Transform your extracurricular activities from boring to outstanding

Learn about extracurricular activities

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...

Veronica Lee

Admissions Expert

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.

Common types of activities

• Leadership Roles at School: Class president, club officer, team captain—roles showing your ability to lead, organize, and handle responsibility.
• Passion Projects: Personal initiatives tackling real problems—like starting a blog, creating an app, or running workshops. These reflect your creativity, initiative, and genuine drive.
• Research Projects: Academic research beyond the classroom, usually with mentorship, showing intellectual curiosity and commitment to diving deep. Getting a research paper published is what can take it to the next level.
• Competitions: Academic contests, sports tournaments, or debate championships highlight your competitive spirit and provide external validation of your skills.
• Internships: Real-world experiences connected to your interests, demonstrating your proactive approach to career exploration. Both paid and unpaid internships are fine.
• Summer Programs: Specialized courses or leadership programs at universities. Not all summer programs are equal—some are competitive and truly valuable for your application, while some are just expensive.
• Family Responsibilities: Taking care of siblings, supporting family businesses, or helping relatives. These show maturity, strong time management skills, and personal sacrifice—qualities colleges greatly value.

Characteristics of a good activity

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:

• Impact: Activities that meaningfully improve your community, school, or beyond, leaving a clear positive mark.
• Leadership and Achievements: Roles and accomplishments where you've shown initiative, responsibility, and the ability to influence or inspire others.
• Depth of Participation: Admissions officers appreciate consistent, long-term involvement more than short-lived interests. Being committed to an activity over multiple years highlights your dedication and reliability.
• Authenticity: Choose activities aligned with your genuine interests and passions—not activities that merely 'look good.' Admissions officers can spot forced or superficial involvement from a mile away.

Quality > Quantity

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.

Exercise: rate this activity

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:

• Highly Competitive
• Moderately Competitive
• Not Competitive

Rate the activity based on the following criteria: Achievement, Authenticity, Commitment, and Impact.

Sample activity evaluation

Get feedback on your extracurriculars

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.

Bonus: List of global opportunities you can apply to

🗣️ veronica says...

Veronica Lee

Admissions Expert

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.

Bonus: List of prestigious competitions for international students