The Student Room Group

Extracurriculars for top ivies?

Hi,
I’m in year 10 in the uk (the same as freshman year) and I have decided that in a few years I want to apply to the top American unis( the ivies like Harvard and Columbia) I have good grades but I would like to have better extracurriculars in the coming years. I don’t mind STEM stuff but I quite like the humanities. Does anyone have any ECs recommendations?

Thanks all x
Reply 1
Depends entirely on your intended field of study to be honest. I can help with STEM/General ECs though:

STEM Clubs (ie. Robotics Club), you can either join these if they exist at your school or create them with approval.

Learn 1-2 relevant coding languages (MATLAB, C# etc.), whilst very challenging, theyre very rewarding and look good.

A Sport, I personally play Football at Sixth Form, a sport is well regarded by colleges.

Internships, quite hard to get into but if you can push hard you might just get in somewhere for STEM.

Debate Society can be a good EC, not entirely sure why just seems well regarded.

Community Outreach/Volunteering (RSPCA, Saint John's, Cat's Protection etc.)


Someone else may be able to chime in with some more humanities, good luck.
Original post by sbeke10
Hi,
I’m in year 10 in the uk (the same as freshman year) and I have decided that in a few years I want to apply to the top American unis( the ivies like Harvard and Columbia) I have good grades but I would like to have better extracurriculars in the coming years. I don’t mind STEM stuff but I quite like the humanities. Does anyone have any ECs recommendations?
Thanks all x

One piece of advice i would say is get good gcses (mostly all 9s), apply to Sutton Trust US when ur in y12 and go to a sicth form known for sending students to top Ivys (feeder skls is the term). For private skls, thats Eton. But if ur not the richest, defo apply to NCS since its a state skl thats got the best Ivy League admissions rate in the country for state skls and beats most private. They send students to Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, Mit each year and having a sixth form which is experiences helps in application process since teachers will know how to write good recommednations and how to help u w ur application process. Additionally, since less than 10 students get into Harvard each year, being able to talk to former ncs students who have gone would be super helpful. If u cant go NCS as u live too far away, still defo apply to sutton trust US and where possible, just do both!

Quick Reply