Much more important than the difficulty or grandeur of your extracurriculars is the authenticity and dedication they illustrate. Listing several extracurriculars on your application, but lacking any long-term commitments or leadership roles, instantly shows admissions officers that you joined clubs or started projects solely to make your activities list longer in anticipation of applying to universities. Download our free eBook to see examples of activities from successful Ivy League admits!
Some students worry that participating in extracurriculars may take away too much time from their schoolwork, thus hurting their grades; however, extracurricular activities can actually improve your grades and your outlook on school in general!
Participating in activities you are passionate about can increase your brain function, help you concentrate and manage your time better, all of which contribute to higher grades. High endurance sports, for example, will train you to focus and build stamina in the face of intense difficulty. This gives you an advantage when it comes to studying and taking exams. Lots of studies have been conducted on the relationship between extracurricular activities and academic performance , and they all show that students who participate in them have higher grades, more positive attitudes toward school and higher academic aspirations.
Plus, diversifying your interests subsequently broadens your world view. You join the school team and start training for the national Maths Olympiad.
During the process you realise how fun maths can be and how talented you actually are, which gives your confidence a massive boost. Working hard and mastering new skills in a fun, relaxed — and sometimes competitive — setting allows you to be successful without the pressure of getting a good grade.
For example, if you make a few friends doing community service at school you might decide start a volunteer club together and really make an impact in your community! Extracurricular activities give you something fun to do aside from school. It also gives you the chance to explore you're passions to discover things you may be interested beyond academics while taking some time off hitting the book. For example you could learn how to start a podcast!
Learn more about how you can turn an idea into a portfolio of leadership projects. Each and every step will teach you a new skill you can use for the rest of your life. Without much previous work experience , one of the only ways hiring managers can assess your ability and work ethic is through your extracurricular activities.
For example, if you were on a debating team, the manager would know that you work well with others, can argue a point professionally and have public speaking experience - all awesome skills to have in the workplace! Although that sounds like a lot, extracurricular activities are even more important to US universities. US colleges want to see very specific things from your extracurricular activities.
Make sure your activities are ticking the following boxes to increase your chances of getting in:. Although you probably already participate in activities outside of school, take the time to think about the benefits of extracurricular activities and how to maximise your passions. Our holistic approach provides support across all areas of the US and UK university application process. We assist you to find your best-fit university, create a personalised roadmap, ace your standardised tests, craft the perfect essay, build candidacy through extracurriculars, and more.
Find out more about our Admissions Support program. Extracurriculars are a critical part of your university application, as they demonstrate who you are outside of the classroom and provide an opportunity to showcase your leadership skills and community involvement.
However, it takes years to build an authentic extracurricular profile that strategically enhances your candidacy. What are extracurricular activities? Examples of Extracurricular Activities Examples can include things like taking an online course in coding , starting a podcast , or even starting a business! This issue brief examines the relationship between extracurricular participation and student engagement in school using data from public high school seniors in the National Education Longitudinal Study NELS.
The brief also explores whether the availability of these activities varies according to school characteristics, and whether participation differs according to student background and school setting.
Is participation in extracurricular activities related to students' success in school? Indicators of successful participation in school include consistent attendance, academic achievement, and aspirations for continuing education beyond high school. Extracurricular participation 1 was positively associated with each of these success indicators among public high school seniors in table 1. During the first semester of their senior year, participants reported better attendance than their non-participating classmates--half of them had no unexcused absences from school and half had never skipped a class, compared with one-third and two-fifths of nonparticipants, respectively.
Students who participated were three times as likely to perform in the top quartile on a composite math and reading assessment compared with nonparticipants. Participants were also more likely than nonparticipants to aspire to higher education: two-thirds of participants expected to complete at least a bachelor's degree while about half of nonparticipants expected to do so. It cannot be known from these data, however, whether participation leads to success, successful students are more inclined to participate, or both occur.
Table 1. Are extracurricular activities available to all students? Virtually all students in public schools reported that a core of extracurricular activities was available to them, including sports, performing arts, publications, and honor societies; and all but a small percentage had access to academic clubs and student government table 2. Furthermore, despite concerns about scarce resources in schools serving poor students, no important differences in availability of extracurricular activities in relatively less affluent and more affluent schools 2 were found.
Similarly, regardless of whether the schools attended were large students or more or small less than , in rural, urban or suburban settings, or served large 20 percent or more minority or small proportions of minority students less than 20 percent , almost all students reported that extracurricular activities were available to them data not shown in table. Table 2. Percentage of public school seniors reporting availability of selected extracurricular activities, by affluence of school, Students Reporting Availability of Activity percent All Less More public affluent affluent schools schools schools Any extracurricular activity About four of every five seniors said they participated in at least one extracurricular activity in Although a range of extracurricular activities was available to almost all students, students differed markedly in their choice of activities table 3.
Sports either individual or team had the widest participation, involving 42 percent of seniors in , followed by performing arts and academic clubs. Not only do extracurricular activities bring the fun factor, studies indicate that they lay a strong foundation for success later in life. The image of a student scrawling out their fifth essay of the week, ignoring calls from their friends to come shoot hoops, and developing their first gray hairs is an oft-drawn, dramatized character trope.
But evidence suggests that kids could be missing out on personal, holistic benefits by not participating in extracurricular activities. Additionally, participation in extracurricular activities has been shown to relate to lower depression and greater future social competence in younger children.
If participating in an extracurricular activity can foster confidence and competence in students, a program like chess club becomes so much more than just pieces moving on a board. Data suggests that involvement in extracurricular activities is associated with greater school participation.
Similarly, a little over half of the involved seniors reported that they never skipped a class that first semester. Seniors who were not involved in an extracurricular program reported less school participation: a little over one-third of non-participating seniors reported having no unexcused absences and a little over two-fifths reported having never skipped a class that first semester.
A study conducted by Eccles and Barber found similar evidence of extracurricular activities promoting school attachment, showing that students who participated in extracurricular activities not only skipped class less but also enjoyed school more. Completing high school is correlated to involvement in extracurricular activities.
Academic achievement may be supported by student participation in extracurricular activities. A study conducted by Marchetti, Wilson, and Dunham found that at-risk students from a low socioeconomic background who met ACT reading and mathematics benchmarks were more likely to participate in extracurricular activities than students who did not meet the same standards. Irish secondary school students who were involved in a competitive school sports team were shown to have improved leaving examination results when compared to students who did not play on a team.
In a study of tenth grade students, researchers found that church and volunteer activities, team sports, school involvement, performing arts, and academic clubs were all correlated with better academic performance.
For example, Bradley and Conway hypothesized in that developing more self-efficacy through participating in music lessons allows students to achieve more in school as a result of their newfound confidence. Involvement in specifically academic -focused extracurricular activities predicts an even greater likelihood of involvement in post-secondary education, for students who are involved in academic extracurricular activities report being enrolled in college at age 21 more often than both non-extracurricular participants and non-academic extracurricular participants.
If kids associate school with something they love, perhaps kids see school as a place where they can thrive. If they are thriving in high school, it goes to show that maybe they could thrive in college, as well.
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