Hello everyone,
I am a student at The Gap State High School in Brisbane, Queensland (Australia) and I would love more then anything to apply for college in the U.S… I am aware that extracurriculars are very important in applying to some of these schools and I am looking for more ways to be involved.
Right now I am a part of our school musical (the first one our school has had in decades so this is the first opportunity I’ve had to do so), our drama club (open only to Year 10, 11 and 12 students studying Drama), the Year 11 Action Group (we hold one fundraiser each school term for different charities or causes) and I was a Peer Supporter for Year 7 and 8 students for over a year. I am only in Year 11 this year, however I intend on applying for a Senior leadership position for next year. I still don’t feel as though this is enough to get into the schools of my dreams (NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualised Study and The New School are my top choices) and I was wondering if anyone knew of other ways I can get involved with extracurriculars in my area?
Thank you!
Hi there,
Your co-curriculars are on the weaker side, but if you gain leadership positions next year, that should be reasonably competitive in terms of activities inside your school. It’s good that your very passionate about what you do and that you’ve done it for many years.
You should focus on more on creating/joining/organising independent projects outside your school such as a regional competition, or a national concert. Perhaps a research project or an internship!
I would definitely say you have some diversity in the activities you take but you are lacking a little bit in the depth of these extracurriculars. I’ve commented this on a few other posts, but I’d say the quality of the activities is much more important than how many you do. Also don’t feel discouraged by the fact that you are only in year 11. In fact, take this opportunity to start something yourself. You mentioned that your school didn’t have a musical in decades, but instead of waiting for someone else to spark initiative you could have been the one spearheading the entire musical. There is not really a magical way to get more involved because it really comes to taking part in activities that matter to you and trust me it is these activities that will be more impressive in the long run. As for the student leadership position, I would not bank on this because there are millions of schools all around the world and in every single one of these schools is a body of student leaders. However, being part of the group will be useful in organising events in the future etc just be careful to not assume that having a leadership position will guarantee anything. (Remember it is more about what you did to motivate/change a particular group/initiative)
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