Why are extracurriculars so important these days?

The college admissions landscape has changed greatly in the past two decades. Acceptance rates have been steadily dropping due to increased applications, especially to “top” colleges. As a result, high grades and test scores accompanied by a decent personal statement and extracurricular profile are no longer enough to gain acceptance to more competitive colleges.  In fact, most students who receive rejection letters are actually qualified in terms of grades and test scores. We can consider qualifying grades and test scores almost a pre-requirement to applying to a competitive college, while the “softer” factors like essays and extracurriculars are what get you those acceptance letters.

Let’s take a look at the bigger picture. These are the factors that go into your admissions decision:

Academic

• Grades

• Test Scores

• Rigor of high school record

• Class Rank

• Recommendations

Nonacademic

• Extracurricular activities

• Personal statement

• Supplemental essays

• Character/personal qualities

• Talent/ability

• Background (first generation, legacy, geographical residence, racial/ethnic background)

• Work experience

• Volunteer work

• Level of interest in the school

For the most part, you can control the academic factors if it’s early enough, but out of the nonacademic factors, you can only control extracurricular activities, level of interest, and essays (level of interest is not always considered for competitive colleges). So if you aren’t thinking about extracurricular activities long before senior fall when you apply to college, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to give yourself an advantage in college admissions.

Moreover, if you have great test scores, grades, course selection, and recommendations but haven’t put much thought or effort into extracurriculars, there isn’t much of a way for you to stand out from the thousands of applicants who also have almost perfect academics. If you’ve just joined all the the activities that your school friends have been involved in, your profile will look very similar to your classmates’. Having amazing essays will certainly give you a boost, but if you have a remarkable essay and excellent academics with common extracurriculars, your chances at admission to a top college will not be so high. 

Extracurriculars also can show character, personal qualities, ability, and talent, which many competitive colleges consider highly. Of course, you can demonstrate ability and talent through obvious activities like playing a musical instrument or sport, acting in plays, writing, making art, et cetera. But through these and other activities, you can also demonstrate more abstract yet just as important qualities like maturity, tenacity, dedication, commitment, determination, communication and interpersonal skills, leadership ability, thoughtfulness, respect, friendship, a global perspective, care for others, and teamwork.

It’s important to differentiate yourself from other qualified applicants by developing a compelling profile of yourself, and extracurricular activities are a key part of that. However, it is essential to begin thinking about this as soon as possible, as colleges will know when a student is trying to add extracurricular activities last-minute to impress admissions officers.

Ideally, your extracurricular activities should be focused on something that actually excites you. If you love something, it won’t be hard to spend  a lot of time on it and get in deep.

What kind of extracurriculars should you pursue? Please see our blog post here on that topic!