5 Innovative ways to build your extracurricular profile for universities abroad during lockdown

Impressive extracurriculars are fundamental when building out competitive applications to universities abroad. Whether you’re targeting the US, UK or Europe, a strong extracurricular profile will show you in the best possible light and could be the difference between an offer or not.

But building-out your extracurriculars while at home during lockdown can seem impossible. Where do you even begin when you can’t leave home and normal activities and events have been cancelled? 

Here are 5 ways to beat those stay-at-home blues and remain on track for a stellar extracurricular profile.

1. Build a website - let your passion shine through

You don’t have to be a computer science guru to head online and take your passions to the world. Building a website highlighting your area of interest, while growing your community reach and impact, is a smart way to be innovative and unique.

Check out ukuzibuza.com as an example. Developed by Grade 11 students under the guidance of their Crimson extracurricular mentor, as a space for students to express themselves and be engaged in social and political issues outside of the classroom.

2. While online, consider a few online courses

Building your content knowledge and skills for a particular pathway is always good when looking to highlight your career interest. Admissions officers, particularly from the UK, Europe, and top US schools, value a candidate who has gone above and beyond the classroom when it comes to engaging in what interests them. 

Consider coursera.org as a good place to start. Choose courses of interest and relevance - but don’t be shy to explore courses a little beyond your comfort zone.

Go even further by taking some challenging online classes like US AP (Advanced Placement) classes. Taking these courses shows top universities that you are willing to challenge yourself by taking difficult classes, and shows your strong academic performance. Check out Crimson Global Academy for more information on taking AP classes. 

3. Reading is the best foundation there is - a research report may be what you need

Pick up an interesting book in the area that you’re interested in, human rights, creative engineering, space. Academic journals in medicine, engineering and even the social sciences can help contribute to a profile-defining extracurricular.

All of this deepens your understanding of your chosen degree pathway, and may kick off a unique research paper.

4. Participate in Olympiads  - they’re golden in any extracurricular profile

Writing an Olympiad is an underestimated extracurricular that can add value to your extracurricular profile and show admissions officers your aptitude in a particular area. Performing at Maths, English, or Physics Olympiads show admission officers how you perform against your peers nationally, or internationally. A top university like MIT doesn’t have as much emphasis on broad extracurriculars when it comes to international students and tends to look for raw academic intelligence measured through winning olympiad medals or international science or robotic competitions.

If you’re on track to a STEM-aligned career, maths and science olympiads are golden. Place in these tests and your extracurricular profile will shine!

5. An online work experience - job shadowing without leaving home

The concept of online shadowing is a little strange to many of us, but it doesn’t need to be. Consider contacting companies who may be open to online job shadowing. With many people working from home, jumping online and joining meetings, performing tasks and soaking it all in can help build your job-shadowing hours.

Sure, some industries are better for this than others, but think outside the box: Contact professionals, professors and HR personnel to see how they can help you - and how you can help them...

There you have it: 5 innovative ways to build your extracurriculars without leaving your house. For more innovative extracurricular ideas check out other opportunities across South Africa right here to help build a more impressive application.

For more information on Crimson Education and our services, reach out to us directly on 010 500 1036 or contact our team at southafrica@crimsoneducation.org.

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