Last Minute Ways to Boost Your Extracurricular Profile
Last Minute Ways to Boost Your Extracurricular Profile
The great Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”
Admissions officers are on the hunt for excellence in the students they admit, not those who occasionally show glimmers of their potential. They want to fill their schools with students who will make a habit of active engagement in and out of the classroom.
If your activity list is looking light, you might be worried that you’ve established enough of a pattern of excellence in your extracurricular pursuits. To be clear, the amount of activities you engage in is much less important than the extent to which you engage in them. You may have dedicated 80% of your time outside class to one or two high-level activities (running a business, playing a sport for a competitive travel team, conducting research, etc.) and that’s great. But if you haven’t established a pattern of deep commitment yet, you will want to use the remaining time you have in the application process to bridge this gap.
Admissions officers can see through a desperate attempt to join clubs in your senior year just to add heft to your activity list. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find targeted opportunities that make sense in the context of the rest of your application.
Below are four great ways to meaningfully boost your extracurricular profile:
Document a passion through a blog or photo journal.
Perhaps there’s an interest or hobby you haven’t fully shared with others or expressed in your application because it feels personal. Maybe you like to read or doodle, for example, but didn’t consider those worthwhile to mention in your activities list. Take these personal hobbies to a different level of importance by documenting how much time you actually spend doing them and why you’re drawn to them.
Creating a blog, photo journal, Tumblr, etc. with well-curated content showcasing your hobbies will not only elevate those hobbies in the minds of an admissions officer, it will provide a way for you to take initiative over telling your own story. You may also begin to notice connections or patterns in your interests that weren’t immediately obvious to you. Sticking with the personal reading example, you may notice that you’ve been reading a lot of male authors and make a personal quest to read only works by women for the next six months and see how you grow from that experience.
Solve a local problem.
Take a step back from your immediate concerns. Are there people in your community, school, or even family that need your help? Perhaps there’s some environmental or logistical issue that no one has quite been able to manage. There could be a great opportunity for you to come in and make a real impact for the people around you.
Not all community service is created equal. It’s important to get involved and fulfill the hours your school mandates of you. But if you’re looking for ways to boost your extracurricular profile, you’ll want to consider how you can go beyond a bake sale or an afternoon of beach or park cleanup.
Are there ways you can use your passions to make life easier for someone close to you or in your community? Is there a void that you have the time and skill to fill for a local business or non-profit or even family member? Find a place where you can get involved, learn something new and make a tangible impact within your community.
Do a 30-day challenge and reflect on the journey.
For a growing community of artists around the world, October is “Inktober” as they embark on a month-long challenge of sketching in pen. November is National Novel Writers Month. Do you have an interest or hobby you’re curious to stretch? Take on a 30-day challenge.
You probably won’t write the Harry Potter saga during #NaNoWriMo but you can make excellent progress in turning an idea from a seed to a reality. If you’ve never attempted such a feat, imagine how great you’ll feel once you’ve completed it. The specific subject area or scope of your hobby isn’t what’s most important. Your effort to commit to and follow through on a substantive project is what will demonstrate to an admissions officer the kind of person you are at your core.
And be sure to document your work, as we outlined above.
Lay the groundwork for a long-term project.
Just because you might not have time to finish a project before your applications are due doesn’t mean it isn’t useful. Students who are truly intellectually curious will stay engaged beyond the deadlines. Further, your admissions process doesn’t end once you submit your app. Having an ongoing project of substance can be a great point of conversation between you and the admissions office in addition to helping you build skills you’ll need to succeed once you get to college.
Perhaps your class schedule senior year is structured in a way that gives you more time to pursue a passion deeper than you’ve been able to before. Or perhaps because your time isn’t overcommitted already to school activities, there are windows available for you to dive into something you like in a new way. It’s not too late to make this time count!
What would you do even if you weren’t applying to college? What are you really interested in? Have you shown it? How? For 12th graders in the thick the application process, make sure you have strong answers to these questions supported by evidence. For younger students, take this as a cue to prioritize your time accordingly. If you do, you’ll make it easy for an admissions officer to envision you thriving in and out of the classroom at his or her school.
The expert admissions consultants at Wise World Prep have helped hundreds of students maximize their potential of being admitted to their top choice colleges and universities. Over 20 years, we have successfully guided students through each stage of the application process – from choosing competitive high school courses to building an appropriate college list to drafting winning essays to writing persuasive update and appeals letters. We would be happy to answer your questions and partner with you to create a successful admissions roadmap.
Ready to get started? Schedule a complimentary 20-minute conversation today!
Want to stay informed? Subscribe to our newsletter.