<p>Hello, I was wondering if you could give me some examples of extracurricular activities which relate to my future major, physics. I'm an international student who dreams to go to MIT. There are no after-school clubs in my school, so that's not an option. I've started doing piano lessons and going to the gym to get better at sports, but I don't think MIT will value these.</p>
<p>If you can achieve a high enough level of success, literally anything will work.</p>
<p>Start a physics club with the help of a physics teacher
Do science Olympiad
Do physics Olympiad
Get an internship related to physics i.e. engineering
Do independent research related to physics</p>
<p>^^ no. Just, no.</p>
<p>Do what you love, and do it well; pursue it to the best if your ability. Nuff said.</p>
<p>^ is absolutely right…choose something you love… (and never do something for someone else…you won’t be happy and/or successful). Don’t let the apparent lack of opportunity prevent you from pursuing your passions … start a club (in or out of school), get a job or internship in that field… do whatever you can.</p>
<p>My son’s passion is Scrabble. Since there was no Scrabble Club at school, his mostly played at the local Scrabble Club and local tournaments. Also won a couple of National titles. I don’t know if this might have been the “hook” for him to be admitted to MIT, but it certainly helped.</p>
<p>Bad advice like huehuehue32’s shows up on this board all the time. Keep in mind that MIT admits to the institution, not to any department, school or program. The admissions criteria is the same regardless of whether you are planing to major in Biomechanical engineering, Architecture, Political Science, or Philosophy. As a result, being president of the physics club is not inherently better than being president of the political debate society, the Socrates society, or the mass transit club (MIT has a very fine Transportation Engineering program).</p>
<p>The simple fact of the matter is that if you love it, you will do a great job with it. If you are doing it to impress someone else, it will never, ever be as good. Even if you can conceal your motives elsewhere in the application, you won’t be able to discuss it at interview with the same joy as someone who loves what they do.</p>
<p>My apologies for giving bad advice. The OP asked for “some examples of EC activities” relating to physics. I gave examples. I believe, just as you all, that passion is important and doing something for the sake of it looking good on a resume is a bad idea, but if OP is genuinely passionate about physics, is it so wrong to give him/her relatively straightforward examples of what he/she asked?</p>
<p>The whole passion frenzy is really nebulous to a lot of people, including me a few years ago. When I was a freshman I didn’t want to do ANY ECs. My parents made me do something, so I joined the academic team, and the next year I was the captain with lots of wins and achievements. I still am part of the team and I love it. It has definitely become my passion, and I did it because I thought I was quick but had no passion. If I had thought I wanted to be good at math, a math olympian, I would have done that. OP asked for ideas on how to be a physics person, so I gave ideas for that as well. If you have no passion to start out with, you have to pick an interest and go on from there.</p>