Hey guys,
I am currently a highschool freshman (british school yr 10), but my dream school is NYU Stern! I have a few questions on preparing extracurriculars for the admissions process!
I am currently doing:
- Started a club that creates and donates picture books for local children’s orphanages, and currently holds position editor in chief.
- Doing school entrepreneur club from yr 8, so almost for 3 years now! Maybe I can be the chair in the next coming years…
- Doing Foodology Club since yr 9, we create magazines about food.
- Doing Badminton Squad since year 8, also almost for 3 years now. But we didn’t really have noticeable awards like nationals
- Running a blog about current affairs (<1yr)
I want to go to international business, so I am currently learning Chinese and Japanese. But I am worried because I don’t have really business related ecs or instruments. In the future I am planning to:
- Create a peer mentoring app / program for north Korean teenager defectors (I live in south Korea)
- Do an internship
- Summer Camp in NYU
Will they be worth the time? Also, I don’t have really big buzzing awards / honors to put on my cv like intel science fair and stuff like that, does Stern really care about that?
Thank you so much. Sorry for posting so many questions, Stern is really my dream school!
Your current EC’s should be fine as long as you continue them, show some leadership in them and express them passionately and with detail either in your Common App essay or in the “additional information” section. But if you can handle more EC’s without wrecking your grades, the best would probably be to raise money for charities, start playing an instrument or doing an internship at a business, even if it’s small.
Juse remember that EC’s are only one part of the admissions process and that you need a solid application all-around, including GPA, courseload, essays and recommendations.
Good luck, and make sure you visit NYU before you commit; there’s not really a defined campus, and it’s definitely not for everyone.
Just do internships during the summer of your junior and senior year… If you can get an internship at a well known place, through some sort of connection, nothing else really will matter.I was just admitted to Stern, and I think my internship really made a difference in my admission. Not only will it look great on resume, but you can also talk about the internship in your Stern essay.
The way I got my internship was I emailed a lot of parents I knew that worked in the business world asking if I could observe and help out in their workplace. After a few weeks I got a bunch of responses and was able to pick from a few nice offers.
Remember to focus on the extra curricular that actually matter (like an internship or a business club). You should definitely be involved in a bunch of clubs, but only devote your time and energy to the ones that you actually enjoy.
@SternBusiness Hey, thanks for your reply and congratulations! About ‘being involved in bunch of clubs’ would that number(3~4) listed on the top be ok?
@SternBusiness “The way I got my internship was I emailed a lot of parents I knew that worked in the business world asking if I could observe and help out in their workplace.”
Yeah, that’s helpful when you go to a school with wealthy families who work in finance. Not all of us are afforded those opportunities and can just call up Jimmy’s dad who is an MD at Goldman.
@renegade23 I’m sure in your community or around you there are dad’s or people you know working in a field that you want to go in. Your telling me that most people don’t know/ have a relationship with business professionals in their area?
Besides having some sort of connection, how do you think any kids still in high schools with absolutely nothing on their resume get internships in the business world? Doesn’t happen.
@SternBusiness You’re level of privilege is actually astounding. You fail to even entertain the possibility that not everyone lives in a community where people work in the finance industry. No. Not everyone has a family financial advisor or a neighbor who works at Bank of America.
Additionally, of course that is how kids get internships. That is why colleges don’t really care too much for them because they are so clearly obtained through privileged family connections, not merit.
Just do some things you’re passionate about. Clearly if you have connections and can get some hands-on experience in the field, you’d be better off, but since that’s not viable for most people, just do what you want that will show that you are a well-rounded individual, and maybe that you care about others, as well.
@renegade23 I didn’t mention finance once in my previous post, so I am not sure why you are mentioning it. I would argue that for the majority of students there is a way to intern/ participate in a business element in your community if you really look for it. This could mean simply observing how a local small business handles their financials. There are a lot of ways to be creative and get exposure to the field that you are interested in.
Business is all about connection(s) so I’m also not sure why you are getting annoyed how I stated that if you have any, you should attempt to use them in order to gain experience. When you are genuinely interested about a field, showing interest and spending a good chunk of your summer observing at a workplace will certainly look good for colleges.
I think its obvious that not all extracurricular activities are viable for every student across the country.
