Are extra-cocurricular activities important to apply to UK and/or USA universities?

[FaustLim]

Recently I read this article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/7965715/Universities-uninterested-in-pupils-extra-curricular-activities.html
Basically, the suggestion that non-academic pursuits could make any difference to pupils' applications is a myth, according to Mike Nicholson, director of undergraduate admissions at Oxford.
I plan to take A-levels as private student meaning I take only the exams and have no extra-cocurricular activities. I was initially worried that the fact that i have no extra-cocurricular activities would affect my chances of entering a UK university, however, now I am not so sure.
Please share your thoughts about this, and are USA universities the same?

[acgerlok7]

Recently I read this article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/7965715/Universities-uninterested-in-pupils-extra-curricular-activities.html
Basically, the suggestion that non-academic pursuits could make any difference to pupils' applications is a myth, according to Mike Nicholson, director of undergraduate admissions at Oxford.
I plan to take A-levels as private student meaning I take only the exams and have no extra-cocurricular activities. I was initially worried that the fact that i have no extra-cocurricular activities would affect my chances of entering a UK university, however, now I am not so sure.
Please share your thoughts about this, and are USA universities the same?

NO...usa universities is the direct opposite....there are plenty of genius applying to usa unis lyk MIT, Harvard but most of them fail to get, as usa unis are very particular about a candidate's personality and aptitude towards learning..for instance, if you're interested in engineering and you took part in many engineering related events/competitions , it will boost your chance greatly especially if your competition is international based (eg World robotics competition) and of cos it doesnt mean "oh well, my maths and physics and chemistry are excellent, hence sure no problem getting in".. there are many aspects that they look into and smtimes it really depends on your luck. As there are plenty well 200 % qualified candidate who failed to even get an offer too.

[joan2468]

In the case of US universities, they actually seem to put a lot of emphasis on your personality and co-curricular activities. I went to one of the US Apps workshops this year and one of the guest speakers was an interviewer for Malaysian candidates applying for Yale University - he said the interview is very important because it lets them know how you are as a person and if you'll be a good student at university.

[FaustLim]

does any uk uni other than oxford take extra-curricular activities lightly?
in the article, David Willetts, the universities minister, advised pupils that volunteering could improve their chances of being accepted onto courses.
if you can, pls share your experience applying to a uk uni

[frostbyte13]

does any uk uni other than oxford take extra-curricular activities lightly?
in the article, David Willetts, the universities minister, advised pupils that volunteering could improve their chances of being accepted onto courses.
if you can, pls share your experience applying to a uk uni

UK universities by default, do not put too much weight on your EC achievements. Please bare in mind too that some people have only decided what they wanted to do for their further studies upon entering their pre-university programs. In light of that, UK universities recognize that there is not plenty of time for you to actually build up an astounding great EC profile, let alone participate in EC's that are related to your future field of study. You also have to remember who is the article being addressed too. To shed some light, do you know the benchmark of allowing students from the UK and international students such as ourselves pursue a degree is not exactly the same ? For students within the EU, there seems to be more stringent in certain aspects when it comes to application, such as emphasis towards EC and particularly like you have mentioned, volunteering. UK universities recognize that international students might not have the luxury of time and money to participate in such outstanding events compared to the EU counterparts. Not only that, there is also the question of whether your country of origin even has such activities or achievements that can be on par with those achieved by the EU students. Please note that international students also encompass the third world countries too, so of course there should be some fair leniency for the EC part of the application. With that said, I am certainly not saying it is OK to apply to any UK universities without any EC achievement at all. Don't tell me you spent your entire secondary school years doing nothing but study, play and talk and nothing else that is productive ? And who is to say that sort of cycle is bound to repeat in your 2 year stint in A-level, unless you have plan to study 24/7 and exclude yourself from every single chance at doing anything outside the classroom that is beneficial to your CV ? No I think not.

What IS important in assuring a shot in universities in UK is the personal statement and your academics. If your personal statement poorly reflects on the actual you and the passion you have for studying in a certain field, it's very likely you won't be seeing offers in your mailbox soon enough. Consistent results are not something to be taken lightly in A-level, as far as my college is concerned (but it should apply to other colleges) Why ? Because your academic performance (and sometimes your EC involvement at varsity level) will be reflected in the submitted testimonial written by the head of your department and lecturers. Not only that, the academic perspective of the application is also based on your predicted results for your entire A-level program. This evaluation will be done by lecturers at default. The default evaluation will basically cover your attendance, your attentiveness in class, your interest towards the lecture, homework and assignments submitted on time and completed, and your class tests and/or internal examination performance.

Take everything I've said about UK universities with a pinch of salt by the way. Keep in mind that no one publicly knows about the evaluation of applications policy of each and every university in UK. For one thing is that they all don't adopt the same policy of admittance i.e. one person who applies may be accepted into one university but rejected by the other. The other is that their policy of admittance is classified information. I've once asked the University of Bristol for more information on their policy, because I was dumbfounded by their huge range for academic grade requirement. That was the reply I got, the one above.

If you want to know about US, I'm sure the answers above have helped you enough. If you still insist on knowing more, contact anyone you know who is US-bound (that is to say, already received their unconditional offer to study) or is already studying there.

[bush]

As a rule, ECAs are add-ons, nice-to-have in the application for British universities. This is true at least for us Malaysians.

Academics first, then followed by everything else. A strong ECA profile does not compensate for weak academics in the UK. You will find more success in the US.

[glgan1]

For most UK universities, just submit a nice written personal statement and that will do it. If you are talking about oxbridge, you will need to have excellent activities records on that particular course you wanna study e.g. Mathematics/physics/chemistry... - lots of competitions certs. If you are saying job interns/trainings and extra courses, these may not help you too much(maybe for undergraduate). I applied for Mathematics at Cambridge, 4A* result, excellent job experiences, but lack of competitions achievements. Got rejected LOL. :(

[frostbyte13]

For most UK universities, just submit a nice written personal statement and that will do it. If you are talking about oxbridge, you will need to have excellent activities records on that particular course you wanna study e.g. Mathematics/physics/chemistry... - lots of competitions certs. If you are saying job interns/trainings and extra courses, these may not help you too much(maybe for undergraduate). I applied for Mathematics at Cambridge, 4A* result, excellent job experiences, but lack of competitions achievements. Got rejected LOL. :(

Did you possibly fail by any chance due to the entrance exams ? Haha, my friend said the entrance exam for Mathematics was killer. Even with his F6 knowledge, he couldn't do a lot of the questions. Oxford this year for Engineering, introduced the Physics Aptitude test. My two friends sat for it, they started puling their hair when we asked how was it :laugh

[Sillyboy]

For most UK universities, just submit a nice written personal statement and that will do it. If you are talking about oxbridge, you will need to have excellent activities records on that particular course you wanna study e.g. Mathematics/physics/chemistry... - lots of competitions certs. If you are saying job interns/trainings and extra courses, these may not help you too much(maybe for undergraduate). I applied for Mathematics at Cambridge, 4A* result, excellent job experiences, but lack of competitions achievements. Got rejected LOL. :(

I don't think ECA and job experiences matter for Cambridge to be honest. Nevertheless, if you are still keen on getting to Cambridge, work very hard now, get a first class hons degree and apply for part III of the Math tripos. Also, just out of interest, what kind of maths are you into?

[frostbyte13]

I don't think ECA and job experiences matter for Cambridge to be honest. Nevertheless, if you are still keen on getting to Cambridge, work very hard now, get a first class hons degree and apply for part III of the Math tripos. Also, just out of interest, what kind of maths are you into?

When applying for the top universities of the world, it should pay to be extra cautious about having a competitive CV :amuse Just saying..

[Jagermeister]

A strong EC can make up for your academic past or the lack of it, at least that's my experience applying for Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon, INSEAD and Uni London Royal Halloway.

The interviewer would like to see or know you as a person, how would the program build your character and how would your character add value to the student body as a whole. It is very important because a good school wants to build leaders, not just followers etc. This is important, especially for top Uni's.

During the phone interview for the school's above, I'd mention what I did back in high school, undergrad etc and how playing rugby, military reservist and martial arts build my character, provided leadership training etc, stuff that can't be attained in classroom and relate that back to my career progression.

It also helps to mention during the interview that apart from studying there, you are also interested to play or get involved in the uni's EC.

I'm a rugger and still playing actively at club level and used to play for KL-state, hence I know that CMU, Georgetown & Royal Halloway have a great rugby team. I made it clear to the interviewer that apart from wanting to study at their school, I'm also interested to play for the school team.

[Sillyboy]

When applying for the top universities of the world, it should pay to be extra cautious about having a competitive CV :amuse Just saying..

True, having a more illustrious CV than others does make one feel more secure but as far as I know, UK universities value academic achievement above everything else so it wouldn't matter if your CV 'under-developed'.