boston college admission essay

boston college admission essay

The Importance of Extracurricular Activities in Boston College Admission

1. The Role of Extracurricular Activities in College Admissions

This college essay provides suitable content on the role of extracurricular activities in college admissions, showing how involvement can increase the number of incoming students. According to data from a 1995 U.S. Department of Education report, participation in extracurricular events can be the determining factor in an area of study. Ninety-one percent of high school students who participated in a sport or club went on to attend college, as opposed to thirty-six percent of the student body as a whole. In simpler terms, the report shows that students who are involved within their school are more likely to attend college. This not only benefits students who take part in activities but can also allow colleges to admit students who will enhance the university. This method of selection works as a screening, keeping students with low grades or behaviors that deter them from college out while trying to find the best possible candidates. A successful progression of this method was shown by David Hadley’s research on whether high school activities enhanced the chances of being accepted into the University of Illinois. This attempt to induct a class full of well-rounded students led to the admittance of activity participants over those who simply had high grades, causing a scramble for students in the top twenty percent of the class even after places had been secured. With such results, the method of selection will be ever-increasing, becoming more complex in efforts to secure an entire class of high school participants.

2. How Extracurricular Activities Enhance a College Application

a) Student Leaders- A student interested in leadership should join an extracurricular activity that gives them the opportunity to lead other students. There are many clubs and organizations, on and off school campuses, that offer leadership positions. Another great way to gain leadership experience is to volunteer for a cause that you are passionate about. Many non-profit organizations are looking for student volunteers to help them with their cause. By being a leader, a student can show initiative, responsibility, motivation, and other good character qualities. These are things that are quite appealing to colleges.

1. Showing a student’s interests The college application process is an interaction, involving a student and a college, meant to see if a student is a perfect fit for a college and in some cases, to see if a school is a perfect fit for a student. To be able to find a perfect match for both student and college, each has to know the other well. A student cannot just expect to send a transcript and test scores to a college and have the college know everything there is to know about the student. Likewise, a college cannot expect to just send brochures and letters to a student and expect to know everything about that student. Colleges want students who will contribute something good to their school. They want students who have leadership skills, students who have strong morals and good character, students who have ambitious career goals, students who are passionate about something, and students who will interact well with other students, faculty, and community members. These are the types of students that will help make a great college. The best way to show a college what kind of person you are is by getting involved in extracurricular activities.

3. Examples of Impactful Extracurricular Activities

It didn’t take long for admissions officers to ascertain Jim’s leadership abilities from his involvement. This student was the participant in a very real form of leadership, one which requires influence, motivation, and aspiration to a common goal – a perfect candidate for universities like Boston College. And still, the experiences enriched Jim in his personal development. He learned the intrinsic value of each of his teammates and acquired a greater sense of responsibility towards the commitments he made. “It forced me to grow up a little faster than most kids my age. But I know by experiencing this I have become a better person.” This form of growth and self-realization is what today’s universities hope to instill in their graduates. Jim’s athletic leadership, though a tiring and demanding endeavor, has become a very rewarding one come college acceptance and beyond.

Case study 1: This student, let’s call him Jim, was a high school athlete at Somers High School in New York. While he excelled in his studies, Jim was a born leader and found his niche captaining three different sports teams throughout his high school career. According to Jim, “being a captain made me read people better. Not everyone’s the same, so I had to figure out how to get the most out of each and every one of my teammates to create a positive, yet competitive, success-oriented environment.”

Extracurricular activities and their effect on a student’s college admission are always difficult to fully gauge. By nature, these activities are non-obligatory, so students that participate in them tend to do so out of interest and with qualitative investment. From the college perspective, involvement in extracurricular activities is believed to benefit applicants as it provides a way to showcase unique interests, offers opportunities for leadership development, and augments one’s personal and interpersonal competencies. Essentially, extracurricular involvements are posited to help students become stand-outs both on campus and in the professional world. What follows is a small collection of student experiences and its relation to their extracurricular activities. By examining the experiences of these students, you may find it easier to understand the depth of EC involvements and in what ways it is most advantageous.

4. Tips for Highlighting Extracurricular Involvement in the Admission Essay

Don’t write a general essay about your extracurricular activities. While you may touch on your participation in them, the bulk of your application should focus on academics. Use the essay to give more detail about you as an individual. It will do little good to tell the reader what you have done in your activity; tell them who you are because you did it. A strong essay will capture the reader’s interest in who you are and give a sense of the person that lies beneath the activities and honors. Keep in mind that all the readers will know about the activities is what you learned or a brief account of the specific event. Your job is to make your experience more vivid, personal, and lasting than what is generally communicated in a resume or activity list. You should provide an in-depth insight into who you are and why you are unique.

5. Conclusion: Maximizing Your Chances of Admission through Extracurricular Engagement

Parents can often mistake the importance of extracurricular activities in securing admission to a top-tier school. They may see the activities as trivial and unrelated to the imperatives of college preparation and admission. It is easy to assume that your daughter’s exceptional grades and leadership in the classroom will guarantee admission to a school like Boston College. Yet, the selective admissions process at such a college weighs heavy on other attributes, and “many students are equally well-qualified academically. What distinguishes them is their level of engagement… their ability to contribute in the classroom and their ability to engage in the community and contribute outside of the classroom. These are the students who are going to be the most vibrant members of our community” (Monique Rinere, Associate Dean, Boston College Admissions). There is an expectation at many top-tier schools that prospective students will engage in their community or school. Extracurricular activities are also an important factor in creating a habit of engagement that will be carried over to college. An interesting study by Regan, Oster, and Noone surveyed undergraduate students and found that “students participating in extracurricular activities had significantly higher mean scores than non-participants in effective and social integration. The habit of involvement created by extracurricular engagement in many cases becomes a student’s mode of operation in the college environment.” High school extracurricular engagement becomes a foundation that creates self-starting and engaged college students, forming a habit that is predicted to continue and lead to better GPAs and satisfaction with one’s collegiate experience.