NewDayHow do Colleges verify extracurricular activities applicants?
While some Colleges don’t care, some others care and can go extra miles to verify the extracurricular activity (s) of their applicants.
The question comes, how do these colleges verify your extracurricular activities?
Well, college admission officers value applicants who are endowed with special skills and experiences.
Colleges believe that this qualities indicate that the applicant will be productive and beneficial to the College.
The best approach to standing a better chance of getting into any College is demonstrating extra skills by getting involved in extra-curricular activities.
While seeking admission into the college or a university, the admission committee will always be interested in knowing about the extracurricular activities you’ve been involved in.
However, having extracurricular activities aren’t only for impressing admission committee for a chance of being admitted because some colleges will take further steps to verify your claims.
How Do Colleges Verify Extracurricular Activities of Applicants?
The University admission team can seek to verify extracurricular activities information provided by applicant in a number of ways.
Some of the most common methods that colleges use to verify the extracurricular activities of their applicants are:
- Face to face interview
- Use of internet
- Contacting your Referees
- Through previously attended schools
Face to Face Interview
The admission team may seek to physically interrogate the applicant to ascertain their acclaimed extracurricular activities.
This is an interview and so, it’s expected that questions could be asked about the said extracurricular activities and it’s expected that the applicant answers with all sense of discretion as any form of misinformation can lead to decline of application.
Use of the Internet
The admission team could decide to verify given information by applicants via websites provided to gather more information and hence, ascertain that the claims by the applicants are validated.
Contacting Referees
Yes! One sure avenue through which admission teams verify information about extracurricular activities provided by the applicants is by contacting the referees provided in their credentials.
An applicant must have this in mind before providing references because if the college admission officers discovered that information provided by the referees tends to contradict what the applicant provided, the applicant’s application can be declined.
Through Previously Attended Schools
The college admission committee may also choose to reach out to your previously attended schools to gather some information about you.
Best Extracurricular Activities for College Admissions
What extracurricular activities should you get involved in to increase your college admission chances?
Well, there are some extracurricular activities that colleges value and those are the ones you should get involved in.
Some of the best extracurricular activities for college admissions are:
- Sports
- Leaning new languages
- Developing writing skills
- Voluntary services
- Acquiring new skills
Sports
Sport is really one extracurricular activity to consider for anyone looking for a good extracurricular activity.
Apart from the exercise part of it, sport provide individuals with needed livelihood skills like commitment, teamwork and grit.
While sports should never be ones’ only extracurricular, it definitely shows versatility if a student can balance academics with dedicated participation in sports.
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Leaning New Languages
Learning new languages is so lucrative that it can’t be over emphasized. Taking this as an extracurricular activity is not only fun, but can help later in life.
It’s a great skill to have as it increases ones ability to multitask and has shown to improve problem solving skills.
Besides having more chances of having a good job or advancing in career, learning a second language can also give one an insight into other cultures.
Bilingualism is a huge value add for the university admissions and a great skill for job market.
Developing Writing Skills
Writing is an essential job skill and moreso, a needed extracurricular skill to have as an applicant for admission.
Improved writing skills makes one a good communicator and also improves reading.
Students who have this skill should strive, not only to write but to also submit their write-ups to the local newspaper or other publishing companies for a chance to get published as this can appeal to university admission team greatly.
Voluntary Services
Getting involved in voluntary Services is a way of giving back to the community and to support those around.
This appeals to the university admission team greatly as it shows how much the applicant values using free time for good, can balance school and volunteering, and a level of thoughtfulness.
There are a number of voluntary Services one can render ranging from tutoring, church, cleaning up a parks and more.
5. Acquiring New Skills
Code Academy, Coursea, Udemy, Khan Academy, edX are just to mention a few sites where one can acquire a new skill online.
Some of these sites offer certificates which can be added to the resume of the applicant for additional advantage.
How Many Extracurricular Activities Should One Participate in?
Well, most universities do not really lay emphasis on numbers but on how-well.
For some colleges, the concern is on the achievements of the applicant in the extracurricular activities he or she was involved in.
On the other hand, for universities which consider numbers, strong applications tend to have between 8 and 10 extracurricular activities.
This sounds like a lot, but many activities are seasonal, so it’s possible to fit, for example, three to four sports into one year.
As much as it is great to have extracurricular activities specially as an added advantage while seeking admission, the applicant should be careful while stating his/her extracurricular activities, achievements and every other thing required as the admission team has the responsibility to verify the given information.
Conclusion
Colleges don’t request for extracurricular activities for nothing.
Most colleges see extracurriculars as a way of creating a synergy between students. Extracurriculars also encourage superior academic performance.
Another interesting thing about extracurriculars is that they enhance the applicant’s portfolio which will likely result to a higher chances of admission.
While you try to impress Colleges with your extracurricular activities, it is better to list out the ones that you are fully involved in.
Like I said earlier, some colleges can go extra miles to verify your claimed extracurriculars.
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