Extracurricular Questions for Ivy League Application

Applying to College
, ,
1

Hey! I had a few questions for extracurriculars that answers would be appreaciated for!!

  1. Does the extracurriculars I invest my time in necessarily have to do with my intended major? I’ve been volunteering a lot in the legal sector but there isn’t really such thing as a pre-law undergrad major so my extracurriculars don’t necessarily relate to my major at this point. Does applying as undecided hurt your chances for Ivy League admissions?

  2. Additionally, does anyone know any extracurriculars for high school students interested in foreign language/culture? I currently teach English to refugees, do model UN, translate for Google, do taekwondo (to immerse myself in Korean culture) and I am a french tutor, but if anyone knows any cool or really unique extracurriculars to take my international affairs learning to the next level, it would be must appreciated. Additionally, how can I make active change with this specific passion?

  3. Are there any computer science extracurriculars that don’t really have to do with coding? I’m pretty interested in ethics but I’m struggling to find some extracurriculars that are not programmer/coding heavy! If there are any good ones, please let me know?

2

  1. A few extracurriculars, even one or two related to your major, would be great, although that depends on whether you have access to such opportunities. There’s no pre-law major to my knowledge, so assuming you’re going to major in a related field to prep for law school [English, philosophy, polsci etc] you can find some great extracurriculars in those fields, like maybe Model UN, creative writing, debate etc. Being undecided, I would say, comes off as a little negative to colleges because it shows that you’re not able to make choices for yourself. But if you weave your story in your application stating reasons for being undecided, it probably won’t hurt you!

  2. I think you can contribute to Duolingo https://incubator.duolingo.com/. Not many such extracurriculars, maybe some clubs at your school/volunteering for related orgs? Sorry, not very helpful here.

  3. I can suggest an intro to CS program although apps are probably closed now- the GWC Summer Immersion Program’s cool, and it’s more CS-enriching rather than actually working with code, I think.

3

My kids didn’t attend Ivies…but I believe my answer would be true anywhere.

One of my kids was on the swim team. The other main EC was music related…Precollege orchestra, lessons and the like.

She was very committed to both of these activities, and also had leadership positions in both.

She is neither a professional musician nor anything related to swimming as her career…and these activities had nothing to do with her two college majors. They DID show commitment and leadership…and she wrote about one in her essays.