Extracurriculars for Future Physics Students

By Alan Slavin

Extracurricular activities that could have an impact on a student's success in physics at the undergraduate level are those that would develop a sense of how the physical world works, including the ability to handle equipment. For example, students who know how to repair their own bikes are more likely to appreciate the concepts of force, rotation, torque and friction, and be able to manipulate lab equipment well. Being well organized and capable of follow-through also contributes enormously to success in any university courses, so involvement in organizations that develop these skills can be very useful.

Extracurricular activities can also have a big impact in applications to graduate schools for an MSc or PhD. One of the criteria for obtaining scholarships at this level is evidence of leadership ability, so students who have demonstrated such ability (AND have excellent grades) are more likely to be successful. Such evidence includes serving in an elected position with clubs and volunteering to mentor other students, for example.

Al Slavin, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Trent University, and 3M National Teaching Fellow.

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Pigeon wrote:	I agree with the above student. But a few ideas I have found beneficial include Math Circles (established to prepare for mathematics competitions) and Robotics teams or computer programming groups. Posted on Sep 23, 2011 at 04:59

CanadStudent wrote:	I would have preferred more specificity, what exactly these beneficial organizational jobs would be. Posted on Sep 16, 2011 at 09:31

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