Ivy League and top colleges across the world have expected students to engage in extracurricular activities throughout their 4 years of high school. While what students achieve in classrooms are of utmost importance with high GPAs; the strength of the curriculum ; rank and AP/IB courses, Admission Officers want to see students activities outside of the classroom, how have they challenged themselves in their areas of interests, what have they learned from those challenges, how these experiences have shaped them and how have they contributed to society.

Having said extracurricular activities are important, many students make the mistake of pursuing activities which they think would be important in eyes of admission officers and end up getting frustrated minimizing their chances at selective colleges.

Here’s an article by Austin Horn titled https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/29/884630628/what-more-than-300-college-admission-deans-are-looking-for-during-the-pandemic . The statement from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education “What We Care About in This Time of Crisis. The statement says applicants should not feel stressed if they are not in a position to complete public service, a traditional aspect of a college application. We will assess these contributions and services in the context of the obstacles students are facing. Students are still required to work on their extracurriculars. The only difference would be that these activities need to be done largely on a virtual platform ( based on the COVID situation ) and would need creativity & perseverance. So don’t get stressed out. It’s absolutely possible to build a strong & differentiated candidacy in this virtual environment. Here are some ideas on extracurricular activities which students can undertake under present circumstances –

Bolster online presence – website , you tube videos etc
Continue online meetings for your initiative
Understand challenges in your community , society . It can be taking care of elderly or building app to deliver groceries to quarantined people . Be innovative – identify challenges in present situation and take initiative to solve those
Leverage free online resources like Coursera , Khan academy etc to enhance your academic profile
Take language classes , enahnce your language proficiency
If you are passionate and possess engineering aptitude – think about building your own tech device
Teach under priveleged children who are forced to skip classes because of financial constraints