The importance of extracurriculars for Anthropology major

Answered

Anthropology is much, much easier to get into Harvard with than most other majors (excluding liberal arts and studies). The key here is to prove your passion and love for anthropology through your extracurriculars, since your competition will most likely be, let's face it, trojan horse CS or Economics majors who are applying for an Anthropology major to increase their odds of acceptance. All they have is their "Why this major?" essay and maybe none or two application-padding ECs in Junior/senior year, you have to go deep and show the AOs that you love this major. Grades and scores prove qualification; you need to show them passion.

First, you'll want to go public and do things alone. These kinds of ECs show personal initiative and passion. Maybe that's:

- Start a YouTube channel (AOs love YT channels), and list the views and impressions in your common app.

- Start an anthropology podcast; invite people you look up to and talk to them

- Found an anthropology journal at your school, grow the club to 15+ members

- Organize a speaker series (This is a GOLD EC that isn't tapped into much)

Volunteering is also an excellent EC, almost a required one for these top schools. Here are a couple of ideas I'm thinking of:

- Volunteer to catalog at a museum

- Teach or tutor in Anthropology

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That's my two cents. Feel free to reach out for more advice