Extra Curriculars To Get Into A University

What were your extracurriculars to get into Top University like MIT or Standford?

A2A First I was a prodigy in Chemisty starting college at age 16. In high school, I was president of several after school programs (chess and science) and scored well on the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. When old enough to leave home, I applied to UC Berkeley as a transfer student. Since I was already at the local college, I did not apply anywhere else, so my scope was limited. What might have helped is that my grandmother and parents went to Berkeley, so I am a third generation Cal grad.That is my story, but to be truthful, I probably would not have gotten into Stanford as an undergraduate, and even if I did, I would not have been able to afford it. I only lived away for home to two years as an undergraduate, so my mother who saved for years could pay for it. When I couldn't get a job - there was a recession at the time - I only applied to three universities for graduate school: Harvard, Stanford, and UC Berkeley. I was fortunate to get into Berkeley, and because I did well as Berkeley, I later got into Stanford because company I worked for was one of its member companies. I did a Post Doc at Harvard years later because I taught a Boston University and knew people who knew people. I was in the right place at the right time and had mentors every step of the way.The reason I am giving you a complete picture to say that there is various stages of academic development that are available by sure luck. If you are not a top student is your country with recognized achievements, you most likely will not be able to compete as an undergraduate with the world's best for the very few International student openings at top universities. Rather than ask others what were their extracurricular activities, I suggest you follow your own interests and passions because that is what it will take to be best in your country.This was probably more than you ask for, but I think you should know that there is a lot of luck getting admitted into a top university especially from a foreign country, no matter what your extracurricular activities are.

How do I get into a top university without significant extracurricular activities?

Short answer, probably not.The only thing in your list of accomplishments that really stands out is DECA states, and I don’t know how impressed an admissions committee will be impressed by that (also, you listed your weighted GPA). Based solely on this list of accomplishments, the impression I get is bright but uninspired student, and I imagine an admissions committee will feel the same way. So unless you have an amazing backstory that you’re leaving out, you’d be extremely lucky to get into a top 30 college.Now that I’ve crushed your hopes and dreams, I do feel that I owe you an explanation as to why I said you probably won’t get into a top college: More and more parents have been pushing their kids to enroll in AP classes and SAT prep courses. Furthermore, teachers feel increasingly pressured to give students good grades, so high school grade inflation has become a real problem. The result of all of this is that top programs receive way more applicants with good grades and solid SAT scores than they have room for, and your application will probably just be lost in a sea of similar applications.So now that you know why good grades, solid test scores, and an extracurricular or two aren’t good enough for a top college, you’re probably wondering what will get you in. Well, colleges are looking for students who are highly self-motivated, who have displayed passion and curiosity, and have already thrived in independent circumstances. The reason for this is that in college, students are given much more freedom than they were in high school. This is especially true of top programs. You choose what to study, how to manage your time, what assignments to turn in, how to contribute to the university, and when and how to use the university’s resources. If you have not already displayed the passion and motivation to do impactful things on your own in high school, an admissions committee has no reason to believe you will start in college.So if you want to get into a top college, pick something you care about. Literally anything that you think you could be passionate about that won’t get you arrested. Now figure out how to turn that interest into an accomplishment, and, more importantly, an accomplishment that shows you can do things because you want to do them, and not because a parent or teacher prompted you to.

College and University Admissions: How important are STEM extracurriculars to get into MIT?

MIT does care about extracurriculars because they demonstrate a number of things: that you're a human being and not a machine, that you're passionate about certain things, that you can manage your studies and your hobbies. And of course, social skills.So it depends on what you do with the STEM extracurriculars; for instance -- can you demonstrate excellence, passion, leadership, entrepreneurship, and time management?Examples: you captain the math team ... you organized a school science fair ...

What are the best extracurriculars to get into top colleges?

There are generally three main categories of top-tier extracurricular activities:• Creative (art, music, writing)• Athletic (basketball, field hockey, skiing)• Academic (research, publishing papers)On a more granular level, any of these extracurricular activities then has the opportunity to become entrepreneurial or service-oriented in nature. For example, an accomplished violinist could perform for pay at weddings, or play for free in nursing homes.Other forms of work or service that aren’t run by the student and/or in the student’s area of passion are less enticing, unless they connect in some way to the student’s personal story (needing to work through high school; doing menial labor as service a soup kitchen or hospital because they want to become an advocate or doctor).Colleges see applicants with all kinds of extracurricular activities, even rare ones. One of my main extracurricular activities was playing the harp, and I certainly wasn’t the first applicant to list that, no matter how unusual the harp may be. It’s very infrequent that admissions officers will be particularly impressed or shocked by an extracurricular activity, unless you used it as a jumping-off point from which to create something new, and/or be exalted on a high level (think nationally and above) for that activity.Sometimes creating and exaltation can work in tandem, such as a music composition that wins you a Presidential Scholar in the Arts title or a STEM research project that nabs you first place in the Regeneron Science Talent Search. However, even one is enough to raise eyebrows, such as if your fundraiser raised thousands of dollars or your classical ballet solo won you awards.ECs are part of packaging yourself, which is a vital part of applications that I go into more detail on here. Hope it helps!