Main content
College admissions
Unit 2: Lesson 3
Extracurricular and leadership activities- Engaging in extracurricular activities
- Student story: Extracurriculars that are leadership opportunities
- Student story: Extracurriculars that are nontraditional
- Student story: Extracurriculars that are self created
- Student story: Extracurriculars that are a passion
- Student story: Extracurriculars that carry over from high school to college
© 2023 Khan AcademyTerms of usePrivacy PolicyCookie Notice
Student story: Extracurriculars that are nontraditional
Want to join the conversation?
- Is there a way to start an extracurricular activity at your school if they don't offer one?(2 votes)
- An "extracurricular activity" doesn't need to have anything to do with school at all. If your extracurricular is horseback riding, or bug collecting, or photographing local landmarks -- Those are all valuable activities that enrich you as a person and engage you with the world. Whether as a member of an organized group, or independently, any authentically pursued activity can enhance your college application.(4 votes)
- would volenteer jobs be counted as extracurricular?(3 votes)
- Absolutely! Volunteer at your local food band, senior center, hospital, church. The opportunities are endless. Use you imagination and go for it. Do not forget that (if you are in high school or middle school) the local elementary school might need volunteers. TUTOR someone. good luck and good learning(3 votes)
- Is it only universities in the US that consider activities like these as extracurricular? I doubt any colleges in third world countries will accept baby-sitting cousins as a legit one.(2 votes)
- But if she applied for majors that are related to education, and especially preschool, that might have counted as a bonus.(2 votes)
- I'm on a Archery team, i have health problems but my college doesn't have a team or anything what should I do.(2 votes)
- You can normally go to your college and create a club, in this case Archery, and if it goes through with all the paperwork and whatnot, you can coordinate with other teams from other colleges and whatnot, and try to make a tournament or something. I would look at your college's website in regard to who to contact about making a club.(2 votes)
- why does it have to be traditional(2 votes)
Video transcript
- So even though I didn't participate in many of the traditional
extracurricular activities, I did play a large part in my family. My nephews lived with us
while I was in high school, and I watched them a lot. I wanted my parents to come home to a house that was calm and tranquil and somewhere that they
could somewhat relax, and I didn't want them to
be doing all of the work just because my parents
worked five days ... well, my mom worked five days a week, and my dad worked six days a week, and they deserved the break, and it was important for
me to be able to help them. I realized that when I was doing the college application process, that this was considered
an extracurricular because it's something that has
shaped me and my experience, so I was able to put that on
my college application process, not only in the extracurriculars, but I also wrote about it
in my personal statement, and that was an experience
that was unique to me, an experience that not everyone had, and I was, hopefully, able to stand out to my Admissions Officer.