What Is A Good Extracurricular Anyway?
With many schools becoming test optional and whole systems like the University of California not even considering test scores, the extracurricular activities of students have become more important than ever. So what makes for a good extracurricular and what are colleges looking for? This question seems to be a little misunderstood among most Asian high school students. Every year I see the theme of quantity over quality but colleges are most definitely looking for quality above quantity.
The reason for the extracurricular activities is to stand out above the rest. The average student in the United States isn’t applying to the top 50 colleges in America. So for most US students playing varsity volleyball or basketball is probably an okay activity that will set them apart when applying to the local public state universities. However, if you are applying to a top notch university playing varsity sports most definitely doesn’t set you apart from your peers, nor does model UN, playing violin, being editor of the newspaper, or any other normal school activity.
To get into the top schools your child needs to do three things; focus on their passion, spend an enormous amount of time on that passion, and show that the activity really made an impact. I see a lot of Asian students trying to get as many activities as they can, not because they enjoy it or really have a passion for it but because they know the common application has spots to list 10 activities and they think they need to fill it. This is not the case, most of the students I know getting into Harvard have 2 or 3 activities that are usually outside of school or that they started in their school that are connected to the same theme or passion.
So how do you know what your passions are? Through a lot of self reflection - students should think about what they are good at, what they love and what they think the world needs. Combine your skill and love with what you think the world needs and you can usually brainstorm a few good ideas that will showcase your passions. Once you have done this then the time you spend becomes the next determining factor of success. An idea is just that, an idea - what really makes an idea stand out is the time and effort, the success AND failures of trying to implement it. Universities are okay with, and in fact, like failure, they want to see resilience and the student overcome difficulties. So having an activity that doesn’t work perfectly is fine, what they want to see is that you spent a lot of time trying to make it happen.
Last is the impact your activity has. Does it affect and help improve other people’s lives? Does it help you grow and learn as an individual? These are the questions and outcomes that the university will be looking for. You want your activities to really be special and have some sort of impact on you or the people around you.
Remember there are a few international schools in every country and large city. So you aren’t just competing with other students in your school or even your city. If you really want to get into that dream school you better start early and schedule a lot of time doing something that you love and that will make an impact. I think this is probably currently one of the most important aspects of an application now. Jeremy Lin didn’t have just good grades, he was a phenomenal basketball player. I.M. Pei didn’t just have good grades, but had worked and showed an interest and portfolio in architecture long before he applied to University of Pennsylvania. Extracurriculars are an important way to stand out and show that you stand alone in a specific area and have a passion to develop your skills in that area. That’s what makes a good extracurricular activity - not 10 school clubs and sports on your activities list.
Famous Alumni
Dr. Sammy Lee was a Physician and two time U.S. Gold medal winner in olympic platform diving. Sammy Lee went to Occidental College in Los Angeles, the same liberal arts college that Barack Obama attended. Dr. Lee then went on to the University of Southern California Medical School.
