How should I get involved in extracurricular activities when my city has limited opportunities?
– student in the United Arab Emirates
Recently, a reader asked a similar question about how to get involved in Math or Science Olympiad their school doesn’t offer it. Here’s what I wrote. That reader, however, lived in New York, a city with an abundance of options. Your situation may be different.
If want to get involved in extracurricular activities, but don’t have many opportunities in your city, I suggest taking one of three approaches:
1. Pick your favorite activity from the limited opportunities available in your city. Urban dwellers sometimes have too much choice in what to do. This causes them to second guess their choice, jump from activity to activity based on what others are doing, or spend too long deciding on what to even commit to. If you believe you have only 3 opportunities available in your city, eliminate the analysis paralysis, choose one out of the three, try it out for a year, and see what you think. You may end up liking whatever you choose and getting involved much quicker because you weren’t paralyzed by the overwhelming number of available options. If you don’t like it, try it for another year or join another one of the three activities available in your city.
2. Start a new “activity” in your city. Let’s say you don’t like any of the available options in your city. The truth is that the number of opportunities in your city is unlimited if you are willing to create it. The good news is you still live in a city that has a population, not a small village of 3 people. You can find peers, customers, mentors, supporters, and partners for whatever you want to do. This requires you spend some time seriously considering what moves you and how to start an initiative from scratch. To truly succeed at this, you’ll need to be observant of what your community needs and also really love the cause you select. For example, you can start a business to help meet a demand in your community, form a club of volunteers to help others in your city, or mentor younger students at your school. Whatever it is, do it because you enjoy it.
3. Don’t join extracurricular activities. Just do what excites you. You don’t need an established organization to show that you’re interested in the world outside of academics. You don’t need a city to “offer” it to you. If you’re a painter or want to be one, you can use the existing resources at home to paint your own canvases, walls, mugs, etc. If you want to be a writer, get together with friends who enjoy reading and have weekly book discussions. Extracurriculars should really just be hobbies you enjoy, not something you stress over and blame your city for not offering. In the multitude of interviews we’ve done with admissions officers, we’ve learned that the most impressive students are the ones who just march to the beat of their own drums, doing what they want to do, innovating and creating, without regard to previously established standards or what other people expect. You don’t have to join an existing extracurricular activity that others have done. From your bedroom, your living room, your classroom, or even your computer, you can pursue whatever inspires and moves you.