Extracurricular Activities Colleges Want to See | What I did to get into Ivy Leagues 🎓
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the host addresses the importance of extracurricular activities for college applications, emphasizing that there's no one-size-fits-all approach. They suggest balancing activities related to one's academic interests with those that showcase personal hobbies and interests. The host shares personal experiences, such as sports and biomedical engineering internships, and encourages viewers to engage in projects that reflect their passions and contribute positively to society, ultimately presenting a well-rounded application.
Takeaways
- 😊 The creator is feeling better after being under the weather and introduces the topic of the video: extracurricular activities and how they enhance college applications.
- 🎓 Extracurricular activities are a key aspect of making a college application well-rounded and go beyond grades and essays.
- 📝 There's no guaranteed formula for extracurriculars, and no one can assure admission based on them alone—it's about putting your best foot forward.
- 🎨 Extracurriculars should reflect both your academic interests and your personal hobbies or passions, showcasing who you are outside of academics.
- 🏀 Personal hobbies like sports can count as extracurriculars, even if they aren’t directly related to your intended degree.
- 🤖 Passion projects related to your field of interest are highly recommended, as they show initiative and deep interest in a subject.
- 💡 Internships and shadowing opportunities can provide valuable experience, but it's important to reflect on what you learned and how you applied it, rather than just listing them on your application.
- 🛠️ DIY projects and self-directed research are powerful ways to stand out, especially if you apply your knowledge practically.
- 📚 College applications should balance extracurriculars that show both your academic passion and personal interests—ideally with around 10 activities in each area.
- 👍 Being authentic and bringing out your real personality, rather than trying to fit into what you think the college wants, is crucial for success.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video?
-The main topic of the video is discussing how to build a strong college application by focusing on extracurricular activities, honors, and achievements.
Why does the speaker emphasize going beyond grades in college applications?
-The speaker emphasizes going beyond grades because colleges want to know about the applicant's personality, interests, and what makes them unique, rather than just academic achievements.
What is the speaker's perspective on having a 'magic formula' for extracurricular activities?
-The speaker believes there is no magic formula for extracurricular activities. Every individual is different, and what works for one person might not work for another.
How should students choose extracurricular activities according to the speaker?
-Students should choose extracurricular activities based on their interests and passions, while also balancing activities related to their intended field of study and those unrelated that reflect their personality.
What example does the speaker give of their own extracurricular activities?
-The speaker mentions participating in sports like basketball and football, as well as interning at a hospital to shadow a biomedical engineer.
Why is it important to focus on how extracurriculars are applied, rather than just listing them?
-It is important because admissions officers want to see how the applicant applied what they learned from their extracurricular activities to make an impact or further their skills, not just a list of achievements or certificates.
What does the speaker mean by 'passion project'?
-A passion project is an initiative related to a field of interest where the student applies their knowledge and skills to create something meaningful, like a DIY project or research, that reflects their personal interests.
How does the speaker suggest students approach internships?
-The speaker suggests students focus on learning as much as possible from internships and applying that knowledge in real-life situations, rather than just listing the internship on their resume.
What are some other extracurricular activities the speaker recommends?
-The speaker recommends tutoring younger students, building apps for those interested in computer science, or organizing events like sports or educational workshops to demonstrate leadership and community involvement.
What is the speaker’s advice for creating a balanced set of extracurricular activities?
-The speaker advises having a balance of around 10 activities related to the intended field of study and 10 activities that showcase personal interests and hobbies to create a well-rounded application.
Outlines
📚 Importance of Extracurricular Activities in College Applications
The speaker begins by addressing the audience after a brief illness and introduces the topic of extracurricular activities. They emphasize that these activities, along with essays, are crucial for college applications as they showcase a student's personality beyond grades. The speaker advises that there is no one-size-fits-all approach and that students should pursue activities that align with their interests and potential career paths. They also stress the importance of having a mix of activities related and unrelated to one's academic interests to demonstrate a well-rounded personality. The speaker shares personal experiences, such as playing sports, to illustrate the value of non-academic pursuits.
🏥 Gaining Practical Experience Through Internships and Projects
The speaker discusses the value of gaining practical experience through internships and projects, particularly in the medical field. They recount their own internship at a hospital where they shadowed a biomedical engineer, highlighting the importance of learning from professionals in one's field of interest. The speaker also suggests other extracurricular activities such as building an app, tutoring younger students, and organizing community activities. They stress that these experiences should not just be listed on a college application but should demonstrate what the student has learned and how they have applied that knowledge to improve society.
🔬 Engaging in Research and DIY Projects for Personal Growth
In the final paragraph, the speaker encourages students to engage in research and DIY projects to apply their learning in real-world scenarios. They share personal experiences, such as developing a device to suppress hand tremors and conducting research at Harvard Medical School, to illustrate the significance of hands-on projects. The speaker advises students to have a balance of activities that reflect both their academic interests and personal hobbies. They recommend having around ten activities in each category to showcase a well-rounded profile for college applications. The speaker concludes by urging students to pursue these activities for personal growth and happiness, rather than solely for college applications.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Extracurricular activities
💡Passion project
💡College applications
💡Internships
💡Grades
💡Holistic background
💡Summer internships
💡Personal mentorship programs
💡Shadowing
💡Clinical perception ship
Highlights
Discusses how there's no magic formula for extracurricular activities; the best approach is one that suits you personally.
Emphasizes the importance of going beyond grades and focusing on making your application wholesome.
Recommends a balance between extracurricular activities related to your chosen field and unrelated activities that show personal interests.
Explains that college admissions are not just about grades; even average grades can be compensated with strong extracurriculars.
Shares personal experience of interning at Apollo Hospital, where the focus was on learning by shadowing professionals.
Encourages students to create 'passion projects'—tangible work that reflects their interests and goes beyond traditional schoolwork.
Mentions tutoring younger kids as an example of how extracurricular activities can showcase leadership and initiative.
Highlights how summer internships are valuable only when the skills learned are applied in real-world situations.
Advises students to focus on how their extracurricular activities contribute to personal growth and benefit society.
Recommends having 10 activities that reflect your passion and 10 that showcase your personality for a balanced college application.
Shares an example of a hand tremor project the speaker worked on for over two years, applying classroom learning to a real-world problem.
Mentions building a prototype device that could suppress hand tremors using mechanical and viscous dampening.
Describes working at Harvard Medical School on a microchip capable of detecting corneal ulcer infections in mice.
Encourages students to use resources like PubMed to find research and ideas for DIY projects.
Concludes by advising students to be themselves and pursue activities that genuinely interest them, not just what looks good on an application.
Offers personal mentorship programs to guide students with their college applications and general career advice.
Transcripts
what is going on guys welcome back to a
brand new video i know this one is a
little late i was feeling a little bit
under the weather
nothing to be worried about feeling much
better now
but in today's video we are gonna
discuss
a topic that a lot of you guys have
asked specially after seeing
whoops sorry about that especially after
seeing some of the most recent videos on
the scholarships
you guys are applying to colleges maybe
you're thinking of applying sometime
whichever spot you may be in it's
something that's really important i've
emphasized this
a lot on the channel is going beyond and
looking
going beyond and looking over your
grades and looking at how you can make
that application
wholesome so what is required one of the
main things apart from the essays and
everything are extracurricular
activities
in this video we are going to go over
extracurricular activities honors and
achievements
what kind you should have when you
should start prepping for them
what kind of activities are good for the
degree that you want to do
so let's get started all right so first
things first like
there's no snap of a finger magic
formula for extracurricular activities
i'm not going to give you some you know
calculated
preconceived notion that this is exactly
what you need to do and this is going to
guarantee you admission
no and honestly if someone tells you
something like this
it's it's just a load of crap like there
is
nobody who can guarantee you admission
in any university
because they don't know you they don't
know your background and honestly
frankly they don't know who's going to
be reviewing your application
so the best that you can do is put your
best foot
forward there's no like manual to this
you have to make it up for what suits
you best so the first thing that you
need to consider
while thinking about extracurricular
activities is what kind of degree do you
want to like pursue
do you want to go into business science
commerce
fashion designing do you want to learn
about music
art like what is it that you want to do
that's like the the biggest aspect of
this
now once you've decided that there's an
equal split
between doing some extracurricular
activities related to that
like field that broad field or
and actually should i say doing a good
amount of activities that's not related
to that
because they need because the admissions
committee needs to know
what you are as a person outside that
studious educational you like come on
don't tell me that you don't like to do
anything outside studying
like no even i'm not like that when i
was in school
something that i was super interested in
was sports i used to play basketball
i don't just don't i know um i'm not
very tall but i did
enjoy playing sports a lot i used to
play football basketball
table tennis swimming literally anything
any outdoor sport
i i would love to like get my hands on
so
that was something that i enjoyed doing
and there has to be something that you
just
enjoy doing as you know a hobby
that whole thing is considered
as an extracurricular activity you don't
have to have a certificate for it you
don't have to have some sort of like
confirmation that this is what you did
you just need to have an interest of
doing it all right so now let's come to
the other side of the things that is
talking about extracurricular activities
that are slightly related to the field
that you're interested in
so i'm going to speak about a little bit
about grades and gpa over here because i
know that a lot of you guys are going to
just come up and say like okay saloni so
what kind of grades are gonna help me
like get to that level right
um you don't have to be a brilliant
student it helps if you are
but having that 95 9900
score doesn't guarantee you spot in a
good university
i let's take me for example my in my
10th grade i had a 90
in the icsc board in my 12th grade i had
an 80
in the isc board i was a science and
math student
i feel like my grades were like above
average nothing too fancy
and i still got to study in two ivy
league universities just because i had a
very wholesome background
so if you if you have average grades
it's possible to compensate for that
by having a good set of like overall
activities showing them the person that
you
are because they understand that people
grow people make mistakes so
you can't judge someone for something
that they did years ago and just hold it
against them
colleges understand that now with that
out of the way let's talk about
your passion what interests you and how
you should take that forward
so the most important thing here is
doing something called a passion project
take any broad field that you're even
remotely considering
studying for me when i was in grade 10
grade 12
i want i knew that i wanted to do
something with biology engineering
you know coming from an indian
background engineering is pretty much um
standard but i really like building
stuff so
i would just kind of like go outside and
and and work on these like weird
projects
um when i was um starting out
just randomly find these internships
basically just shadow people you know
uh find people who would let me learn
what they do
i uh you wouldn't believe it but when i
lived in india
i interned at a polo hospital polo
hospital is a huge hospital i know that
a lot of you guys might know this
and my job as an intern for that summer
was just to read the manuals and
follow and shadow the biomedical
engineer
and watch what she does that's about it
that's all it was it was
unpaid i just i came in i put in the
hours i just learned that's about it
they were not giving any they weren't
giving me anything
my only like my argument to them was you
know
help me learn i'm not going to disturb
you or you know distract you from your
work i just want to learn
and this is how you need to approach it
if there's something that interests you
go out of your way go to a lab go to a
place where you can find those people
those professionals actually working
in action get to know about the job like
like actually like think about it do you
if you watch someone do this thing that
you're interested in
do you see yourself doing that for
almost the rest of your life or a large
chunk of your life ask yourself that
question it's really important
at this age so all of these things are
extracurriculars it's something called a
clinical perception ship if you're
working in a hospital
or just like shadowing someone is
generally just a perceptorship you
are essentially just learning by
following and observing what they're
doing it's a great extracurricular
highly recommend checking in now a
couple other things that you can
consider doing
is if you're interested in in something
like computer science learn how to build
an app
actually build an app get it on the app
store the google play store
you can tutor young kids in your society
you can teach them when i was in high
school i really like sports basketball
so i like made this group for the summer
um just teaching very little kids
basketball classes
i had no authority i'm not a coach but i
just did it because i love to play
so do something like that go out of your
way it doesn't have to be like sports
necessarily do something that you like
if you feel like you really enjoy doing
math or biology
or and or if you're good at it
definitely like tutor young kids maybe
a couple grades that you're comfortable
with it's a great
side hustle um it shows that you're
motivated and you're going
stepping outside from your phone and
your screens and actually doing
something
that interests you it's a great skill to
show on your college applications
now i'm going to talk about something
which i know that a lot of you guys are
already looking into and i've made a
separate video about this
summer internships and how you can apply
so i'm not going to go too much into the
detail there
you can definitely check it out if
you're interested later but essentially
if you get a summer internship
just listing that summer internship on
your college application is not gonna
cut it like
they're not interested in you doing
blah blah at blah blah blah no they have
zero interest in that what they're
interested in
interested in is that with this
knowledge um
of that internship that you did at dash
place what did you take from it and how
did you apply it into the real life
let's take a very simple example i did a
summer internship at a hospital
this was uh maybe a year or two in my
undergrad
i learned a lot of techniques very basic
techniques of pulse oximeters
a couple other medical devices and the
information that i got from
from that experience of the internship
i actually took that and taught the same
like
stuff as a seminar to the first year
students of my undergrad
and that's how i made use of it i took
that knowledge extracted it and spread
it
to create more awareness and that's just
one example you can literally do
anything if you're taking
an app building like course or class did
you take what did you take that
knowledge and do did you make another
app
did you help society in some way what
did you do with it that
is the thing that's going to impress
them not you just like
writing oh i got this certificate for
doing this or i came first or second in
this
no how did that make you a better person
what did you learn
how did you take those skills and
incorporate it to better society those
are like the big questions and the
things that you should focus on so let's
take a very like simple thing on what
how you should like approach this entire
extracurricular activities thing
make sure you are you know i already
spoke about this make sure you have a
split between something that's relevant
to what you want to study
and something that shows what your
personality is it can be
anything but they need to blend together
there's no formula for that now if you
take my example
when i was an undergrad i spent a lot of
my time close to like two to three years
on working on this hand tremor project
it was so cool
um basically what i did was i made a
device without any electronic components
which
relied heavily on mechanical and viscous
dampening
which is basically using some sort of
like fluid mechanics
to create um a prototype device that
would suppress hand tremors
in you know older patients and it was
so cool i just learned so much of
application based stuff
and and i worked on it for like close to
two years it's a long time
i learned so much i learned how to do
literature surveys i learned how to
first
research what's already been done and
see how you can improve the design
i learned how to do these experiments to
find out
if my prototype was actually working and
i just
it was such a fulfilling experience and
this project it's i'm so proud of it i'm
pretty sure i have it in my
in my home back in india still but just
like building on it and working on it
just
it was so fulfilling to actually apply
everything that i was learning
so i highly recommend doing these like
diy projects
it's very simple whatever you're
interested in go to like websites like
pubmed where you can find literature
scientific back
literature and just browse around and
see what kind of research is being done
anything you're interested in like
orthopedics artificial implants
artificial intelligence it can literally
be anything another one of my projects
that i worked on
was at harvard medical school that was
all microfluidics
big research i know i've said this a
number of times but
again like comment down below i'm going
to make a separate video out of it
i promise i know i say that a lot but i
want to kind of like build up the hype
like come on guys like
i'm not kidding that that like the
harvard research
was just mind-blowing i'm going to make
a whole video dedicated to it but come
on leave that in the comments below if
you want to see that one
but essentially i made a microchip which
was capable of detecting corneal ulcer
infections in
mice um it was a very very interesting
study
um and i got to like do a lot of the
designing of the experiments as well as
running them
executing them it was so fulfilling so
the idea here is
just like just do stuff go out of your
books go out of your
written syllabus and just do some do
stuff
extracurriculars is literally that you
just need to do stuff
um have a good split so that you can
write between either or
when it comes to your college
applications a good number to have
are 10 activities each have 10
activities that reflect
your passion-based interest and have 10
activities that reflect you
as a person and what you generally like
and i think you'll be in a good spot for
your college application
and think beyond that you know um just
don't do it for the sake of applications
this is something that you need to do
uh you know keep in mind is this really
gonna make you happy and
what you need to bring out your
personality not the personality that you
think the college would like doing that
is going to get you rejected
getting your best self out and forward
is what's going to get you accepted so
keep that in mind
all right so i think that is pretty much
it i'm not gonna drag this video on
i'm gonna keep it very short and simple
that's about it for the extracurriculars
if you guys have any questions
feel free to drop them in the comments
below i offer
personal mentorship programs so if you
guys are interested in that
you can sign up using the link below
you'll get the details to the fees and
the different types of programs
you can check them out i off basically
these programs are set up so that i
guide students with their college
application process as well as just
general career advice
so if you guys are interested definitely
sign up but until then
take care um subscribe if you haven't
already smash that thumbs up button and
i'll see you guys in
next week's video very soon bye
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