Extracurricular Activities

Applying to College
1

Do extracurricular activities have to correlate with your intended college major? I plan on majoring in computer science, but none of my ECs have anything to do with that. I’ve mostly spent my time tutoring other students.

Also, how are ECs reported on college applications? Do you have to include the number of years you’ve been doing something? Or is it just hours per week?

2

“Do extracurricular activities have to correlate with your intended college major?”

Usually not, but depends. What schools are you looking at?

3
  1. most colleges won’t care what you say you want to major in
  2. your ECs don’t have to be linked to that for the reason stated in #1
  3. most colleges don’t care anything about your ECs
4

They don’t have to correlate with what you are majoring in. It’s nice for you to have an EC in something unrelated. I’m going into biochemistry/pharmacy but had no science EC’s. I just did soccer, volunteering, and a staff job for a website.

EC’s are reported mostly through Common App on its own page. There’s a drop down list on what type of EC (technology/club/sports/etc.) and you briefly describe what you did, what your role was, and how many years AND how many hours per week/year you did the EC.