Can you compete with college applicants with a five-page resume and a laundry-list of extracurricular activies? The answer, surprisingly, is yes.
Key takeaways:
- When it comes to extracurriculars, more is not necessarily better as far as college admissions boards are concerned.
- It’s in-depth participation that provides the personal development they’re looking for.
- Understand how admissions officers use extracurriculars to assess potential students.
How many extracurriculars should I have for college?
Say you’re applying to study in a particular field, like Business, or Engineering, or Law. Besides the list of documents you need to apply, you’ve probably paid attention on the school subjects or real-world skills that are relevant.
But how do university admission boards choose from hundreds or thousands of students with similar backgrounds? This is where a strong extracurriculars section in your CV can help you stand out from the pack.
When choosing what to spend your time on, balance breadth – the amount of activities you do – with depth – how profoundly you’re involved and what you achieve in each activity.
First: What are extracurriculars?
What counts as extracurricular activities in admissions? These include:
- Activities done outside the classroom.
- An activity done in addition to course requirements.
These can range from sports to volunteering to excelling in cultural activities to working a part-time job or starting your own business.
Enter co-curriculars: the extracurricular’s study buddy.
Co-curriculars are the activities that sit closer to your schoolwork, designed to directly support and complement what you’re learning in class. Essentially, while extracurriculars don’t necessarily have anything to do with what you’re learning in school, co-curriculars are designed to complement your academic work directly.
Without being required to complete a class, they give you more opportunities to work with or explore a school subject – think of a math club, English Olympiad or science competition.
Note: For convenience, we will group both of these under the umbrella term “extracurriculars” for this article.
How do colleges use extracurricular and co-curricular activities to assess students?
If you’re looking to understand how college and university admissions boards use extracurriculars to assess potential students for enrolment, you are in the right place.
Extracurriculars help admissions boards to determine several things about you:
Your character: Extracurriculars aren’t just social activities. To participate productively in a sport takes dedication and long-term commitment. Charitable and community endeavours demonstrate social awareness and concern for others. The impression you give in your list of extracurriculars helps admissions officers get a sense of who you are.
Your sincerity: Extracurriculars show you putting your money where your mouth is. These are things you do in your own time and at your own expense, and they demonstrate that you’re willing to translate your interests into practical action. If you’ve been able to explore your field of interest on your own, even if you have no professional experience yet, it shows that your passion for the subject is real. This applies even if the activity doesn’t directly correlate to your proposed degree – multiple interests are the sign of a well-rounded individual.
Your skills: Continuing to learn and develop outside the classroom will have helped you develop skills like group organisation or management, leadership, time management, interpersonal skills and more.
Your potential contribution to the college community: Much of the value of a college education is imparted outside the classroom, and your interactions with your fellow students play a big role in that. Colleges and universities are looking for candidates who can participate in the community actively and productively, giving as much as they get.
In a nutshell, a tertiary education is one of the greatest investments you can make in yourself. When selecting candidates for a limited number of places, admissions officers want to choose people who will get the most out of the opportunity and, in turn, be able to use what they learn productively.
It’s not how much you’ve done, it’s how much you’ve learnt
Extracurriculars are valuable because of the opportunities for personal development they provide. Studies have shown that when it comes to extracurriculars, it’s in-depth participation that pays off.
Researchers at the University of California have shown that, during secondary education (i.e. while preparing for college or university), a focus on a moderate number of outside activities results in not just a higher grade-point average and better academic engagement, but a greater sense of community and belonging. Doing less than two extracurricular activities didn’t give students as much opportunity for this development while doing too many spreads them too thin.
In an interview with the New York Post, Founder and CEO of Command Education Christopher Rim confirms that too many extracurriculars can be counter-productive. Tertiary institutions are wary of long lists of perfunctory activities because they can tell when students are personally committed and when they’re simply trying to boost their resumes.
“Really follow and really participate in something that you’re genuinely and honestly interested in. Don’t do something because you think colleges will like it,” Rim advises. “ … Show that you’re truly committed to making an impact.”
Rankings extracurriculars and their value to your resume
No matter the activity, you should understand that tertiary institutions rank extracurricular activities into four tiers. Again, it’s the depth of your involvement and achievement that determines the tier of the activity in your case:
Extracurriculars: Tier rankings
Tier | Label | Description | Examples |
1 | Unique | As impressive as they are rare; achievements that stand out nationally. | Founding a charity or business, being a top-100 athlete nationally, winning a national award |
2 | Exceptionally impactful | Shows excellence without being as unique as Tier 1. | Leadership positions, awards, developing a successful app or project |
3 | Meaningful | Tangible impact even without the most prestigious position. | Minor leadership role, organising tasks, recruiting volunteers, planning events |
4 | Average | Most common type; active engagement without exceptional achievement. | Regular membership in a group, team, or club, without leadership or major recognition |
At first sight, prospective college students can find this system discouraging. It really is focused on highlighting excellence. Ranking the most common level of extracurricular participation as the lowest effectively takes this participation for granted.
However, keep in mind that while tier 4 activities don’t necessarily wow admissions boards, they do demonstrate the important fact that you are actively participating in your community, that you have interests beyond academics and the drive to pursue them.
Quick guide: How to maximise the impact of your extracurriculars
Depth and breadth complement each other: You don’t have to excel in every area – a particular activity may be your main focus, with others added just out of interest.
Follow your passions: This is vital. Activities in which you’re deeply engaged are a better use of your time than dabbling in things that bore you. These are where you’ll have the chance to excel, and they’ll help demonstrate your commitment to a particular subject or cause.
Take the initiative: Find activities where you can excel. If the opportunities you really want aren’t available to you, perhaps make your own by pursuing a self-started project.
Up your engagement: In any group activity, there are opportunities to increase your involvement with the people working with you. Take a leadership role, drive new endeavours or find new ways in which you can support each other by helping each other train or creating opportunities to build team spirit.
Plan ahead: Building a solid portfolio of extra-curriculars activities takes time, especially when the focus is on strong performance.
In conclusion
The extracurriculars section of your college application plays a vital role in setting you apart from the crowd. But, it’s not just an exercise in ticking boxes. To really make an impression, you need to find ways to stand out from the crowd, and to demonstrate your passion and dedication. Here, the quality of your experience, rather than the quantity, will win out every time.
Sources:
- Too much of a good thing? How breadth of extracurricular participation relates to school-related affect and academic outcomes during adolescence by Casey A Knifsend and Sandra Graham, Department of Psychology, University of California, 2011.
- Why extracurricular activities are key to top-tier college admissions, by Miska Salemann and Riki Schlott, The New York Post, 23 January 2024.
