A lot of selective graduate schools say that they want candidates to be involved in extracurricular in college, although some say they will waive this requirement entirely if a student was in a varsity sport or doing musical performance. As someone who is not good enough in either of these things to them, are there any other extracurriculars that could add up together to be considered equal to Varsity/Music in terms of graduate school admissions? I am right now only in highschool, but I am just thinking ahead. Thanks!
Where did you hear this? Extracurricular activities don’t matter at all for graduate school admission, unless they are relevant to your field. Research experience and research interests matter. Certain professional schools, like some medical schools, may value extracurricular activities, but it doesn’t have to be a sport or musical performance, nor does it have to require that level of commitment, nor does it trump grades/standardized test scores and clinical experience/research experience.
^ I agree. I serve on masters and PhD admissions committees and we rarely discuss the ECs unless they are career-related. Sometimes someone will refer to a candidate as the opera singer or the nationally-ranked handball player but these ECs don’t seem to matter for admission decisions.
Ah, I apologise, I did receive this information from the Harvard medical school and just assumed that it was also true for other graduate schools. So, if I understand correctly, for grad school, it is grades, GRE scores, and relevant experience in the field. For Med School, it is Grades, MCAT scores, relevant experience in the field, and extracurriculars. Is Law school/engineering school the same as med school in this regard, or like grad school?
First of all, varsity sports and music are extracurricular activities.
Secondly, the medical school forum would be a better source of information on this, but I’m not entirely sure it’s true that Harvard Medical school (or any medical school) cares about your involvement in the psychology club or Model UN or the chamber music orchestra. HMS’s admissions website says this
In addition to demonstrated academic excellence, these are the qualities HMS seeks in its students. Our Committee on Admissions evaluates applications based on a variety of criteria that range from your academic records and MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) scores to your extracurricular activities, research, and community-service experiences in the field of health care. And while we expect you to demonstrate an aptitude for the biological and physical sciences, our ideal candidates are those with well-balanced academic backgrounds that include the humanities and social sciences.
That sentence “extracurricular activities, research and community-service experiences in the field of health care” - the important part is the field of healthcare. They’re talking about things like volunteering as an EMS, being a member of the Charles Drew Medical Society, joining a public health club, etc. I don’t think medical schools really care whether you play football or violin.
My apologies, I was not specific, I know that sports and music are extracurricular activates, what I suppose I meant in the post was like academic extracurricular, (I don’t know if that’s a real category or just something I use to group extracurriculars.)
In research grad programs, even field-related EC’s are generally of little importance unless they point to research excellence. Some places WILL credit EC’s that suggest a strong work ethic (like varsity sports or nationally-recognized musicianship) but again, not much. If you are looking to distinguish yourself for grad school you get the most bang for your buck by focusing on research first and academics a close second.
I think the point is, you don’t need to do academic ECs that will ‘add up’ to sports or music because academic graduate programs (MAs and PhDs) don’t care at all about music and sports. They care about activities that you do that are related to your field. For example, if you wanted a PhD in biology, they would care if you did research in biology. They might care a little if you ran the biology club or volunteered to teach biology in poor high schools in your area or something. But they won’t care at all that you played football or violin in college.
Oh, I think I understand, thank you.