Extra-Curriculars

“I have <insert a decent number> grades throughout my academics. I was part of only <2-3> clubs/societies/cells. I have very little to show in my extra-curriculars. Will this affect my candidature?”

Short answer – “Mostly” No.

For me 3 things matter regarding extracurriculars –

1. The Responsibility given to you

2. The Result you brought

3. Your Contribution

If you are able to justify the above 3, it doesn’t matter whether you were part of seven different clubs or just one. What I think AdCom judges is your ability to bring results to the table. After all, they are looking for applicants with a potential of leading and one thing that leaders are expected to bring is positive results.

The first point – Responsibility – helps in drawing a context. How many students were under your leadership? 5 or 200? How much budget was allotted to you? 10k or 1L? This point helps in painting the starting point. The resources available to you at the start of your journey.

The Second Point – Result – shows what was achieved at the end of your tenure. At this point, it helps a lot in quantifying your result. 30% increase in participation. 12% decrease in costs. 50% faster than the earlier practices. I did something very subtle in my previous three examples. I hope you’ve noticed. If you haven’t I urge you to give a try.

What I did in my examples was I tried to compare the results with a benchmark. Increase, decrease, faster, etc. are comparison words. They help the reviewer know the difference you brought about from the previous results. Saying your festival had 11k participants means nothing. Saying your college fest had witnessed a 10 percent increase in participation means something. Saying your college fest had witnessed a 10 percent increase in participation over previous 10k paints the complete picture. You would want to paint a complete picture, especially in the Results point.

Finally, The Third Point – Your Contribution – shows what changes you brought about that helped in bringing about the change in result. Reached out to a different section of the country? Executed many out-of-campus activities? Roadshows? To bring about a change in result requires a change in some part of the process. This acts more like an explanatory point to the Second Point.

I believe these three points make it easy for reviewer to make a decision. Whether the reviewer is an AdCom member or a personnel from a company who’s come to campus for placements.