Hi everyone,
I’m a grade 10 student in Canada looking to apply to top-tier business schools in Canada (Queens, UWO, York, UofT, UBC, McGill, etc.). I have a 4.0 unweighted GPA and a received a 97% average last semester. Unfortunately, I go to a very small private school so there are virtually no AP/Honours courses that I can take. However, I am looking into enrolling in college courses. I would like to compensate my lack of rigorous courses with better and more extracurriculars, however my ECs are currently sub-par since I dropped a lot of ECs in the past two years. Right now, my extracurriculars are:
- Founder/president of my school's community outreach club (volunteering at various organizations/events and fundraising)
- Yearbook club
- Photography club
- Duke of Edinburgh's Award program (working on my silver award)
- Top volunteer at an organization; by the time I graduate I'll have volunteered there alone for approx. 200 hours
Here are some of the extracurriculars I am thinking of taking up:
- Teaching myself German (I want to get up to B1/B2 level)
- Competitive horse riding
- Youth council/parliament for my city
- Tutoring
- Starting my own business (I literally have no plan set out yet for this one but still, I'm very interested in the idea)
- Starting another club - any ideas?
- Other volunteering of course (summer camps, school programs, etc.)
- Volunteering abroad (I am going to Costa Rica next year for 2 weeks but I'm also interested in volunteering elsewhere)
What do you guys think? Are any of the ECs I’m interested in not worth pursuing? Can you suggest any other quality extracurriculars? Any other advice? What were some of your ECs that got you into business school?
Also, do you have any advice as to turning an interest/hobby into a solid extracurricular to put down on my university applications? I enjoy writing, photography, and anything to do with international relations but I’m unsure as to how I could invest and develop these interests.
Thank you!