Do I have enough extracurriculars for Harvard?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Hey guys!
I'm an international student. I haven't take SAT I, SAT II and Toefl yet, but I think they'll be pretty good.
So,my extracurriculars are
Class Prestident for 2 years
English Olympiad winner (2 times)
World Literature Olympiad winner (2 times)
Callenge 20/20 project member
Wiki313 International TV project member
One day on Earth project member
English Club member, founder
School LGBT community founder
The presenter at the UNESCO conference
Choreography classes for 2 years
Dancing (3 years)
Swimming (10 years)
Tennis (4 years)
Singing (7 years)
Piano (4 years)
Choir (9 years)
Is it enough for Harvard? I'm going to apply for EA this year.</p>

2

<p>All selective colleges, Harvard included, are looking for students with a passion in a few extracurricular activities rather than a student who has a laundry list of 16 activities.</p>

<p>Admissions Officers understand that a student who is taking a rigorous course load in high school needs to spend 3 to 4 hours a night doing homework. That leaves approximately 20 hours a week for extracurricular activities. So Admissions is looking for students who are devoted to their activities. Generally that means that a student should have 2, 3, 4, maybe 5 activities that they devote from 2 to 6 hours on per week. So, your list is way too long. You need to trim it down to those activities that you devote the most time to and delete the rest. Remember it’s quality, not quantity!</p>

<p>See: <a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/activities/[/url]”>http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/activities/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Also see: [Marjorie</a> Hansen Shaevitz: What College Admissions Offices Look for in Extracurricular Activities](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>What College Admissions Offices Look for in Extracurricular Activities | HuffPost College)</p>

<p>Lastly, the Common App doesn’t allow you to list any activity that you did below 9th grade, so although you may have 10 years in this and 9 years in that, you can only list up to 4 years of involvement in each activity.</p>

3

<p>Thank you so much gibby for such an expanded answer! I really appreciate this. I’ll listen to your advice:)</p>

4

<p>No, you absolutely do not. Harvard requires <em>exactly</em> 17 extracurricular activities. They will not even consider a candidate for admission into the College if he or she does not boast this exact number. Furthermore, each activity must be listed in a resume and written in size 11.5 font (Helvetica only.) </p>

<p>Applicants are also required to participate in <em>at least</em> seven of the following eleven activities:</p>

<p>Model UN
Debate Team
Science Team
Math Team
NHS
Mock Trial
Business Club
Key Club
School Newspaper
I Want to Get into an Ivy Because It’s an Ivy Club
Nursing Home (at least 18,000 hours of volunteering)</p>

<p>Additionally, an applicant must include a description of how each activity drastically altered the course of his or her life. “When I looked into the infant monkey’s eyes for the last time, I swore to myself that I would devote my time on earth to saving the rainforests,” is a commonly used, but nonetheless effective, choice.</p>

<p>Your list does not satisfy these requirements. I would suggest you look into Cornell.
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<p>In all seriousness, please pursue passions. Don’t just do something because you think Harvard will like it.</p>