Are you having trouble writing content for the activities and interests section on Parcoursup? Here are a few tips.
The activities section is used to describe and highlight your activities and interests so that they are taken into account by the programs when examining your application.
It may not be mandatory to submit your applications on Parcoursup, but we strongly recommend that you complete it, as it may make the difference in your application.
It allows you to highlight your personality, your values and your qualities based on your professional and personal experience. But you can also emphasize your extracurricular skills such as internships, language stays, volunteer work, sports activities… This is also an opportunity for you to take stock of everything you know how to do and have even if it is not directly related to the training you are aiming for.
1. Take stock of your experiences
The first step in completing your activity section is to take stock of what you have done.
Of course, this includes work experience (such as internships, jobs), but even if you don’t have much (which is totally normal at the end of high school, don’t panic) you have plenty of skills to showcase.
Whether it’s through extracurricular activities (your cultural and/or sports practices), or voluntary commitments such as being a class representative, tutoring, or even your involvement in a social outreach program.
You can list all the actions that have influenced your choice of career path or that have given you food for thought.
From the smallest to the longest interaction, put everything that seems relevant to you: having participated in forums, open days, MOOCs, conferences, meetings with professionals, having passed the BAFA, having gone abroad.
⇒ For example, if you are applying to ISIT, why not motivate your choice by your passion for languages? If you have or dream of traveling, if an encounter with a person has upset you and made you realize that multiculturalism is essential.
The examiners will see that you have grasped the essence of ISIT.
2. Shaping these experiences
Once you have listed your experiences to highlight, you can move on to writing them.
For this, for each point, remember to detail the duration and the level on which your practice was extended.
It will also be essential to specify what it has brought you and therefore why you have chosen to highlight it in your section.
3. To be reread: it’s better twice than once!
Once you have finished writing and spent some time on it, it will be difficult for you to step back and see the spelling and syntactic errors. However, it is imperative to avoid any mistakes, which could reflect badly on you.
So don’t hesitate and ask for help.
Get yourself read over several times, why not by different people, who will not have the same vision and may be able to give you different advice.
For this, you can ask a relative, friends or your teachers who will surely be happy to help you, so that no typos slip into your column!
Congratulations, you have all the cards in hand for a concrete file. Now all you have to do is get started!
Don’t hesitate to make a personalized appointment with our ISIT managers who will guide you in your orientation reflection.
Find out more about the measures ISIT has put in place to help you with your Parcoursup application