extracurricular activities that top colleges DO/DON'T want to see

Summary

In this video, Shinwoo Lee delves into the extracurricular activities that top colleges do and don't want to see in applications. He explains that while academic achievements are crucial, extracurriculars help differentiate applicants. Colleges dislike generic clubs with no leadership roles and low-commitment hobbies without achievements. Instead, they favor activities demonstrating initiative, leadership, and deep commitment. Shinwoo shares an insight that having a job can significantly boost acceptance chances, emphasizing commitment to long-term activities over short-term engagements. A strong application aligns with a core theme, providing a consistent narrative that appeals to admissions officers.

Highlights

• Admissions officers look beyond academics to extracurriculars to differentiate students. 📚
• Joining generic clubs without leadership roles can hinder your college application. 🚫
• Leadership and initiative in starting new projects or clubs are highly valued. 💡
• Low-commitment hobbies without notable achievements aren't impressive to colleges. 🤷‍♀️
• A job can showcase time management and dedication, increasing enrollment chances. ⏲️
• Avoid participating in many short-term activities; focus on long-term commitments. ⚓
• Extracurriculars should align with your intended major for a consistent application theme. 🌐

Key Takeaways

• Top colleges are not impressed by generic club memberships unless you take on leadership roles or make significant contributions. 😌
• Having a job can greatly increase your chances of acceptance, as it demonstrates responsibility and commitment. 💼
• Consistently jumping between short-term activities can harm your application, showing a lack of commitment. 🏃‍♂️
• Align your extracurricular activities with a core theme related to your intended major for a coherent application narrative. 🎯

Overview

In this video, Shinwoo Lee provides valuable insights into how extracurricular activities can impact your college application. While academic prowess is essential, it's the involvement outside the classroom that truly distinguishes candidates in the eyes of elite colleges. Shinwoo emphasizes avoiding generic clubs unless you take on leadership roles and suggests students lead projects or create new clubs with unique missions to show initiative and impact.

Moreover, Shinwoo highlights the significant advantage of having a job during high school. He shares compelling statistics indicating that students who work are far more likely to gain acceptance into top universities. Part-time jobs demonstrate a student's ability to manage time, uphold responsibilities, and maintain commitments, qualities highly regarded by admissions offices.

Lastly, Shinwoo encourages students to engage in activities that align with their intended major, strengthening their application's narrative. He warns against short-term, scattered commitments and highlights the importance of a consistent, thematic approach to extracurriculars, which should showcase the student's dedication and potential future contributions to the university community.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction The introduction sets the stage for understanding the extracurricular activities that top colleges prefer and those they do not. It highlights that these insights are based on successful past clients who gained admission into their top three schools. The speaker promises to outline six activities, both positive and negative, and teases with an intriguing statistic from a former Duke admissions officer, suggesting it could significantly alter one's perspective on college admissions.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Why Colleges Care About Extracurricular Activities Colleges care about extracurricular activities because while many students applying may have similar academic qualifications, the spots available are limited. With numerous high schools and many valedictorians, colleges seek to differentiate candidates through their extracurricular involvement. This extracurricular engagement provides insights into what students do outside of the classroom, showcasing their unique interests and capabilities.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Generic Clubs and Lack of Impact The chapter titled 'Generic Clubs and Lack of Impact' highlights the importance of showcasing one's skills, talents, and interests through extracurricular activities in the college application process. It emphasizes that admissions officers are looking for more than just SAT and GPA scores; they want to see a reflection of who the applicant truly is. The chapter points out that colleges are not impressed with involvement in generic clubs where the applicant has no leadership role or tangible impact. Being a passive member of a large club is not viewed favorably.
• 02:00 - 04:00: Low Commitment Hobby Clubs vs. Jobs This chapter discusses the value of initiative, leadership, and impact in extracurricular activities when applying to colleges. Using the example of prestigious universities like Stanford, which are known for producing successful individuals such as the founders of Yahoo, Instagram, and YouTube, the text argues that colleges aim to associate future accomplishments with their brand. Merely participating in clubs like Key Club or NHS without any significant role or contribution may not demonstrate the desired qualities of leadership and initiative. The focus is on how students can stand out by making meaningful contributions rather than just being a member of hobby clubs.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Indecision and Lack of Commitment The chapter discusses the expectations of top colleges for potential future leaders. It suggests that students should avoid joining generic clubs and instead take on leadership roles within these organizations or start new ones with unique initiatives. This could involve leading projects or forming clubs for specific causes. The emphasis is on developing organizational and leadership skills, which are valued by colleges, especially for students between the 8th grade and beyond.
• 05:00 - 07:00: Social Media and Content Creation The chapter discusses the importance of pursuing meaningful extracurricular activities in the 11th grade to enhance college applications. It warns against having a majority of extracurriculars that are low commitment, such as casual involvement in chess or Esports clubs, without notable achievements or leadership roles, as these might negatively impact the application process. The focus is on finding a balance between academic and non-academic interests while ensuring impactful participation.
• 07:00 - 09:00: Core Theme Alignment The chapter discusses the difference between low-commitment clubs and high-impact activities in the context of personal growth and attractiveness to institutions like colleges. The author shares a personal anecdote about founding an Esports team in high school that went on to win a state championship. This achievement was not just a hobby but a significant commitment, with regular practice and competitive games. The author contrasts this with involvement in lesser commitment clubs, suggesting that such high-engagement experiences demonstrate the depth and dedication that organizations or institutions look for. The chapter concludes by advising readers to pursue jobs or activities that require substantial commitment instead of only participating in low-commitment clubs.
• 09:00 - 10:00: Summary and Conclusion This chapter focuses on a statistic shared from Duke University that highlights the competitive nature of their application process. Last year, out of 20,000 applicants, only 7% had jobs, and of those, 91% were accepted. This indicates that having a job, which implies responsibility and time management skills, is a significant factor in the acceptance decision.

extracurricular activities that top colleges DO/DON'T want to see Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 in this video I'm going to cover some of the extracurricular activities that top colleges don't want to see as well as the counter extracurricular activities that they actually do want to see these are the things that our past clients have done working with us and all of them have gotten into one of their top three schools so let me run you through the six activities that top colleges do and don't want to see and if you stick around I'll let you in on the craziest statistic I heard from a former admissions officer at Duke that can change your perspective around College admissions forever first things first here's why
• 00:30 - 01:00 colleges care about your extracurricular activities when you're an admissions officer at a top school like Harvard and Stanford every smart student is applying to your school great but the problem arises when there aren't enough seats for all of them there are over 30,000 high schools in the US and similarly 30,000 valedictorians they have more than enough students that are qualified academically but again don't have the capacity to take them all so what do they do they look at your extracurriculars one of the things that you do outside of the classroom that makes you different your extracurricular activity are an opportunity for you to
• 01:00 - 01:30 Showcase your skills talent and general interests imagine admissions officers had to choose students only from sat and GPA scores it'll be impossible your EAS is to add color to your application and give a reflection on who you truly are so now that you know why your extracurricular matters a ton in your college application process here's the first activity that they won't like to see first the one thing colleges hate seeing and I mean hate is overly generic clubs where you have no leadership or tangible impact in if you're a passive member of a large Club at school say
• 01:30 - 02:00 like Key Club NHS or interact without any leadership role or notable contributions it shows that you don't have initiative leadership or any meaningful impact now why do colleges look for initiative leadership and impact it's because in exchange for Education they want your future accomplishments to be associated with their brand name take Stanford for example they're called the producers of billionaires because the co-founder of Yahoo Instagram and YouTube itself the platform in which you're watching this video all graduated from Stanford of
• 02:00 - 02:30 course these top colleges don't expect everyone to reach the heights that they do but the potential of being Future Leaders of the world is what they're looking for so instead of being in overly generic clubs like Key Club interact and NHS with no leadership or impact try and lead a project within the club or start an entirely new one with a unique initiative it could be another volunteering Club but maybe for a specific cause being able to organize and lead a group of people are some of the traits and skills that they're looking for if you're between 8th and
• 02:30 - 03:00 11th grade and you're aiming to get into the school of your dreams like our students have in the past with all of our clients getting into one of their top three choices click the first link in the description and book a discovery call next low commitment hobby clubs it's all right to have interests outside of the academic world like chess or video games and it's all right to be in a club that does those things related to that but if that's what makes up a majority of your ECS it's a major red flag when you only casually participate in chess clubs or Esports teams without competitive achievements or leadership
• 03:00 - 03:30 it's kind of like what was even the point of doing those activities when I created my High School's First Esports team I coached the team to win the entire state championship the same year it was made it wasn't just a hobby or a casual club we had practice every other day and scrims every single week yes being in a chess club or gaming Club may show interest but it lacks the depth of commitment that they want to see now what can you do instead of just a low commitment hobby Club go get a job when I say that I'm beyond serious one of our Consultants at inst Consulting work with
• 03:30 - 04:00 Duke University in the past and here's a craziest statistic she told me just the other day out of the 20,000 applicants to Duke University last year only 7% of them had jobs now out of this 7% of the students that had jobs 91% of them got accepted again 20,000 applicants 7% of them had jobs out of the 7% 91% of them got accepted but why is that it's because jobs especially when they take a majority of your time shows responsibility time management and the
• 04:00 - 04:30 ability to multitask not only are you going to school and getting good grades participating in club events but on top of that you'd be working a part-time job or maybe even a full-time job now that everyone is trying to do the cookie cutter strategy of getting an internship creating their own club and trying to do research it makes basic things like having a job unique so go out there commit yourself to a job and stick with it the reason why I tell you to stick with it is because too many short-term commitments is another thing that top colleges don't want to to see
• 04:30 - 05:00 participating in several one-day volunteer events for the sake of logging hours or constantly joining and leaving clubs and sports teams shows indecision and overall just the lack of commitment when you join and then leave the subsequent year it looks like you're just padding your application with shallow involvement instead of just dipping your toes into a bunch of activities trying to try out everything commit to long-term activities whether you get a job or mentors younger students weekly or regularly volunteer at a local food bank show your commitment to admissions officers by sticking with your guns past performance
• 05:00 - 05:30 is a great indicator of future performance if your past shows constant jumping around from Club to club or passion project to Passion project how can they be sure that when you attend their University that you don't waste their time and resources because you constantly jump back and forth between commitments an extracurricular activity that I get asked quite often in our Consulting program is about social media or content creation hey shanu I have this Instagram account with a few hundred followers and I post art will that help me get it to college first it depends on what type of major you're
• 05:30 - 06:00 applying as and second running a casual social media account without a clear purpose or impact makes it really hard for admissions officers to know what to even say about your EC without a professional or meaningful focus it doesn't demonstrate valuable skills or contributions if you did have an Instagram account with a few hundred followers where you just posted art what kind of conclusion as an omissions officer are they supposed to draw from that so instead of doing something as general as just drawing draw with a purpose it doesn't have to be super clear you can craft a narrative and talk about how you want to portray drawing as
• 06:00 - 06:30 this way of expressing your feelings an Avenue of explaining things that words simply can't if you want to run a YouTube channel you can make it about stem topics that you're interested in teaching others what you've learned in the past or start a blog to raise awareness about mental health but I want to make this very very clear you need to back all this up with metrics your YouTube channel doesn't have to have a million subscribers but if you actually put in the time for the production content and overall delivery of the video it will Garner traction same goes
• 06:30 - 07:00 for your Instagram and blog having good metrics is a clear indicator of the level of impact to your activity hat now it's much much easier said than done because after a year of posting I'm only at 8,700 subscribers by the way subscribe if you haven't it'll take time it'll take a ton of time but what you'll get by the end of the journey is something that no one else can replicate that by definition is differentiating yourself having something or being someone that others can't copy that is your ticket to the school of your dreams
• 07:00 - 07:30 I've mentioned in the past especially in my newsletters once you join our Discord server that you need a Core theme if you don't know what a Core theme is it's an identity that the rest of your application follows say you're applying as a computer science major the things you do in school and out of school should typically align with what you're interested in which is computer science your classes should consist of Cs classes while you're involved in CS clubs and potentially have experience in the real world applying code without a theme applications are too scattered and
• 07:30 - 08:00 it's hard for admissions officers to pinpoint who you really are and it's hard for admissions officers to pinpoint who you actually are as a student this is exactly why activities without relevance to your core theme can potentially harm your application it can appear inconsistent with your story or lack intentionality instead of doing random activities to just fill up your time and activity list pursue activities tied to your core theme like building an app conducting independent research or interning at a local engineering firm if you're a future CS major if I were to sum this video up to just a few quick
• 08:00 - 08:30 points is number one highly consider getting a job number two don't just dip your toes into clubs and organizations be heavily invested in them and number three avoid short-term commitments and think long-term and number four go after opportunities that align with your core theme now if you're interested in Consulting with our team of former admissions officers from duke Johns Hopkins and many other top 30 schools click the first link in the description and book a discovery call that'll be it
• 08:30 - 09:00 I'll see you in the next one peace