Extracurriculars?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi I wanted to find out more about how good someone’s extracurriculars have to be to make him/her a competitive applicant at an elite school, like the Ivies, MIT, Stanford, etc.
Do you have to win competitions and be recognized for your accomplishments at the state level or nationally? Or can your extracurriculars just be really good within your school and community?

Have any of you/do any of you know anyone who has gotten in to these schools without super amazing accomplishments, and instead are still accomplished, but more at the local level, like held leadership positions at clubs/organizations, founded clubs, are a leader in their high school, are really passionate about what they do, etc?

Because that’s more what I have done so far, so I want to know my general chances to get into Harvard, MIT, etc. (I have the grades and test scores, so I just wanna know if people have gotten in with these types of extracurriculars)

2

Hi, generally the people who get into the Ivies and other top colleges are people who are well-rounded, but also excel at something in terms of ECs. Local activities in your school or community are great, but in order to “stand out” from the heap of other applicants, you really need to have an accomplishment at a national or international level. For these elite colleges, a state level recognition/accomplishment is often not enough to stand on its own or make you attractive to them. Of course, you’ll need to be dedicated and show real passion for whatever EC that is.

Good luck and I hope this helps.