What Top Universities Really Mean by ‘Passion’ Project and Curiosity
In my previous post and conversations with parents and students at The Perse School (Singapore), I have talked about super-curricular and extra-curricular activities and why they are important. While some may refer to them as any kind of work or activity, I recently heard a university representative say they prefer super-curricular activities that demonstrate a student’s curiosity and extra-curricular activities that show passion. In some cases, these two may converge.
Passion projects
Passion projects, if looked at solely, may be a hobby that you enjoy doing. These can be playing the piano or football, collecting music, reading a specific genre of literature, watching movies, or collecting stamps.
But it is not just about doing the activity — it is taking that love and transforming it into a project that you keep working on over time. This transformation may look like creating a club or a charity that includes other people’s contribution as well. When it comes to charity projects, it is one thing to raise money. But it means a lot more to be directly involved and engage a community.
Curiosity
On the other hand, curiosity is when you have such a strong interest in a subject area that you dive deeper into it. Such a person tirelessly researches, reaches conclusions, and still wants to learn more about the subject, whether in school or university.
In addition to learning about the subject, they also investigate other areas that are related to it. For example, a student who is interested in Economics may also want to learn more about History, Geography, Psychology, Technology, Politics, and Law.
What is curiosity when it comes to super-curricular activities? Think for a moment about a student who loves computers and wants to study Computer Engineering at university. It would be expected on some level that the student has taken a computer apart, figured out what the different components do and why they are organised in a certain way, and put them back together.
The student might then write an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) in Year 12 about what they learnt — or specifically about the theories they have researched and the conclusion they have come to during this investigative process.
Another example might be someone passionate about history, who reads many history books, starts a history club at school, attends summer programmes about history, and writes an EPQ on a specific era or time in history that they are curious about.
Why Universities Are Interested in a Student’s Curiosity
First and foremost, universities want to know more about students and what interests them. They want to know how a student uses their time, what the student has done to demonstrate their passion or curiosity, what they have learnt through the experience, and their feelings around it. For example, I can claim that I have a passion for mountain climbing, but the claim is more valuable when I can prove that I have done it.
Sharing these experiences helps universities understand that students are not merely satisfied with what they learn in the classroom or their textbooks. This is because universities are evaluating everything that a student reports on their application — from grades to activities (both extra- and super-curricular).
Additionally, universities also assess students whether they will fit well and be engaged in their community. This shows that while grades are still the most important part of a university application, a well-rounded growth and development of the student is equally important. It is the reason universities review applications holistically (US universities) or value students’ curiosity (UK universities).
How Students Can Demonstrate Passion and Curiosity
One of the best ways to demonstrate passion and curiosity is to start new initiatives in school. Find like-minded people (fellow peers and teachers), put your ideas down on paper, identify the goal of the initiative, create a plan, find faculty support, and propose the idea to the school.
Whatever your project is about, its scale should be realistic and feasible in the short term, with a long-term goal — which would require sufficient resources and people interested to keep the project going over time.
All of this takes courage, leadership, resilience, and effective communication skills. These are extremely valuable skills that will help you with your university applications, higher education, and future careers.
Ultimately, whether you have a passion project or a curiosity-based project, or both, you are indicating a love for learning. The act of learning something helps build confidence, leadership, open-mindedness, teamwork, patience, tolerance, and many other character skills that will take you places in life.
