I’ve been getting a lot of questions about extra-curricular activities! 🧐
There’s no good or bad extra curricular activity. But here are the things that matter:
1) Purpose
If your activity is something seemingly small, but is a multiplier (it will perpetrate something bigger and beneficial), then you shouldn’t hesitate to put it on. It won’t hurt you.
2) Relevance
Well, if you are an aspiring engineer but spent your high school years drawing or singing, it won’t make much sense. Sure, these are great activities too, but not the ones you would probably want to define you and shape your overall narrative. You need to do something relevant. If you want to become an economist, come up with an idea for a research project, and start gathering information and sources to conduct your research. If you are an aspiring engineer, I’d expect to see a certain degree of passion there, such as engineering projects or fair amount of involvement in robotics, maths, or physics contests and olympiads.
3) Significance
Whether you want it or no, points of excellence (POE) matter. What is something that distinguishes you from others? For some, it’s sports, where they are a part of a big national association. For others, it’s international olympiads where they secure worthy places. But there should be something - most preferably significant and inspirational - that you can proudly talk about, both in your Extra-Curricular Activities section and essays.
There’s much more that goes into ECs - common rules. But this is enough for now :).
