Stanford -Extra Curricular Activities

I am looking to apply to Stanford among other top universities in the US for economics and I was wondering if my extra curricular side is strong enough to be a suitable applicant.

I am on the debating society and recently represented my school in Berlin.
I have work experience at an investment firm in London and I tutor GCSE maths.
I play guitar and I am part of the RAF cadets.
I have a gliding scholarship and an academic scholarship
I run on the school cross country team.
I have directed a few plays and write for the school paper.

Any suggestions if you think it isn't enough?

Reply 1

veryforeign

Those ECs look quite good.

Are any of them leadership positions? Top US universities love elected leadership positions. They also like innovation (ie starting new clubs, starting your own business, starting a new volunteer organization, etc).

Speaking of volunteering...that's another thing US unis love. Have you done any? Something like tutoring underprivileged kids or helping out in a soup kitchen...any volunteering at all? You'll be competing against US student who have equally as good ECs (and better ECs) and have tons of volunteering so it might be a good idea to start up something (maybe start a volunteering organization at your school...innovation and charity).

Good luck

Reply 2

Greene's Tutorial College

Official Rep

Original post by Goldfly

Hi Goldfly,

Your extra curriculars look really good and show that you are clearly interested in being an active part of your community. Admissions officers at American universities are hugely interested in making sure that they build a diverse, interesting and engaged cohort of students each year.

One thing that you might want to think about is honing in on one or two of the ECs you currently do and getting even more involved in them. As veryforeign already mentioned, leadership positions are always seen as a positive thing in the States so if you could take on more responsibility within some of the activities you already do, you will probably give your application a bit more of a boost.

Whatever you decide to do in terms of your ECs, keep in the back of your mind that you will probably want to draw on the experiences you have had while doing them for your personal statement and supplementary essays. If you are applying to universities which use the Common App, a link to the essay topics for the personal statement can be found here. Elizabeth Benedict over at the HuffPost has also written a post about the Common App essay prompts which you might find interesting. You can also view the supplementary essay topics for Stanford on the Common App website; it seems that most of the supplementary essay topics for the universities and colleges which use the Common App are available already (though I think they are in the process of putting them all up now).

Hope that helps and good luck with your application!

Laurence

Reply 3

Goldfly

Thank you very much for the feedback. I already do maths tutoring and charity work in the Philippines during the summer holidays but I am not sure how to put that on my personal statement. As for leadership roles, I can write about my directing and hopefully if I get get promoted in my RAF squadron, I can write about that as well.

Reply 4

Greene's Tutorial College

Official Rep

Original post by Goldfly

Have a look at the prompts themselves - they are open-ended which just means that at least one of them should apply to just about any situation you can think of. So in terms of highlighting your charity work in the Philippines, for instance, you might brainstorm about the different experiences you had while you were there. Did volunteering in a different culture change the way you saw your own? Did you have a singular amazing experience with a particular person or group of people while you were there? Do you see it as an important part of your life and one which has affected you deeply? If the answer is yes to any of those (and is actually yes, not just "it might look good on my application to talk about charity work") then you certainly can write about it in your essay. These two (of the five prompts given by the Common App) might work:

•

Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?

•

Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?

Regardless of what you write about, be sincere! Keep in mind that admissions officers read hundreds or even thousands of essays - they can spot insincerity a mile away. Try to write about something that actually means something to you and really shows them who you are as a person and why they should offer you a place.

That said, don't put too much pressure on yourself to make your essay self-knowingly clever or funny or anything else that isn't natural to your own natural writing style. Write about what you know and your essay will ring true. Best of luck with your essay and your applications. It's a long process and can be stressful but it is well worth it!

Laurence

Reply 5

Goldfly

Thank you again Laurence, you have been very helpful! Now when applying to American Universities, will I have to write a personal statement as well as an essay? I know it may seem like basic knowledge but applying overseas is very rare in my school. Also, do different universities have different essay topics and if so, how do I find out?

Reply 6

veryforeign

So you'll apply via the common ap (like our UCAS). You'll have one essay that goes out to every school you apply to (this should NOT be as academically focused as a UK personal statement but should instead give more of a picture of you as a person, not just a student).
Then almost every university also has a supplmement. You can look at the supplments once you've signed up through the common ap and put in what schools you're applying for. You can also probably just google (e.g. Harvard Supplement Essay 2013) and it'll probably come up.

Reply 7

Goldfly

Ok is there a limit the number of universities that I can apply to via the common app? Thanks again for your help veryforeign. No one has answered my question on what books I can use to revise for the SATs and SATs IIs.