One of the biggest mistakes applicants make is not maximizing the full potential of your extra-curricular activities (ECA), which is one of the most important parts of application for US and Canada universities.
The point of this post is to give you ideas on how you can maximally extract the value of each of your ECA or interest.
Everyone does gimmicks for getting into universities. Be different and actually do something that you can be proud of.
Every student does things outside of school so technically everyone does extra-curricular activity (ECA). From taking care of your younger sibling to milking a cow, everything is an ECA.
I will use gaming as an extreme example to show that this is applicable to literally all ECAs, be it debate, olympiads, projects, sports, writing, or social work. Even if you are not interested in gaming, this post might be helpful as you can replace gaming with your specific interest.
Gaming is not uncommon among high school students and can indeed count as an ECA as long as one stands out through achievement or character/skill/leadership development.
Many of the following can be used in activities/honors list or material for essays. Non-quantitative things are often hard to list in applications so essays and supplements are great places for those.
- Achievements: Achieve mastery. Winning a regional/international gaming tournament or making unique game-related projects. Additional: make content about how you got into gaming articles/videos or by sharing in this group. You don't have to be big like Kai Cenat, Markiplier, Gotham Chess, or IShowSpeed but do however much is possible/of interest to you. *good for listing down + essays
- Skill/Character development: One can show how skills obtained through gaming are transferable to academic/professional settings. For example, excelling in a strategy-based game = problem-solving, strategic thinking, teamwork, creativity etc. Overcoming challenges in games <=> real-life obstacles (bi-directional). *good for essays
- Branching out and leadership: Starting a gaming club. Take it up one notch and instead of opening a school club like everyone and their grandmother, perhaps do it for a segment of the society that historically does not have access. Or take it up two notches and use this community to help another segment of the society in a meaningful way, for example, a group of english medium gamers in Mohammadpur organizing a basic coding camp for madrassa girls. Learn marketing and reach out to media outlets. Make it viral. Raise funding, create an organization that lives beyond you. I repeat: Everyone does gimmicks for getting into universities. Be different and actually do something that you can be proud of. You don't have to create something as big as FaZe but don't just be another brick in the wall. *good for listing down + essays
Applications are not always evaluated solely on an objective scale but sometimes on whether you have maximally extracted the value of opportunities available to you. Whatever you do, see if you can uplift others to achieve the same—if possible, in a sustainable and scalable way. Inshallah good things happen to those who do good.
Labib Tazwar Rahman
Stanford University
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment