How important are extracurricular activities in the college application process?
Simply put: extracurricular activities are at least as important as students have been told—especially when it comes to private school admissions. In a previous post, I gave a rough illustration of how admissions works at a school like Stanford University.
- Of 47,450 applications, around 37,960 will possess the academic qualifications necessary to succeed. But only 2,000 students will end up getting accepted!
This means that Stanford will deny admission to around 35,960 academically qualified students: students with near-perfect GPAs and stellar standardized test scores.
So what distinguishes the select 2,000 from the remaining 35,960? Extracurricular activities!
Unfortunately, this part of the college admissions process is not only highly important, it is also surrounded by a good deal of misinformation. The following series of posts will go behind the myths and explain what really catches a college’s attention and what colleges are really looking for when they examine a student’s extracurricular record.
Danny is the CEO of FLEX College Prep. Danny’s core focus is on helping young people get the best advice, and be the best students they can be. His team of professionals are also personal coaches, and great people, driven by the same passion for helping people.