How to Have Impressive Extracurriculars When You’re Busy
Originally published on April 19, 2019. Updated on April 30, 2025.
Keeping yourself involved in extracurricular activities while also gunning for that next promotion or trying to learn Python for your day job is no easy feat. That said, extracurricular activities are an important part of your overall MBA application story — they reflect your engagement beyond the office and can be a valuable way to demonstrate leadership and initiative.
We find that people are often caught in the position of feeling like they don’t have time to dive headfirst into a long-term leadership commitment outside of work and their personal lives, but they also recognize that being a passive member of something isn’t all that impressive on an MBA application. Don’t worry — there is a workaround.
Though impressive and ideal if possible, you don’t have to chair a junior board or co-found a non-profit to demonstrate your ability to be a community leader. We’ve compiled a few ideas below that are both flexible and high-impact, with strong leadership opportunity potential.
To better understand how leadership is evaluated in MBA applications — and how to position your involvement effectively — read more on demonstrating leadership in your MBA applications.
If you still need more support identifying the right opportunities for you, we can help. Request a free consultation to talk through personalized ways to showcase leadership and community engagement in your MBA application.
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Catchafire
The company Catchafire pairs you with a nonprofit project need, and the work you do is both very valuable for the organization and extremely beneficial for your MBA applications.
Consider this: before writing this article, I quickly searched for projects available for finance professionals on Catchafire and found a request for a one-hour phone conversation with the Laguna Canyon Foundation to discuss how to allocate indirect costs properly. If you’re a consultant or a banker, odds are that you can help a lot — in just one hour. Then it goes on your resume, and you can even talk about the experience in interviews.
These projects often end up being more impactful than you expect, as you realize how much you can offer in a relatively short period of time. For many people early in their careers, it’s eye-opening to see how much you can contribute even with just a few years of experience.
When pursuing a project on Catchafire, you could treat it as a one-off project when you have free time, or as a gateway to more sustained remote involvement with an organization. Either way, it’s a strong leadership and community engagement story for your applications — and a fantastic way to give back to organizations doing meaningful work around the country.
Taproot
Another favorite way to build impactful MBA extracurricular activities — slightly more involved, but offering greater leadership opportunities if you have the time — is the Taproot Foundation. Like Catchafire, Taproot matches volunteers with specific professional experience to nonprofits in need of support.
They offer a range of remote projects, as well as local, team-based opportunities where you can even sign up to manage a group of other volunteers (for example, setting the schedule and leading the project timeline). At the time of writing, there’s a posting for a remote social media strategy plan to support a nonprofit focused on increasing access to affordable housing, as well as a SWOT analysis project for an organization preparing a large-scale advocacy event to raise awareness and funding for childhood cancer.
Some of our clients from large, well-known companies could create a social media strategy or lead a strategic assessment like this in their sleep. The nice thing about Taproot is that you can start with a remote project, and later take on a team-based opportunity if time allows. Taproot will also reach out with projects that match your skillset, making it easier to get involved.
Once you’ve identified the right extracurricular opportunities, make sure you know how to present them effectively. For tips on highlighting these experiences in your materials, check out our article on how to make your resume MBA-ready.
Why are These Better Than Just Attending Alumni Social Events?
To be clear — absolutely attend your undergrad’s alumni social events. But completing high-need, skills-based projects for nonprofits allows you to demonstrate real, tangible impact, which is far more compelling.
Unless you are organizing the events or playing a significant role in the planning or execution, it’s hard to spin attendance alone as leadership. You can’t just be on the mailing list and attend a few socials or galas and call it an activity — most admissions officers will see through that (and HBS might even press you on it in the interview).
If alumni events are all you can manage, do them. But if you can get involved in something even a little more substantial — even just over the next few months — it will go a long way toward helping you build your overall brand as a leader and engaged community citizen.
These are just a few of many options but hopefully this gets you thinking about some of the possibilities out there. If you want to brainstorm ideas for MBA extracurricular activities, request an initial consultation with one of our consultants.