Extracurriculars in SOP

[backtotheUS]

Hi, I was really wondering if it would be beneficial to mention (smartly) some extracurriculars in the statement of purpose. For example, I rowed nationally at my top20 US school last year, co-founded a national economic summit in the UK (country of my alma mater) and taught Maths and English to primary school kids from difficult backgrounds.

Should I try to interweave some of the traits I've acquired through those activities into my statement of purpose by mentioning those things explicitly?

[chimerical]

I think the economic summit is the only thing that might be relevant. The statement of purpose is all about proving that you are dedicated to the field and can be a successful researcher. The rowing and math/english tutoring would be better suited to the "personal statement" required by some schools.

[piffle_dragon]

Berkeley might like some of the other stuff as the rumor is that they take a slightly more holistic point of view.

[walt526]

Obviously don't dedicate the entire essay around it nor should you position it prominently in your essay (i.e., first or last paragraphs), but mentioning it briefly and explaining how the experiences have prepared you for success in graduate school would be fine.

[backtotheUS]

On the other hand: should one mention explicitly those (relevant) traits like persistence, self-motivation and competitiveness? Or is this something that shines through from other parts of my application?
I.e. how can I differentiate myself from other applicants, apart from grades, research experience, LORs (should they mention any extracurriculars of mine?)?

[Gecko]

persistence - surviving through graduate math courses.

self-motivation - doing the entire sequence of grad courses.

competitiveness - if the former 2 hold, then this one is granted.

[JohnMcClane]

I was wondering about this too. Last summer, I was in Nepal and I climbed Mt.Everest 8,848 metres (29,029 ft). There is even an article about it in my college newsmagazine. Do you think it would be a wise idea for me to send a copy of that article to the adcoms?

[walt526]

Originally Posted by JohnMcClane

I was wondering about this too. Last summer, I was in Nepal and I climbed Mt.Everest 8,848 metres (29,029 ft). There is even an article about it in my college newsmagazine. Do you think it would be a wise idea for me to send a copy of that article to the adcoms?

That might be a bit much.

[tm_guru]

Originally Posted by walt526

That might be a bit much.

Agreed. I know that would be too much for me if I was judging applications.

It's nice to mention and might help at the margin, but if your grades are good, you've got strong LORs and an otherwise strong application, don't over do it on the personality traits. That's not really what they are looking for, or so every guide I've read has said.

[walt526]

The problem, as I see it, is that mentioning it in the body of the statement of purpose is relatively unobtrusive. Sending a copy of an entire article seems like a desperate cry for attention. YMMV.