Updated: Tuesday, November 3, 2026
What counts as an extracurricular activity, and how important are activities in the college admissions process? In this episode of the Just Admit It! podcast, IvyWise experts Tasha and Anthony discuss how admissions officers evaluate extracurricular profiles and share tips on choosing and developing meaningful activities.
Hi there. Welcome to Semester 13, Episode 5 of the IvyWise Just Admit It! podcast, where former deans and directors of admission give expert insight into the complex college admissions landscape. I’m Tasha, your host. I’m an admissions counselor at IvyWise, a former international admissions officer at USC, and former Assistant Director of International Admissions at Boston University.
This season on the show: The College Admissions Rubric. We’ll be breaking down the eight components of the rubric, from grades to essays and everything in between. So far, we’ve gone through the four hard factors of the college admissions rubric, so I highly encourage you to go back and listen to the first four episodes of the season. Today, we’re diving into the soft factors of the college admissions rubric with our first topic: extracurricular activities. How important are extracurricular activities in the college admissions process?
Here to help me answer that question — once again this season — is my wonderful colleague, Anthony. Hi, Anthony. Welcome back to the show, and thanks so much for coming on.
Hi, Tasha. Thank you so much for having me again.
For anyone who hasn’t listened to Episode 1 yet, can you please introduce yourself?
Of course. My name’s Anthony. I’m a counselor here at IvyWise, and before I joined, I served as an assistant director of admission at Princeton University.
Awesome. Thank you so much for that reintroduction. As I said, we’re reviewing all eight components of the college admissions rubric this season. We’ve already gone through four, and today we’re on our fifth.
As a reminder, the college admissions rubric is a framework that colleges use to evaluate applicants based on a combination of hard and soft factors, as I alluded to in the intro. To apply to college strategically, it’s wise to familiarize yourself with this rubric and aim to be competitive in each category you can influence. If you haven’t listened to our first four episodes, I’m plugging them again, because the hard factors are ones you really want to familiarize yourself with.
Now we’ll be talking about soft factors — essentially qualitative factors that are more subtle, more nuanced, and more malleable. Today, the soft factor we’ll be focusing on is extracurricular activities.
It may sound self-explanatory, but there’s sometimes a question of what counts as an extracurricular activity, so I want us all to be on the same page. Anthony, what is an extracurricular activity? Can you give me some examples of different activities that would go into the extracurricular part of a student’s college application?
Of course, Tasha. An extracurricular activity, simply put, is pretty much anything you do outside of your regular high school courses — including additional courses some students take on their own.
Activities within your school, like National Honor Society, a sports team, or student government, would all be extracurriculars. But so would anything you engage in outside of school. If you’re volunteering at a local food bank, holding down a part-time job, or taking private piano lessons, that would also fall into this category, and it’s something you can add on the Common App.
It also doesn’t need to be with a formal organization at all. You can include your home responsibilities, and I would encourage you to do so — I think that’s one students often miss. Not every student takes care of siblings or prepares meals for their family, so those responsibilities should certainly be represented in your extracurricular list.
The same goes for self-studying any subjects. I’ve even seen students include a reading list. Pretty much anything that takes up your time should be on that list, as long as you want admissions officers to consider it when they read your file.
I wanted to add that there’s a subcategory of extracurricular activities that you touched on: co-curricular activities. These are activities that are still academic in nature but take place outside of your traditional high school classroom. A co-curricular activity could be, like you said, an additional class at a community college, a pre-college summer program course, or an online course through a platform like Coursera or edX. So, extracurriculars can be the bread and butter — athletics, arts, etc. — but they can also be academic in nature, and those are called co-curricular activities. Students should definitely include those on their application as well.
It’s worth mentioning that the Common Application, which most universities use, caps the activities list at 10 activities. So how do you recommend students choose which activities to highlight if they have more than 10? Throughout a high school career, they often do.
It’s a great question, Tasha. Students should really consider which activities they find most impactful and meaningful to them — those are the ones you want to highlight. You also have to consider how long and sustained those activities are. If you have plenty to choose from, an activity you tried briefly in ninth grade and never picked up again probably doesn’t need a spot on the list.
There are also spaces elsewhere on the application for summer programs, so if you’re trying to fit those in, there’s a designated space for them in the Common Application. There’s also the honors and awards section, where you can move some items if you’re trying to display all the different extracurriculars you’re engaged in.
Yes, thank you. That’s absolutely right. So, that’s where extracurriculars go on an application, at least on the Common Application. But let’s take a step back and think about why. Why are extracurricular activities even part of the process? It’s pretty unique to the American higher education system that colleges are interested in aspects of a student’s experience beyond academics. When you’re talking to students, how do you explain the importance of extracurricular activities in the college admissions process?
At colleges — especially the highly selective colleges in the United States — there’s just so much demand. As application numbers keep rising, selecting students only gets harder. If colleges set a metric that students needed to reach to gain admission, like a certain SAT score or GPA, far more students would reach that metric than there are seats available at these institutions. So, there’s not really a standardized way to go about it.
Setting aside questions of equity, a simple cutoff would leave far too many qualified students to choose from. Extracurriculars and the other soft factors we’ll cover this season help colleges assess fit and decide which students will make the most of their time on campus.
Thank you, Anthony. “Why” is always hard to answer, but in conversations about the college admissions rubric, the answer is often selectivity — it’s part of why the rubric has eight parts. The less competitive a school is, the easier it would be to focus on academics alone.
Next, how important do you consider extracurricular activities to be? If you were to rank the college admissions rubric from most to least important — though it’s really not that black and white — where would extracurriculars fall, and how would you approach them as an admissions reader?
They certainly are important. Like I said, plenty of students clear the bar on academic preparation and the hard factors in the selection process. After that, we dig into extracurriculars to understand a student’s interests and values and to assess their fit with the college.
Part of an admission officer’s role is to consider how a student will engage on campus, in and outside of the classroom. Extracurriculars are a great way to start assessing that. Is this student going to take part in the many a cappella groups we have available at the college, or in our sports teams? Where can we start to envision this student on our campus? Ultimately, colleges want students who will fill their many clubs and organizations and breathe life into campus when they arrive.
Definitely. Saying they’re important is an important point. But then it’s a matter of how those extracurricular activities map onto the particular college a student is applying to.
Now I’d like to think about how extracurriculars fit into a student’s application profile. At IvyWise, we really focus on working with our students to help build their profile. The earlier we start working with them, the more we’re able to advise students on what to explore, what to get involved in, and how to deepen their involvement in their academic and extracurricular interests. So, I’d love to talk about how extracurricular activities contribute to a student’s overall profile — the core message admissions readers take away from an application.
Yes, 100%. You can really start to gather a sense of where a student’s interests lie through their extracurricular list. If they’re telling you they’re really into physics, are they doing anything beyond taking the physics course at their high school? Are they taking additional coursework — as you mentioned, Coursera or other independent courses, or dual enrollment? Are they self-studying in any manner? Are they competing in science fairs or joining a physics club at school? How are they moving beyond just taking classes in that area of interest?
Going back to what I said earlier about assessing a student’s values, you can also start to see: Do they care about service? Are they engaged in it? Do they value their faith? How are they engaging in and demonstrating that value through the ways they spend their time outside of the classroom?
Great. Especially when it comes to co-curricular activities, it makes a ton of sense for them to connect directly to the subjects a student focuses on or excels in — which likely connect to their intended major. Again, co-curricular activities are those academic activities that take place outside of the classroom.
That said, I’ve definitely had students come to me concerned that their extracurricular activities may not be well connected to their academic interests. So, I want to talk about that scenario. Should a student’s extracurricular activities ideally be connected to their academic interests? Why or why not?
Personally, I think yes and no, Tasha — which I know is maybe not the clearest answer to receive. I don’t think every activity you take part in should be connected to your academic interests, but I do think some should. We’re human, and we have plenty of interests — including ones beyond what you plan to study in college.
Your extracurricular list is a road map of how you spend your time, and I think students should spend that time early on exploring more than one interest. It also gives you a chance to test things out. Do you actually enjoy doing this? Do you enjoy reading psychology books, or do you just like watching YouTube videos about it? If you’re anything like I was back in high school, you watch tons of videos like that. But digging in — taking classes, starting research projects, or deepening your engagement — can show you whether this is something you want to study in college.
Thanks, Anthony. I want to emphasize what you just introduced: the idea that extracurriculars can be a testing ground for students to find out whether they’re actually interested in something. If your physics class sparks an interest and you want more hands-on experience, you might enter an academic competition or take on research. You could discover or confirm that interest, but you could also decide it isn’t quite what you thought. Much like internships help college students test out careers, co-curricular activities help high school students gauge how interested they really are in a subject.
But I also 100% agree, Anthony, that not every extracurricular can be academic or related to a student’s major. Colleges are definitely looking for students who are multidimensional. They want students who are pointy and show focused academic interests, but highly selective schools also value artistic and athletic talents and interests beyond academics.
I also want to emphasize that there are a lot of leadership opportunities outside of co-curricular activities. Athletics offer captaincy, clubs have presidents, and musical ensembles have leaders, too — it really runs the gamut. Unless you’re planning on studying the arts or sports medicine, those kinds of activities are naturally going to be unrelated to your academic major. So, I just wanted to plug that.
I’d love to put this into practice with some examples of strong extracurricular profiles for specific majors. Again, remember that some of these extracurriculars may not be related, but some should show a deep and developed level of interest. Can you walk us through what a compelling extracurricular profile might look like for a few different students?
Definitely. Let’s say a student wants to study neuroscience. As I was saying, we definitely want to see the student go beyond just taking a course in that subject if it’s offered at their high school. I know most high schools probably don’t have a neuroscience course, so taking a course in that subject area — whether through dual enrollment or online — already goes a step beyond. Readers definitely look for that kind of early initiative.
I’ve also seen students interested in neuroscience take on job shadowing or internships when they’re available. As an added bonus, they gain valuable insight into whether they want to pursue it as a career.
Another way students can continue and display that interest is by engaging in research. I’ve seen plenty of students start a project or work with mentors to get something off the ground. That’s a great way to show real academic chops, especially to research-heavy institutions. School-based activities work as well, like starting or joining a neuroscience club at your school. There are plenty of ways to get involved and show your interest.
Yes. Those are the co-curricular elements connected to that major, but the student’s profile would likely also include unrelated activities that highlight other interests.
I want to take a moment to think about level of involvement in extracurriculars as well. Additional coursework outside of school and the research and internship opportunities you mentioned are very self-motivated and intentional. They show a higher level of involvement because students have to seek them out — they’re not just handed to you. But school and community activities, whether they relate to a major, often have a lot of leadership opportunities within them.
Can you tell me a little bit about how you read extracurricular profiles? For example, how do you view a student involved in the same club or activity for all four years of high school versus just one year? Or a student who’s a member all four years versus one who takes on progressively bigger leadership roles?
Of course. When a student engages in an area in a sustained way — say they’re part of the school newspaper from ninth through 12th grade and stick with it — that definitely shows more of a proven interest. When we’re reading applications and someone says they’re interested in biology, but we don’t see much evidence of that anywhere in their extracurriculars, we start to question how interested they really are. Do they themselves understand what it means to study this? That can be a bit of a yellow flag for readers on the other side.
So, deep commitment over many years shows readers a proven interest, and leadership roles tell us a lot about a student’s initiative and leadership abilities. But ultimately, those things are just projections. We might think, “They’re in a lot of leadership roles, so their leadership skills are probably strong,” but we still look to other pieces, like the essay, to see what students took away from those experiences.
That’s a really great point, Anthony — especially about the supplemental essays. We’ll cover them in a later episode, but they belong in this conversation because supplemental essays give students a chance to reflect on what they’ve learned from their extracurricular and co-curricular experiences and how they’ll apply it in the future. The activities list gives us the “what” — the activities students were involved in. Supplemental essays and other parts of the application that allow students to elaborate show what the student actually did as a member or president of a club, how they reflect on it, and whether they’ll bring that experience to our campus.
Now I want to think about a hypothetical. Say a student has a really strong extracurricular and co-curricular profile, but their academics aren’t quite as strong. A lot of students ask about this. They’ll often compare apples to oranges with the two factors you’ve come on the podcast to discuss, grades and extracurricular activities, and ask: Can my extracurriculars make up for my weaker grades? The answer is pretty clear but a little nuanced, so I’d love for you to help me tackle it, Anthony, and I’ll jump in as well.
Of course. Here’s my answer: No. An extracurricular profile is important, but it can’t make up for poor academic performance. Remember that these are academic institutions first. Colleges want students who will be engaged members of their community, but first and foremost, they want students who will succeed and contribute academically in and outside of the classroom. If readers question a student’s ability to succeed and contribute, the conversation gets a lot harder. And if those concerns are well-founded, it doesn’t matter how cool or incredible your extracurriculars are. Readers are not going to put you in a position where you might not be set up for academic success — that’s their first and foremost responsibility.
But as we’ve been saying, academics alone can’t guarantee admission to these institutions. Getting a sense of a student’s involvement, their values, and how well they fit with the campus is important. I like to think about academics this way: These schools are looking for students within an admissibility range. Students need to be, for lack of a better phrase, within spitting distance academically of the strength the school is after. Once readers are confident you can succeed academically, the soft factors start to inform the decision.
That’s right and thank you for bringing it back to this very basic and important credo: Universities are academic institutions. The initial read focuses on academics because universities want to know that you can succeed on their campus and contribute to what, at highly selective universities, is already a very high level of academic achievement.
Like you said, they have a lot of other opportunities, clubs, and ways for students to get involved on campus, but those are always secondary. As a college student, your courses come first, and everything else is additional. If you’re struggling academically, it makes sense to scale back your extracurricular involvement so you can focus your time and resources on academics.
It’s a similar idea in high school. If a student is struggling academically, keeping their grades up is more important than being involved in more extracurricular activities. Ideally, a student is both succeeding academically and very involved. But if you’re asking which aspect of your college application you should be most focused on, it’s absolutely academic achievement. Once you’ve shown you can compete academically at highly selective institutions, a strong extracurricular profile complements that achievement.
So, thank you so much for that response. Now we’re going to wrap up. I always like to ask my guests on the show if they have anything else to add. What’s the most important thing students should take away about extracurricular activities as a soft factor?
If I could give one piece of advice — as I stand on my soapbox for the high schoolers listening in — it’s to get out there and explore. Get involved, invest in your communities, and start to participate. The more involved you become, the more it enriches the space for you and for everyone around you. And as we’ve been talking about, you get to learn more about yourself and your interests by engaging in them. As a side benefit, highly selective colleges are looking for students who make a difference in their community. But that really should be secondary to exploring, enjoying, and living life as a high schooler.
Absolutely. You just introduced the idea of impact, which I think is a great note to end on. Admissions officers at highly selective institutions are always looking for impact in extracurricular profiles. Not just leadership or depth of involvement, but how is the student making an impact on that club or activity, or on the community connected to it? That definitely comes through in supplemental essays, so we’ll be talking a bit about that in a future episode.
With that, thank you again so much, Anthony, for joining me this season on the Just Admit It! podcast.
Thank you so much for having me.
Tasha
Of course. If you have any suggestions about what we should be covering, please email us at [email protected]. In the meantime, you can catch up on all our previous episodes by visiting our podcast page, and be sure to bookmark our KnowledgeBase for additional help navigating the complex and competitive admissions process.
At IvyWise, we bring together a team of former deans and directors of admission at top universities to give students, parents, and fellow educators the most up-to-date higher ed news and practical admissions advice. Our experts help students navigate everything from college applications and K–8 planning to graduate school admissions and standardized testing. Visit ivywise.com today to embark on your journey to your best-fit schools with the world’s leading educational consultancy.
From IvyWise, I’m your host, Tasha, and this has been Just Admit It!. See you next time.
Editor’s Note: This transcript has been cleaned up and edited for clarity and readability.
“But what about the kids who start charities and do cancer research?” a mother asked me recently. She, like many others, was concerned about how her daughter’s list of extracurricular activities would stack up next to a group of lauded, accomplished high school seniors on her college applications.
If you’re a college-bound high school student, you are likely already aware that it’s important to build a strong profile for college admissions. Colleges want you to demonstrate on your application how you developed and deepened your academic interests throughout high school. A good way to do this is through academic enrichment.
We all know that grades and test scores are key factors in college admissions, but activities outside of the classroom are also very important. Schools are looking to build a class of specialists, so it’s important to hone in on a few interests you’re really passionate about and develop them.
