Why Does My Child Need to Develop Their Interests?

Smiling child working on hands-on learning activity to develop skills and passions – The Red Pen

Gone are the days when grades were all that mattered. Today, schools, colleges and even employers are looking at applicants holistically. They prefer students who have gone above and beyond academics and demonstrated additional interest in a subject about which they are passionate. Along with this, they want students who have showcased additional abilities such as leadership and teamwork. This is why identifying and helping your child develop interests and hobbies early on is important.

How can I encourage my child to build on their interests?

When thinking about an activity for your child, it is best to keep their interest in mind. Your child is likely to already be engaged in some extracurricular activities such as playing a musical instrument or participating in a sport. They can either continue to explore these extracurricular activities or spend time exposing themselves to new activities. Once your child identifies a few activities, they should pick two and build on those over the next few years. It is important to remember that the reasons for choosing an extracurricular activity are often more important than the specifics of what it entails. For example, if your child is interested in computer science and is personally affected by people suffering from autism, then they can create a medical device to track when the person needs to take their medication. This would create a bigger impact as compared to working on a project where there is no personal connection.

Are activities important in the college admissions process?

When it comes to applying to US colleges, extracurricular activities play an important part in your child’s application. Apart from academic performance and test scores, admissions officers will look at the required activity section of the application, which outlines what your child has done outside the classroom. Colleges want to see that your child has dived in, not just wet their toes. Students need to articulate why they are involved in a particular extracurricular activity and what they have gotten out of it. A great way to do this is to combine different interests in a manner that can add value to your child’s profile as well as their community.

How can I make an activity meaningful?

Combining an academic interest with a personal passion can lay the groundwork for meaningful extracurricular activities. For example, if a student is passionate about music and computer science, they could combine the two and take up music coding. Alternatively, someone who enjoys baking can have a bake sale to raise money for a charity. Doing this will help build and reinforce leadership, organisational and interpersonal skills while enabling them to process and learn from new experiences.

Your child can also merge various interests together to generate creative ideas. If they want to dabble in entrepreneurship but are also dog-lover they could develop an app for dog owners. It can identify other dog owners in your area, organises and lists dog events, and provide a database for pet stores and vets. This can be taken further by allowing users to post reviews on pet food and toy brands. The direction in which they take the idea is up to your child; they will benefit as long as it genuinely relates to their interests.

Another example of combining interests is from one of our students whose father is an ophthalmic surgeon. Due to this, he has always been concerned with the problems of people with visual impairment. Academically he enjoyed science, which he used to create a device to sense colour. His idea was to improve the quality of life for the blind by giving them an awareness of colour. In this case, the student’s background played a big part in his reason for creating the project and this is exactly what colleges want to see – who the person is and what is their story.

No matter what your child’s interest is, the way they approach it is important. Students sometimes think that there is a fixed checklist they need to tick off in order to paint a holistic picture of themselves. However, the fact is that they can demonstrate any interest, as long as it is authentic and it can demonstrate their growth.

If you feel your child can use some guidance, consider a mentorship programme. To learn more about how you can support your child academically, read this blog post. For more information, get in touch with us.

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Anusha Bhagat

Chief Operating Officer

PGDM, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad;
B.A in Economics, Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University

Anusha Bhagat is a growth strategist and operations expert with 15 years of
securities-industry leadership
across Hong Kong, India and Singapore.
At UBS she served as Chief Operating Officer – Equities & Investment Banking, India,
transforming an at-risk equities franchise with legacy infrastructure into a
robust, growth-ready platform and rolling out new products under enhanced
governance.

She has launched cash-equity, equity-derivatives and prime-broking businesses in
multiple Asian markets and sat on the deal-closing teams for UBS’s
acquisition of ABN Amro’s global F&O business (2006) and the GS-JB Were
Australia joint venture (2003).
Her track record spans in-house M&A, technology turnarounds,
process re-engineering and enterprise-wide risk remediation
.

Known for a collaborative, cross-functional working style, Anusha combines
front-office product insight with settlement, control, technology and
regulatory frameworks to deliver end-to-end solutions. She derives energy from
tackling challenging build-outs and supporting teams in achieving
their growth and career goals.

If Anusha weren’t a COO, she would be …
helping early-stage founders scale up as a full-time venture advisor.

The question she’s asked most often …
“How do we turn this legacy process into a competitive advantage?”

Kavita Sonawala

Chief Marketing Officer

Shikha Dhar

Associate Director, Institutional Services

Nainika Ajani

Associate Director, Partner Relations

Aneri Shah

Manager, Boarding School Admissions

Mehnaz Jaffer

Associate Director, Sales, Business Development and Marketing, Undergraduate Applications and Preparation

Aarti Anand

Associate Director, Client Servicing, Undergraduate Preparation

Sheetal Vora

Associate Director, Client Servicing, Undergraduate Applications

Tripti Singh

Associate Director, Postgraduate Services

Natasha Mankikar

Manager, MBA services

Neil Maheshwari

CFO & COO, U.S. News
& World Report,

MBA in Finance, Illinois State University;
Chartered Accountant; CPA; Bachelor’s in Accounting

Neil Maheshwari is CFO & COO of the U.S. News & World Report, L.P. He has overall responsibility for financial strategy, capital allocation, business operations and strategic investments.

He has over 30 years of experience in the media business, especially related to corporate finance, business operations, taxes and digital strategy. He was a key member of the team that led the digital transformation of U.S. News in 2010.

Neil’s career began at the New York Daily News in 1993, following its acquisition by Mort Zuckerman. Over the years his responsibilities have encompassed budgeting, contract negotiations, tax management and IT operations for the New York Daily News, U.S. News & World Report and other media entities under the family’s ownership.

As a member of the executive committee, Neil participates in crucial business-strategy decisions and their implementation. He is also deeply involved in evaluating all potential acquisition and divestiture opportunities for the media companies owned by Mort Zuckerman. His prior experience includes leading the sale of Fast Company to G & J in December 2000, as well as the sales of Atlantic Monthly, Radar magazine, Applied Printing Technologies and, most recently, the New York Daily News to Tribune Publishing in 2017.

Before joining the Daily News and U.S. News, Neil spent over four years with a mid-town CPA firm, specialising in audits and mergers & acquisitions for publishing clients. He also gained experience at the India offices of Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young.

Namita Mehta

President

Dr. Kimberly Dixit

CEO & Co-founder of
The Red Pen