most students think they need 10 to 15 extracurriculars to get into the ivy league but they're dead wrong so today I'm going to break down how to structure your extracurricular list and if you're starting from scratch how to actually build IV League level extracurriculars that make your application impossible to ignore and if you stick around I'll expose the number one mistake that keeps even the smartest students from getting into their dream schools if you're a typical high school student you've probably heard advice like do volunteering it shows you care about your community join clubs it shows involvement in school play a sport it makes you well-rounded not wrong advice but it's way too General it's like asking a millionaire how to get rich and they just say stick with one thing and work hard yeah no kidding but the problem is this advice applies to everybody and if it applies to everyone it makes no one stand out and this is especially the case for college ad missions because the name of the game in college ad missions is to be unique by definition if you don't stand out from the rest you are not unique think about it how many students at your school are volunteering in a club and playing a sport probably a crap ton of them and if your application looks exactly like a h 100,000 others why would a top school pick you they won't because I don't think you choose your own application either that's why many Ivy League schools heavily weigh essays because at least there's some variety but relying on your essays as a sole reason you get in that's a pretty risky bet instead you need extracurriculars that make you Irreplaceable so let's break down exactly how to do that if you're already a senior and about to submit your applications there's not much time left to build new activities but you can still make a huge difference by structuring your list correctly admissions officers don't read every single activity in depth they're skimming really really fast the average time an application gets for the entire application is 7 minutes if your top listed activities don't grab attention your application is already at a disadvantage so imagine you can only list three activities which ones would you keep these are your most high impact extracurriculars rank them from most impressive to least impressive if your strongest extracurriculars are buried at the bottom of your list fix that immediately prioritize activities with clear leadership uniqueness or measurable impact now if you still have time before submitting your apps let's get into how to actually build ivy league worthy extracurriculars the biggest mistake students make is building their extracurriculars horizontally instead of vertically let me explain most students do a little bit of everything volunteer here join a club there play a sport and hope it's enough when they realize they need to stand out they just add more generic activities doing just more of the same stuff instead of specializing and going deeper they just keep stacking more and more basic activities it's the equivalent of a construction worker refusing to learn more knowledge and just sticking to building a hundred small wooden sheds instead of taking the time to build the skills to create one big skyscraper who's more impressive to you the person who built a 100 wooden sheds or the person who leveled up their skills and built something extraordinary like an entire 50F floor building this is why top colleges reject well-rounded students all the time they don't need more typical shed Builders they want students who can innovate and build so how do you differentiate yourself here's a formula find a unique angle if you're doing community service don't just volunteer create your own initiative and recruit volunteers if you're in a coding Club don't just participate build an app that solves a real problem if you love writing don't just submit to your school newspaper start a blog pitch articles to real Publications or create your own podcast then prove impact with your metrics saying you created an App means nothing if it has zero downloads running a club is cool but how many members actively participate and if you raised money how much if you started a nonprofit how many people did it actually help numbers matter because they make your impact undeniable and also make it fun or you just won't last if you're just building something for the sake of college apps you really won't go far with it especially if you just aren't having fun with it because if you pick something you genuinely enjoy you'll naturally go deeper and that's what colleges noticed because inevitably the E's themselves would actually be more impressive as you dive deeper and deeper into it the truth is is that most students won't follow this advice even the people watching video right now they'll just keep doing whatever everyone else is doing and wonder why they didn't get into their dream school if you want to stand out you have to be intentional we're talking about the top schools not only the us but the world here have you ever seen someone accidentally make their way into Harvard or Stanford or MIT it it doesn't happen so cut the generic activities where you're just a member in the club go deep instead of wide and show real impact if you want the guidance of admissions counselors with over 20 years of experience you can apply to work with our team with a first link in the description if this helped drop the word impact in the comments so I know you made it to the end and consider subscribing for more non BS College admissions advice now go on and make your extracurriculars actually Stand Out peace