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.
Below is a description of a typical extracurricular activity of a high school student. Use the rubric from the last page to rate this activity as:
Rate the activity based on the following criteria: Achievement, Authenticity, Commitment, and Impact.
🗓️ Duration: 3 months
🙋🏻♂️ Position: Editor I am one of the three editors
I am one of the three editors for our school's newspaper, where I cover topics on students' well-being as well as events at our school. So far, I have published three articles that were featured on our school's website. One of them included an interview with a psychologist from an American university and was very popular among students.
Being appointed as one of the three editors is a great achievement! However, the student can take it further and aim to become the editor-in-chief.
The student newspaper is a relatively common activity among high schoolers, making it harder to stand out among others pursuing the exact same activity. However, depending on the nature of the articles written, this rating can improve!
Three months is a short commitment for this activity; however, if the student continues to actively participate until the application deadline, these three months can turn into a year!
Raising awareness about well-being and reaching all students of the school is a great example of creating a positive impact. To scale it further, the student should aim to get more collaborations and increase the number of readers.
It's time to get feedback on your own activities to make sure that each one is meaningful and helps your application . Please fill out the form with details about your activities.
🗣️ veronica says...
I frequently hear international students say, "My school or city doesn't offer any extracurriculars. What should I do?" The truth is that the best opportunities aren't given; they're created by you taking initiative! Apply to global programs (see the list below), network with professionals in your field, and start your own projects.
Below you'll find prestigious summer programs, competitions, and exchanges available to all international students. Be aware that most deadlines are often far in advance - for instance, YYGS, which takes place in July, has a January application deadline. These opportunities aren't last-minute options; they require early planning and can't be pursued just a few months before college application deadlines.
Competition | Participation Fee |
---|---|
ISEF | $0 |
NASA Space Apps Challenge | $0 |
Breakthrough Junior Challenge | $0 |
International Brain Bee | $0 |
iGEM | $500/team |
World Scholar's Cup | Small fee |
The Diamond Challenge | $0 |
Blue Ocean Competition | $0 |
John Locke Global Essay Competition | $0 |
Microsoft Imagine Cup | $20 |
Conrad Challenge | $499/team |
GENIUS Olympiad | $50 |
FIRST Robotics Competition | varies |
World Robot Olympiad | about $100 |
Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament | $80/team |
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