Hey all, new here. I really hope I am in the right thread.
I’m an 11th grader and just started the DP. Not worried about my grades too much, I’m basically set for around 40 points.
I really want to go to a top university. Maybe Ivy league is out of reach, though…
Anyway, as the title says… I’m at a loss. I live in the UAE and there is virtually nothing outside of school (even though the area I live in is pretty urban!). No contests, barely any volunteer opportunities, and I can’t even start a nonprofit for mental health awareness which I really wanted to do. Due to the fact that you have to be 18 mainly. My school even abolished student council this year which I was really looking forward to participating in. :’(
So far I’ve founded and am the director of the psychology society at my school and we meet once a week.
I’m a delegate in MUN and won Best Delegate in my first weekend debate.
I tutor students on their Personal Project once a week.
I’m going to volunteer at a local hospital (waiting to hear back about orientation dates…) and plan on doing that every weekend during the school year for the next 2 years. Had to wait until I was 16 to register! It took months for them to even respond initially. Bad system.
It’s possible that I could start fundraising to donate to a charity that has something to do with mental health awareness or services with the help of someone from the hospital? You need a license from the government to fundraise too and I can’t get one…
What else can I do? I’m trying to keep my ECPs relevant to my interests…
sorry you can’t quite do what you want to do as it sounds worthy; but there are so many options for extra curricular via the internet, so i’d encourage you to get on youtube and watch videos and develop talents. Learn to play the ukulele. Start a blog, learn coding, learn about video editing, learn how to make cool cut-out t-shirts from templates and start a store; learn how to draw or paint, learn wood-working. How about fingernail art? growing herbs and using them in baking, or learning household fix-up chores. Develop your talents that will help you in areas of future employment or for fun – the list goes on and on and on. There are so many things you can do; there’s no set route; extra curricular doesn’t always mean volunteering. For example: My kid is an actuarial science major. He has a woodworking hobby that he just sort of picked up and he’s made chests and tables and bar carts and boxes and all sorts of things. Interviewers and employers have been fascinated by this because its so unusual; they love asking him about it. Find something you like to do, and develop a talent for YOU, not for college resumes.
Hi! Thanks for the suggestion. I already have a variety of hobbies but never really considered them as worthy ECs… I bake and cook regularly, I do the chores regularly already. I’m skilled in graphic design and using photo editing software (logos, brochures, wallpapers, i’ve even translated manga…etc.), I used to edit and record videos for my school’s social media page, I learn another language (Japanese, both formal and informal education) in my spare time, and I’ve taken an interest in … miniature furniture making :)) .
I was really hoping to find more academic EC’s… haha.
It’s not about quantity. You’re already doing plenty!
Miniature furniture making sounds fascinating actually, hope you find a way to push it higher.
Can you organize baking/cooking lessons? Or have a Healthy Teen Gourmet Teen kind of YouTube channel with recipes?
Participate in translation teams for anime/manga?
Some hobbies aren’t what the colleges look for. (Especially when you’re not involved with others.)They like kids who engage with peers, lead, as well as follow, and stretch. Some of it is how you take on responsibilities and have some impact. You can see that’s not just pursuing your own interests.
So what can you do among- and for- peers? Keep tutoring, mentoring, does a teacher need help, are you part of a religious or cultural group where you can be involved in helping others? (Or cultural activities?) The furniture building will be an interesting sideline, but they like kids who show vision (seeing opportunities, whether related to academics or other) and activate to get involved.
You don’t need a non profit and fundraising is so often hands off, an event to raise $, not direct involvement.
The country is really conservative and there’s no history of students doing really cool EC’s that are common for western students going to Ivies and such. Opportunities are almost non-existent – if I want to get something done, I have to do it myself. Which I’m really trying to do, but with there being no prior example of students doing things like this it’s been a bit difficult.
The tutoring is me pretty much helping my favourite teacher. I’ve been trying to set up a way to tutor kids in my community, by posting on the social media group, but the admins are just realtors/brokers and check it once a month so they haven’t approved my post yet (even though other posts got approved before mine).
Maybe I’ll give up on that and just tutor more within school instead.
I’ve approached my counsellor to try and implement a mental health awareness initiative recently, as the situation regarding that in my country is pretty bad and it’s relevant to my interests. We’re still in talks but I really hope it happens and I’ll try to expand the initiative to schools run by the same company…! I’m really excited about it.
As for cultural activities, there’s nothing for me, as I’m not a UAE national. We don’t have any cultural groups/clubs at our school either. I’m applying for a position as a social media intern at this startup (I heard about it through relatives, so that’s that). It is something I can put my graphic design/writing skills to use in so it should fit with the rest of my activities…?
Do you guys think I should keep doing activities at school? There’s the school newspaper which I could help out in. The rest of the clubs are non academic based (movie club, poetry club…).
I really just want to do something that has a big impact outside of my school. So I’m going to try to do that with my initiative.
Any creative suggestions? Preferably something that I don’t need to go to the government to get approved. lol.
Sorry for the wall of text.
Hi! The youtube channel sounds kind of interesting. I’ve thought about doing something like that but if it doesn’t get traffic then it’d kind of be a waste of time - you can have good content but still be relatively undiscovered. In that case it wouldn’t do much good EC wise, even though I’d have fun with it.
Cooking classes are a bit hard, pretty sure you need some kind of certification from the government. If I’d be charging then I can’t count it for CAS either lol.
As for translation teams: I basically run a business and get commissions to translate manga often. But that’s kind of illegal so I won’t be mentioning it on anything.
