2023-01-01 18:24:19
#IVYLEAGUE #Activities
There is a reason why we all react with admiration and respect, when we encountered someone who attended or recently got admitted to prestigious colleges, like IVY League, with the same academic achievements with their peers, friends. So, in this case, these successful students could boast with their outstanding extracurricular activities. In fact, up to 25% of an admission decision can be identified by candidate’s activities outside of the classroom, particularly at selective colleges like the Ivies.
Come to think of it: you have same academic achievements and also have good essays with your competing opponent, but the only thing that makes him stand out is his prospective academic list. This is a simple analysis of Admissions. So, that’s a reason why you should not be impressed if someone gets admitted with same potential as you have. Well, we talked enough for the power of Extracurricular activities.
So, here, the very question might arise: what extracurriculars we need for Ivy League
According to Admission committee’s evaluation, there are four types of extracurricular. The most impressive grouping,
Tier 1, includes activities that are exceptional and extraordinary such as a student who won the international famous math Olympiad.
Tier 2 includes activities that demonstrates students’ larger accomplishments, for example, being school president or leader of youth committee. Then,
Tier 3 consists of smaller achievements such as being responsible for school stuff, while last grouping,
Tier 4, include activities or hobbies that everyone can do and are not exceptional. So, for Ivies, you should have at least couple of Tier ½ activities.
Having faced a lot of “Why us ‘’ essays, a lot of students try to tell about something that they contribute to both college’s student body and campus even by reflecting them in their activity list. They strive to show their potential contribution to college by their tons of community service hours. Yes, it could be a sign of your “give back” aspect, but this doesn’t separate from the crowd unless you held a leadership or started let’s say your own initiative on your own. This is one of the huge misconceptions about activities.
Starting your own initiative could be starting non-profit organization, running fundraiser for low-income students. Furthermore, focusing on music or sports even could be a mistake if you have started this hobby too late and not special ability in them. The fact is that many could participate in sport and music, but few achieve exceptional status (Tier 1). Instead, if you are in favor of football or train with (Tier 4), you may run a fundraiser that support low-income students that could elevate your status.
The high-potential activities could be starting your own club or non-profit organization. Don’t worry about the funding side of them. You are able to develop your project even online as it is getting common. Doing an internship also showcases how actually you have concrete plans up to admissions of colleges.
You are probably aware of the fact that colleges seek well-rounded students. Yes, that works unless you have special accomplishments in these spheres. Likewise, Ivy League colleges are into to students who possess one or two highly-developed activities. This is because these students have proven that they have concrete-defined interest and to be successful in them, which will likely be even more successful in college with more opportunities.
The very thing in that case the analysis of colleges you are applying, because their interests must align with yours even before writing first drafts of your supplemental essay. The reason of it is you will be able to deal with everything easily related to these colleges, should these college is best-fit for you.
Most importantly, just don’t do any activity, intending to put it to your application, which kills your creativity and honesty,
says Feruza Princeton’26.
71 viewsFede, 15:24
