10 top ways to discover extra-curriculars

An extra-curricular is an activity that goes beyond the realm of your classes at school. Extra-curriculars allow you to broaden your horizons, build connections and gain industry experience that’s invaluable for your CV or personal statement. Through these activities, you’ll also develop transferable skills such as problem-solving, confidence and effective communication.

So what counts as an extra-curricular, and what doesn’t? If you find that you’re having to try to justify something as being an extra-curricular then it probably isn’t! However, you can turn almost any interest into an extracurricular by documenting your progress and interacting with people in that community. The best extra-curriculars will demonstrate a talent or contribute to others, so today we’re going to discuss the ways you can discover these opportunities. But first, a top tip: the earlier you start looking, the better your options will be!

1. Explore your interests

What subjects are you most excited to learn, or enjoyed doing the most? Brainstorm what makes you excited to learn inside & outside of the classroom and think about the topics that you’d like to discover more about. Remember that universities and employers don’t mind what kind of activity you’re doing, but instead want to see you doing something that you’re truly passionate about!

2. Harness your contacts

You teachers are likely to know you, your interests and the entry points of their industry well! My Computer Science teacher helped me set up a day in industry and my Maths teacher offered me a teaching assistant position during my free periods. Ask questions such as “what have previous students done?” and “do you have any industry connections?” and don’t forget to speak to other teachers in your department, your career advisors and your classmates too.

3. Explore your school’s community

There’s often a wide variety of opportunities to be found in your own school, from lunchtime debate clubs to the student council to inter-schools competitions. Don’t find something you like? Have the initiative to kick-start it yourself and gain a great example of leadership and hopefully some fun in the progress!

4. Get on LinkedIn!

I cannot stress how useful this tool is enough! If you’re aged 16 or over, create yourself an account and document your work and its progress. You can even politely reach out to students doing the degree you’re aspiring to do and ask for their advice. Do remember that it’s a public platform so you shouldn’t name your desired university choice and remember to be mindful of displaying location data.

5. Follow all those newsletters

In addition to your student paper, sign-up for the newsletters of companies, university departments and societies which interest you, as these often contain first-look insights into some great knowledge and opportunities!

5. Take a MOOC

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are free courses that provide a flexible way to learn new skills. You’ll be able to find courses on almost anything and the MOOC List website (www.mooc-list.com) is an amazing way to get started. A lot of these courses are created by top universities or leading companies so they’ll be widely credited on an application! Personally, I recommend the “Solving Problems with Technology” trilogy by the University of Leeds on FutureLearn, which recently helped me in a successful internship interview.

6. Attend talks

Just like MOOCs, there’s a vast and plentiful array of student-tailored talks to attend. You can discover these by looking at events on LinkedIn, Meetup and Bright Network but also pay attention to city-wide learning festivals such as the York Festival of Ideas and Edinburgh Fringe. Due to the pandemic, a lot of these location-specific events are now virtual so there’s even more opportunity to get involved!

7. Secure work experience

There’s more to finding work experience than just exploring job sites on the Internet! If you’re able to, go and explore urban areas and offer businesses your CV and expertise in-person. Not only does this add a personal touch that an email can’t, but it also demonstrates your confidence and will likely spark-up interesting conversations. If you’ve got an individual’s contact from a talk, MOOC or LinkedIn, definitely use this to your advantage by asking them about their work before applying. If you make a great impression they may even offer to be your reference!

8. Get yourself on summer schools

Summer schools are the perfect opportunity to make new friends (networking!), voice your opinions and develop a whole bank of interpersonal skills. A lot of universities offer these for free, which comes with the perk of being able to discover whether the location, culture and course are right for you.

9. Compete in competitions

Competitions are a brilliant way to challenge your skill set and put your knowledge to the test! You may have done the UKMT, an Olympiad or Bebras at school but there’s a mass of amazing competitions available, from engineering with Lego to creating posters exploring hidden maths. There's a lot of blogs online covering competitions that could be for you, so make sure you use your search engine to your advantage!

10. Volunteer your time

Volunteering is one of the best extracurriculars to give back to your community and is an exciting way to expose yourself to new perspectives! I’d recommend looking on your local council’s website and exploring NCS as an option. If you’re not already signed up to voluntarily tutor with EasyA, which has zero required time commitment and comes with a bunch of perks, get on that too! Just fill out this super quick form to get started!

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