How to Make the Most of Your Activities in Your College Apps

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What’s missing from these college application tips on extracurricular activities (ECs) I found online?

College Application Tips on Extracurricular Activities I Found Online

1. It’s about quality, not quantity: Padding your application with ECs won’t impress colleges. Focus on mastering just a few activities.
2. Select extracurricular activities that relate to your intended field of study: If you want to major in biology, for example, work in a biology-related lab. If you want to major in business, intern at a business-oriented organization.
3. Show initiative, even start something from scratch: Start your own club or organization at school as early as possible in high school, aiming to make a demonstrable impact.
4. Get involved in activities that reflect your personality and character: Passionately engage in an activity that reflects who you are, especially if it distinguishes you from the crowd or defies conventions.
5. Show leadership: Be fully committed to an activity and assume a leadership role (e.g., president, vice president, treasurer) in that activity.
6. Help out in your community: Contribute or give back to your community.

What’s Missing

What’s missing: unique interdisciplinary connections articulated through your college application essays. Let me elaborate.

With thousands of talented applicants vying for only a few spots at each top-tier college annually, admissions officers at these schools will not be impressed if you simply tick all six boxes above. Say that you are applying as a psychology major and your ECs are as follows:

1. Conducted research in a psychology lab at a university
2. Established a psychology club at your school and served as the president of the club
3. Played the cello, performing in public recitals and winning national or international competitions
4. Volunteered at a psychiatric ward in a hospital

You certainly have a few activities that you master. Furthermore, activities 1, 2, and 4 are relevant to your intended major in psychology. Activity 3 shows initiative and leadership skills, and Activity 4 demonstrates a meaningful contribution to society. This makes you competitive, but what is still missing is a unique connection between cello playing and psychology.

Numerous connections exist between music and psychology. Are you interested in music therapy? Or do you have absolute pitch and are eager to investigate its neurological underpinnings? Perhaps you have a solid grasp of music theory and want to explore the universality of the pentatonic scale from both psychological and cultural standpoints by building on the insights of acclaimed musician Bobby McFerrin.

By finding ways to combine music with psychology, you can distinguish yourself in three ways:

Uniqueness

First, you stand out as unique, as it is unlikely that others have made the same connections. There are bound to be many people who intend to major in psychology and many who enjoy music, but the specific connections between psychology and music that you chose to elaborate on in your college application essays are unlikely to be identical to those of other applicants, many of whom would not even think of making any interdisciplinary connection.

Interdisciplinary Connections

Speaking of interdisciplinary connections, this is something that elite universities value, making you a good match for these schools. For example, economists, psychologists, philosophers, and political scientists alike may be interested in game theory. Moral psychologists delve into the intersection between psychology and ethics, which is a branch of philosophy. Top-ranking undergraduate programs tend to delve into a complex academic terrain involving multiple disciplines and encourage dialogue between seemingly disparate majors.

Critical and Creative Thinking

The third reason is that having the ability to make unexpected connections between seemingly disparate fields shows both critical and creative thinking, which suggests that you will be more than just a cog in the academic machine. For instance, a math major who is only good at doing math is no better than a human calculator. On the contrary, a math major who knows how to apply his or her analytical skills to, say, visual art, is far more impressive.

Conclusion

Can you think of unexpected connections between your intended major and your extracurricular activities, or are you feeling stuck? If you can’t find connections, don’t stress out! At Milestone College Consulting, our founder, Raymond, has had more than a decade of experience helping students stand out in their college applications. Contact Milestone College Consulting now, book a session, or have your papers edited!