Extracurricular Activities to Help You Get Into Economics

Applying to economics is often very competitive, with a multitude of qualified candidates applying to competitive programs from all over the world. If you are an aspiring student who wishes to pursue economics at college, you may be wondering how to enhance your application to ensure you stand out against the crowd. This guide is here to give you some examples of extracurricular activities you can do to improve your chances of getting into economics. 

Extracurricular Activities to Help You Get Into Economics

• Economics/business clubs: Participating in these clubs will show admissions officers that you are passionate about economics and business, which is important if you want to pursue economics for your higher education. If you hold leadership roles within these clubs, it can also show your ability to make decisions and manage the people around you which are important in the field of economics.

   

• Debate team: Being part of a debate team can help you develop valuable skills such as presenting in front of a crowd, persuasion, critical thinking, and convincing others about your point of view. These are important skills to have when pursuing economics or working in corporate settings where you may often be required to hold presentations or be part of meetings. This also shows admissions officers that you are able to support your arguments with logical facts and sound reasoning. 

   

• Corporate internships: This shows admissions officers that you have the real-world experience necessary to succeed in economics. Corporate settings are often fast-paced and evolving workplaces where tasks may change on a daily basis. Having a corporate internship on your resume shows that you have the skills to work in fast-paced environments and can tackle stressful situations and meet set deadlines comfortably. 

   

• Math/IT-related activities: Many economics-related jobs require a sound knowledge of math and statistics as they make use of modelling software such as LaTeX, R, Strata, and SAS. Showing admissions officers that you have experience in math/statistics can be useful as it shows you have the technical knowledge required to succeed in economics, especially if you will be working with modelling software a lot. 

   

• Model UN: Similar to debate club, Model UN shows admissions officers that you have strong public speaking skills and can defend your point of view based on logical facts and reasoning. In addition to that, since Model UN asks candidates to research and discuss real-world issues, you will also be able to show your interest in global economies and assess how countries are interdependent. This is especially important if you want to go into economics with a focus on political science. 

   

• Research projects: You could try to gain some research with faculty members in subjects such as sociology, economics, business, or political science. This does not necessarily have to be the creation of new research papers - it could also be conducting literature reviews, etc. This shows admissions officers that you have the necessary research background to succeed in economics.

   

• Student government/student council: This shows your leadership skills and ability to advocate for social change. This could be important for both corporate roles as well as policy-making or government roles as you may need to be a leader or speak up to ensure your ideas are heard. Student government is a great way to showcase these skills right from high school.

   

• Other hobbies: You should highlight your hobbies on your application as well. Even though these may not directly be related to economics, you can use them to highlight your strengths. For example, if you were a club president you could use that role to showcase your leadership skills, or if you were on a sports team you could use that role to showcase your collaboration and teamwork skills. 

How to write about it in my application?

In summary, you should make sure to emphasize the activities that highlight your public analytical and research skills, any corporate work experience you may have, and technical knowledge of math and statistics. Write down all your extracurriculars as a bulleted list and then start to develop each bullet point into paragraphs. Some questions to jog your thought process are given below:

1. Why did you participate in this activity?

    

2. What are the main skills you learned? 

    

3. How will these skills help you excel in economics or in a corporate setting?

    

4. How can you build on these skills to ensure the success of future companies you will be working for?

We hope this guide has given you some useful ideas on what extracurricular activities can help you get into economics. Good luck with your applications!