Extracurriculars

Good lord the extra curricular activities too?

Fatima tuz Zahra)

Every one is smart these days: replication of knowledge gleaned in class rooms is an art but a fairly common one. So colleges no longer look at only grades to see if the student is acceptable or not but also the extracurricular activities the student is interested in. These days when knowledge is duplicable, book worms seem to be losing the race while the book-shy are taking the lead. The reason for this is that text book knowledge about what to do is no longer the most important factor, since the ability to function and communicate in situations has become very important; this skill coupled with text book knowledge is what is coveted these days.

Extracurricular activities show a student as committed, diverse and whether he/she can handle the obvious strain on their time and how efficiently they can spread themselves and still show good results. It won’t necessarily matter if the student has a long list of activities they have indulged in but whether they have seen them through the end because it is easy to start something and harder to see it through, as it shows a persons character: whether they are dependable or not. It doesn’t matter if the student likes to stand at the start-up point but exits the race before the middle, because the ending is the most difficult and consequential. So if you are planning on jumping in, then make sure you map the exit at the end, and not the middle.

Now we have established that we will not rush out and jump at every opportunity or extra curricular activities that tap at our window, but rather do our research, know our priorities and choose carefully.

Colleges are interested in the whole person, not the just the bits and pieces, which makes choosing extracurricular activities all the more important; so you need to show that you care (as the capacity of a person is shown by there involvement in the community) ambition, creativity, dedication, interests etc. It will help if you profile your self, first beginning with your actual accomplishments and attributes and qualities, and then making another profile as to how you want colleges to view you. You should then find the best way to present it. So it is true that we are commodities and we sell ourselves for the prestige of the college name.

Many colleges are concerned about “burn-out”- when a reasonably good student suddenly stops giving results as everything suddenly becomes too much. This often happens to students who only concentrate on their studies. Just like ostriches, who bury their heads in the sand, because it is safer and more familiar than their surroundings, studying is safer than participating in the activity around them for these students; this points to insecurities and the inability to make themselves heard in a crowd or the fear of complications. Confidence is looked for and fear of exposure is always a hindrance both in a leader and a subordinate. This doesn’t mean that you need to be a president or a leader, but that your role must be important and significant either in the centre stage or behind the curtains.

Students who are involved in ten or more extracurricular activities in a year raise a red flag as trying too hard, being superfluous and doing it for impression not because you want to. Balance is the key, collages are looking for commitment, passion, resilience and depth they are not interested if you have only skimmed the surface of the activities, you need to be involved.

All of this does not mean that you should put your studies aside and only concentrate on the extracurricular activities because the first point of entry is through your scores, it is the first criteria that the collages consider. All the rest comes after that, don’t put your fingers in too many pies: your pen will slip at the end and your will grades suffer.

Applying for college is like playing musical chairs, with thousands of people and only one chair. The world has become so competitive that it seems that we must dance on our toes just to pass the criteria of being acceptable enough to apply to a college; actually getting accepted is a separate undertaking depending on factors that are beyond our complete control, and luck. These factors look so complex that students become flustered since it seems that it is not enough that they sacrifice precious moments of their lives nose deep in books they don’t care about, but when applying for a college our piece of mind is jarred by the extra curricular requirements. But that is not so, what you need is to do your research, get your priorities straight and know what you aim for and get a guidance counsellor. This complex admission procedure is a ’safety’ for the collage against the students who are not really dedicated and those who can’t take the strain. Brushing aside the procedure is not going to help you, you need to tackle it soon as possible and with a good combat strategy.

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