Less Is More
Extracurricular Activities: Depth vs. Breadth
Extracurricular Activities
Consider the following student’s resume:
“...time and time again, we see such students getting rejected from their dream schools, leaving them and their families dejected and furious.”
Impressive, right? Combined with top grades and stellar test scores, and you’ve got what basically looks like an ideal candidate for the highest ranked universities. And yet, time and time again, we see such students getting rejected from their dream schools, leaving them and their families dejected and furious. Such stories about these seemingly perfect Asian students who were rejected by Harvard or some other prestigious school often get picked up by the news and fuel that ultimately led to the Supreme Court declaring in the summer of 2023 that affirmative action policies in universities are unconstitutional.
There are countless reasons why a student that looks perfect on paper would be rejected, but let’s focus on just the extracurriculars for now. The student we presented seems to have it all: strong activities, wide variety, and high positions—but what an admissions committee considers goes beyond that and would immediately have several questions:
If you’re spread this thinly, how much are you realistically able to accomplish?
With all these commitments, are you making any truly meaningful impact in each role?
How many of these activities are you doing just because you want to pad your resume and not because you’re actually passionate about them?
Look at the activity list again and challenge yourself to identify what you think this student wants besides getting into a good university. Can you tell what he seems likely to major in? Is there any indication as to what he wants to do with his life? What does he believe in? What does he stand for?
Now take a look at our other student’s resume and ask yourself the same questions.
“What you do with your time is a reflection of who you are, and admissions officers use your resume to get a glimpse of the real person behind the paper.”
Even though this list has noticeably fewer activities and positions of prestige, do you have a better idea of what is important to this student? Of the kind of life you see him leading ten years from now? Of what makes him get up every morning to do the things he does?
What you do with your time is a reflection of who you are, and admissions officers use your resume (and your personal statement essays) to get a glimpse of the real person behind the paper. Reflect on your own extracurriculars: what kind of story do they tell? How much of what you care about is reflected in your resume? If you can’t see yourself in it, then it’s time to start thinking of what you can do to allow your true self to shine through. And if you’re not yet at this stage of your academic life, then it’s the perfect time to start brainstorming what matters most to you and allowing those ideas to guide the opportunities you decide to seize.
That being said, it’s okay if you don’t know what you want to do. Colleges are fully aware of just how scary and difficult this decision is, so you’re not expected to commit to one right now. Instead, focus on what you do know about yourself and your likes, and keep an open mind about how you can further explore those aspects of your identity. Universities like well-rounded campuses, but they create those environments not by recruiting a thousand well-rounded students but by gathering a thousand students with a thousand different, specialized, and developed interests and identities. Finding that personal interest and identity begins with honesty.
Many of our students claim they’re passionate about studying business, but all too often they end up admitting that they just want what they think is the fast track to riches (which is wrong on so many levels). They assume that the best way to prove their worthiness is to be involved in some form of entrepreneurship, so parents with connections to (or even ownership of) a factory of some sort will help get their kids’ ideas designed, manufactured, launched, and sold, with minimal to insignificant involvement from the students. At best, such experiences show that you’re from a well-to-do family and at worst that you’re spoiled.
Someone who’s genuinely committed to pursuing business understands the need for such skills as communication, empathy, confidence, and flexibility. Are you able to express yourself clearly to an unfamiliar audience? Can you acknowledge and understand how others feel? Will you take real risks that require meaningful sacrifice? Have you made concessions to reach a mutually beneficial agreement rather than insisting that your way is the right way? The opportunities to demonstrate these soft skills can be found in just about any club or activity, not just business. This is what we mean when we say to keep an open mind.
If you’re into sports, think about all the teams you know with star-studded players who looked incredible on paper but who came up short, because they lacked chemistry. Scrap the activities you were pursuing for external reasons, whether because your parents or teachers encouraged you to join, or ones in which you thought you should participate in because “it would look good to colleges.” Instead, think about how your activities synergize and feed into each other and what story is revealed when you connect those dots. Indulge your passions because and pursue what is meaningful and beautiful to you. Doing so will not only put you in the best position to become the best at what you’ve invested yourself into but also put you on the fast track to an even greater discovery: yourself.
Elle Woods invested her time in just 3 major extracurricular activities to gain admission to Harvard Law School:
President of the sorority Delta Nu
Founder/Lead Designer of her own brand of faux-fur panties
Staunch Activist opposed to Cosmetic Testing on Animals
Doing so fueled her confidence to become unapologetically authentic and enabled her application to portray a crystal clear image of the real person behind the paper.
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