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What are Extracurricular Activities
What are Extracurricular Activities
There is a section of the Common Application where you list your top 10 extracurricular activities and provide (very) short descriptions. The concept of “extracurricular activities” may be somewhat foreign to SYE students. Admission officers are seeking leaders and students who will enrich their student body; students who are passionate and involved outside of the classroom, not just students with strong grades. Extracurricular activities are an essential piece of the application that give a school a more concrete view of a student’s interests and how they pursue them outside the classroom.
Examples of extracurricular activities include:
The Olympiad
Scouts
Musical instruments
Volunteering
Jobs
Extracurricular activities are an essential component of the application and cannot be overlooked-- they are as important as any other component of the application (test scores, essays, grades, etc). They will not make up for weak performance in other categories, but they will help set you apart.
Find New Activities
Find New Activities
If you are based in Damascus, you may consider volunteering with some of the following organizations to strengthen your extracurricular activity profile.
Red Crescent
JCI
Church’s scouts
Agha Khan Development Network
Jusoor
This links provide lists of opportunities that can be done remotely/ anywhere in the world:
Extracurriculars in your Application
Extracurriculars in your Application
On the common app you will have to provide the following information:
Type of Activity
Position/ Leadership description and organization name
Description of the activity (150 character limit)
What grade levels you participated in this activity
Estimated time commitment
You can find a template to draft responses in your student folder.
On the CommonApp, you have 150 characters to describe your experience with the activity. Here are some tips to make the most out of this space:
Emphasize tangible, measurable impact
Whom did your activity help? How many people? How much money did you raise?
Example: Raised $3,000 to provide three uniforms and scholarships for students attending the Joseph Waweru Home School in Kenya
Use active verbs to explain what you actually did
Instead of: “worked at a clinic doing different things” Try “Organized patient diagnosis notes, sterilized tools for surgeries, assisted with x-ray analysis
Don’t use complete sentences. List your tasks
Instead of: “I raised money to donate to a school in Ghana by selling t-shirts and bracelets, try “arranged advertising events, organized fundraisers, and gave presentations at school meetings”
Use the present tense if it’s something you still do
Aim for variety in your list, making sure verbs aren’t redundant
Instead of: “Instructing, helping, teaching children tennis” (how are these three different?), try: “responsible for leading swim practices, planning fundraising events, assisting in recruiting process
Avoid extreme language
Insead of: “...to help all those in need (or) to end poverty in the world” (since these are not really realistic goals), try: “...to help those in need (or)...help develop affordable housing for families in my community fight against global poverty.” The latter goals are still ambitious, but more realistic -- and show that you have an understanding of the scale of these global problems.
Examples:
Starter for Varsity girls tennis
Practiced and conditioned daily, led daily stretches, competed in district and regional matches against other schools
Volunteer, Red Cross
Assisted supervisors, filed paperwork, made phone calls to donors, prepared facilities or training programs by helping with class planning
Resources
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