Alongside academic performance, admissions officers of universities in the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia look at various aspects of a student’s profile during the selection process. “We are trying to train global citizens, and we are looking for students who want to engage in all aspects of student life. Therefore, extracurricular activities or projects that illustrate character, leadership skills, initiative and demonstrated concern for others are important,” says Kregg Strehorn, who is assistant provost, UG International Admission, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Building a strong profile takes time and effort. The right time to start the profile-building process would be Class VIII or IX. At this stage, they could take the help of teachers and family members or seek professional guidance to plan their profile building activities.

Psychometric tests can also be used to guide the choice of extracurricular activities. While these assess a student’s personality, interests and aptitude for career fit, they are also clear indicators of extracurriculars that a student could pursue.

Students choose activities that are related to their field of study or future career. So a student interested in law may be part of Model United Nations, debating clubs, public speaking, while those interested in science could learn programming skills, create apps and attend science fairs. But it’s also good to experiment a bit, have some diversity in activities. For example, a student who is interested in aeromodelling or science-related projects could also explore photography, art or music.

Sports

Playing a sport and excelling in it can get you admission into colleges as well as funding. Lalitha Devarakonda, a student from Hyderabad, loved tennis and had started playing at an early age. She trained hard and began participating in tournaments in India and abroad. She took commerce in Class XII and was keen to study in the US. “I applied to business management courses in the US and got accepted at California State University, Wyoming University and Mississippi University. I ultimately accepted California State, where I got a 100 per cent sports scholarship.” Monash University and Macquarie University in Australia have generous scholarship programmes for high-performing students who excel in sports, performing arts or other co-curricular activities.

The application form of Australian National University (ANU) allows you to fill up to five co-curricular activities, while the Common App, used for US applications, allows you to fill 10 activities. This doesn’t mean that one must take up that many different things. It is enough to enrol for two to three activities and do them well.

Extracurricular activities and community service

Dhruv Goyal got into Harvard University and majored in economics. He had two primary extracurricular activities. First, he was part of the student council at Dhirubhai Ambani International School. And the second was a social initiative wherein he raised funds to subsidise the cost of solar lamps for villagers. “We raised a huge amount of money and helped folks across several villages in my home state of Maharashtra,” says Dhruv. He feels it’s important to pick activities that you are passionate about. And adds, “There is no formula for the ‘perfect’ activity that colleges like to see, but some combination of passion and social engagement is the right way to go!”

Karthik, a student from Bangalore, started learning coding in Class VIII. He was in Class XI when the pandemic hit. He started conducting workshops for people in his neighbourhood who were having trouble moving to the online mode. Karthik taught them how to browse the Web, search, send mails and shop online.

Devansh Vikram, a Class XII student of D.P.S. RK Puram, started a non-profit venture with some of his friends. They used their tech skills to create a website, booksdeck.org, collected used academic books, course material and distributed them among those who needed them most.

Research and writing

Another area that adds much value to a student’s profile is research and writing. The International Baccalaureate or IB schools already have research as part of their course work. For students from other boards, there are several other options. They can find a mentor by reaching out to college professors working in areas of interest to them; else, they can find a structured research programme and enrol for it. Horizon, Polygence, Lumiere Research, Pioneer Academics and Corporate Gurukul are some of the online platforms and resources available to students wanting to do research. There is also the Journal of Emerging Investigators, an open access journal where students can publish research work in biological and physical sciences.

Krishang Todi, a high-school student from Calcutta, worked on a research paper and was assigned a mentor from the department of economics at Harvard University. His research paper on fossil fuels was published through Polygence.

So it might make supreme sense to get your nose out of the books and get familiar with the world and life around you. The profile update would be a bonus.