science hall preparing for our next competition, even getting up at 5 am to drive from school to Knoxville to compete against my fellow science lovers.  All this is to say, I love all of these clubs, and I had always hoped to lead them all instead of being forced to choose between them because of something as mundane as a scheduling conflict.  
     Nevertheless, I couldn’t change the schedule, so I was forced to make a choice, to prioritize these things that were all very important to me.  In the end, I became co-president of Science Olympiad and a section editor of Spectrum, which allows me to be at Olympiad in person and do Spectrum online.  Unfortunately, I had to sacrifice a role as delegation leader in Model UN because I simply couldn’t be in three three places at once. 
     While I’m sure you can relate to my dilemma, as we have all seen the advantages and disadvantages of this new schedule, I worry about whether colleges and universities can understand where I’m coming from.  It seems like these days, you have to be captain and president of every club in school to get in to college, and even that might not be good enough.  Don’t take this the wrong way – I wanted to lead these clubs because I care about them, not to build my resume.  
     That's another issue - colleges often convince kids to lead clubs just so they can fill another space on their application, not because they are truly passionate about an organization.  Well, I am passionate about all three of these clubs, even if I'm not president of all of them.  I just hope that the schools I apply to will understand that I tried, and that I was forced to make a choice because as of 2013, it is not humanly possible to be in three places at once. Whether I like it or not, the laws of science still take precedence over college admissions requirements.