HopefulOldie wrote:
Other than being a volunteer, what else can be counted as extracurricular.
Does running a part time business in the same field count as one ? Does running a fitness website or being a Certified Personal Trainer count as one ?
There are extracurricular activities and then there are extracurricular activities that demonstrate leadership. You want to focus your message on the activities that demonstrate your leadership style but outside of your normal, 9-to-5, office capacity.
Given the basic info you provided, running an outside business would count as one, given that it is a business with some merit (i.e. demonstrates leadership, has duration, perhaps some revenue or FTE.)
Running a fitness website would be a secondary activity, unless the website has several thousand users, etc. Being a certified personal trainer could roll up into this example but if it not leadership oriented, I would leave it as a brief line item on the application or perhaps resume.
My personal opinion is that outside the office leadership activities that combine personal passions and professional acumen are the best. So if you volunteer for Habit for Humanity, not simply on one-off house repairs, but rather as an IT project manager for a data center (and you are an IT project manager) at work, these make the best examples.
Remember, the point of the essays (in part) is to tell the adcom how it is you lead and why you lead the way you do. To show them that you are not invented or a johnny come lately, you need to show a long line of leadership in and out of the regular workplace or your academic studies. Otherwise, you run the risk of looking invented for the purposes of applying to business school.
In short, extracurriculars are a good way to demonstrate another dimension, but a relevant dimension.
Respectfully,
Paul Lanzillotti