All about Co-curricular and Extracurricular Activities

Co-curricular activities are normally an extension of the formal learning experiences in a course or academic program. Any activity that happens outside the classroom but complements or supplements the academics is normally known as a co-curricular activity. These activities do not give marks or grades in the examination, but they definitely help the student learn. Some common examples are debate, quiz, school newsletter, writing competitions, science events etc.

Extracurricular activities may be offered or coordinated by a school, but may not be explicitly connected to academic learning. They normally happen outside the educational format and do not supplement education.  Some common examples are NGO activities, NCC, music and dance, sports, internships, photography etc.

Many believe that a student with a strong extracurricular and co-curricular background has an edge over others in the interview. This is very much true, as every activity that the student participates in helps him/her to gather a lot of experiences. The student will probably have a lot of maturity and a good sense of responsibility when it comes to balancing the academic commitments with these. If the student held any leadership position, then he/she has a very good chance of impressing the interviewer. An interviewer always loves to see a student as an active contributing member of the society. More importantly, he/she would want students who are developing their talents through various extracurricular and co-curricular activities along with academics.

All interviewers agree that when they’re evaluating student activities, they care less about what the actual activity is and more about what it says about you. Specifically, they’re looking for three things: passion, leadership and impact. And one way of understanding these three things is through extracurricular and co-curricular activities that the student has participated in.

Written by:

Samrat Roy

Team Endeavor