Extracurricular Activities (ECs) are any activities you participate in outside of class—think sports, clubs, volunteering, internships, or other hobbies and interests.
After your grades, extracurriculars are one of the most critical components of your application. Sure, your academics matter a lot, but admissions officers really care about how you spend your time when you're not studying.
This doesn't mean just handing them a list of random clubs and activities. They want to see depth—how your ECs shaped your interests, developed your skills, and showcased your leadership potential. Basically, they're looking to understand what these experiences taught you and how they've impacted your personal growth.
Here are a few examples of activities Borderless members have done:
🗣️ veronica says...
Many students worry about not having fancy activities at their school. The truth is, the best ones are done outside of the school environment. Whether it is passion projects, internships, research work, activism, etc. - you don't need your school's permission to do them.
Scrolling TikTok or gaming doesn't count—sorry! However, creating your own content or developing a game certainly does. Here's what admissions officers value most:
Focus on quality, not quantity! Colleges aren't impressed by how many activities you list; they care much more about how deeply and meaningfully you've engaged in each one. Trying to juggle dozens of clubs or activities just spreads you thin and makes your application feel shallow.
Admissions officers quickly notice if you're listing activities simply to fill space. It's far more effective to focus deeply on a few meaningful experiences. During the committee review, admissions officers must quickly summarize you in just a few sentences. If you're involved in too many unrelated activities, it becomes harder to capture your true strengths and personality clearly.