Literally the worse experience ever and 10/10 do not recommend. I'll first get into what I did before giving y'all tips, and please don't be discouraged if you don't do as much stuff as I did because 1) I'm crazy 2) I'm an Oxbridge applicant and 3) I have zero time management skills. 

Myself

To save you the hassle of looking over the grid I made for my CV, I will just list the more important things that I've done. What I consider important depends on the consistency (so the longer I do it, the better), whether I got a reward (for competitions), and includes stuff like leadership roles. If it's not obvious I'll explain it through, so don't worry

My background
- In my original country, I've studied in one of the top schools, no denying it. Its ranks have been slipping and sliding, but it has consistently remained in the top ten. After my GCSEs, I decided to go study abroad in the UK, and I'm currently in a co-ed school that is also in the top ten. I won't deny the fact that I'm highly privileged and I'm very grateful for the opportunities my family have given me, and I know a lot of the opportunities that may have came my way would be impossible for a lot of people. I understand that a lot of people may not be able to relate to my experiences, because I'm also Asian. 
- My GCSE grades are as follows: 2 7s, 3 8s and 5 9s. 
- My AS Level grades are as follows: 3 As 

Leadership roles 
(Previous school)
- Class Committee 
- Chinese Orchestra: Secretary
- History Society: Internal Secretary
- Book Lovers Club: IT Officer
- Ted-Ed Club: Administrative Officer
- Drama Club: Vice President
(Current school)
- History Society: Society Head
- Speaking Society: Head of Public Speaking 

Club membership (consistent)
Note: You can include clubs you participated in if they relate to your subject, even if it's just one year. Universities want consistency, but if you can prove you have an interest it's fine. The underlined ones refer to representing the school instead of just in-school activities

Note that I've only included the ones that I think are important
- History Society: 6 years
- Japanese Society: 5 years
- Chinese Orchestra: 4 years
- Hospitality Team: 3 years
- Debate Team: 2 years 
- Politics Society: 1 year
- LGBTQ+ Society: 1 year
- Chess Club: 1 year 

Awards: 
- Academic Scholarship (twice)
- Poetry Award x 1: Gold Award
- Creative writing shortlists x 2 
- Speech competitions (inc. drama and debate) x 2: First runner-up, Merit 
- Business model + technology challenge x 2: Creative Award, Finalist 
- Chess Competition x 1: Champion

Exchange Trips: 
- Zhaoqing, China 
- Tours, France
- Tsinghua University, China
- Zhejiang Conservatory of Music, China
- Brescia University, Canada
- Oxford University, UK

Extra Academic Work:
- History essay for extra credit
- Extended Project Qualification - discussion on US-Afghanistan peace treaty
- Forming of online student initiative 

Extra courses: 
- Online course (MOOC): Oriental Beliefs
- EITP (IT development, basically) Programme [previous school]
- Cantonese Opera Programme [previous school]
- Drama Course [summer]
- French course (4 years; GCSE)

Volunteering: 
- Visit to Eldery Centre; Cantonese Opera performance 

Reading: 
(aside from all the literature books I read, these are course specific for my uni application)
- Asian Juggernaut: The Rise of China, Japan and India by Brahma Chellaney
- Twilight of the Bombs by Richard Rhodes
- Why Nations Go To War by John G. Stoessinger
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Foreign Affairs articles  

General Tips 

So this part is basically your extracurriculars (shortened as ECAs from now on). However, instead of compiling everything into one neat document before sending it to the universities, this is meant to be incorporated into your personal statement. That's why it's really important to pick and choose the ones that you think are most related to your course. And this is how you choose the extracurriculars that may be most beneficial.

A brief note about the UK
- Here's what you need to know about the UK. ECAs are optional, and not that important. Yes, they'll lighten up your application, but it's not absolutely essential. The odds of a consistent debate team member and a normal student getting in is practically similar
- This is because it's not what you did that's important. It's how you present it that's important. All of your ECAs will be going into your personal statement, and while the name may look impressive, it's the spin you give it that'll be truly unique.
- And also, the UK values academic-related things. Not to say stuff like music or sports aren't important. But unless you've been consistently playing a sport or instrument since you're little - i.e. being a prodigy - they wouldn't be too interested in any of that. Of course interest groups are important as well, don't get me wrong. But the more academically-drive it is, the more appealing it is for the university. 

1. Choose extracurriculars that are related to your course
- Meaning that they must, in some way, reflect your interest in whatever course you're planning to do. Either that, or the ECA you did would equip you with certain 'skills' in preparation for your course.
- For example, if you're applying for law, it is good to join the debate team if possible. For medicine, attending a medical conference, or job-shadowing at a hospital would be your best choices.
- For myself, there isn't really many course-specific stuff that I can do; there's no clear cut advantage that could be taken from extracurriculars. So I decided to stick to humanities related things, which doesn't really matter as long as the focus in my personal statement is honed well. 

2. Choose extracurriculars you are interested in
- This is for those who hadn't decided, or are still struggling with deciding what course you're planning to do in university (like me!) choose stuff that you're interested in. 
- That's because it's likely that you'll be doing a course you like in university. So chances are, not only would you have fun doing it, but the more you do it, the more you can find out where your interests lie.
- You'll also be having significantly more fun doing it because let's face it, high school is a pain and you want to be happy amiright. 
- From my list, the only stuff I was interested in was mostly the poetry stuff. Especially since I planned to apply for English Literature before, but now I changed tracks so it's kind of pointless. 

3. Choose extracurriculars that equip you with unique skills, or shows your diverse background
- What does that mean? It means that you should choose something that makes you stand out. Something that is unique to yourself or your country or your culture.
- This is especially true when people in certain fields, say, for law, at least eight out of ten would have some kind of speech competition in their applications. Model United Nations, debate, public speaking. I'm not saying you shouldn't go for them. You definitely should, so as to keep yourself in equal standing with your competitors. But if you want your application to stand out, well, that's another matter.
- As you can see, I'm applying for Social Anthropology, which is related to cultural stuff. One of the more unique things available to me is my school's Chinese Orchestra, which is...pretty rare for an international applicant. Cantonese opera is also extremely unique. Of course, I went for those because of pure interest, instead of looking for extra 'skills' to add to my application. But unique things like these would earn you a plus in admissions. 

4. Be consistent.
- Now I'm obviously not telling you to stick to every single thing that you do. But if you have something that catches your fancy, or something that you feel might be highly beneficial for yourself, stick to it. It doesn't have to be until you graduate. Put in a few years of work into it so it shows consistency, and that your interest didn't just magically come from nowhere. If you change things around too much, it usually raises a red flag for the examiner. 
- As you can see, my club memberships are long-running, except for two, That's because I joined them after I changed schools, so it's alright. Otherwise, I would strongly advise keeping to what you've been consistently doing. 

Breakdown of application
Note: I tried to keep it as subject-neutral as possible. That said, I may have accidentally slipped into just analysing my own application, so keep that in mind. I'll be writing more about subject-specific applications below. 

1. Your grades
- Don't underestimate the importance of your grades. They are the singularly most important thing and never, ever lose sight of it just because you want to make your CV more colourful.
- UK universities do look at your GCSEs. Whatever your seniors tell you, especially those in the Commonwealth (hello, me), about GCSEs being useless if you're applying to the UK, don't listen to them. Study for them to the best of your ability. You'll need it.
- AS-levels are a yes or no. They are basically a halfway exam in the A-level course, and some UK schools don't really offer it. I know that in schools that do offer AS often base their predicted grades on them, so if they do, continue studying hard. That said, because not all UK schools offer it, they're not compulsory, so don't stress...too hard?
- Predicted grades are the most important thing for getting an offer. They're usually issued in your last year of school, where the teachers give you a set of grades that determine the range of universities that you could apply to. The offers that schools give you are also based on your predicted grades. So if you're a A*A*A* candidate going for Cambridge, it's possible that they may demand a little higher than their minimum requirement (A*AA). Possible, but not definite.
- And of course your A Level results have to match your offer grades. So continue studying hard, folks. 

2. Leadership roles
- Leadership roles are a plus, but not important. It's to show that you have certain traits that would make you a desirable candidate, such as responsibility, leadership, blah blah blah.
- If you have leadership roles in clubs that you have especially taken a fancy in, that's good. So for me, History is the closest thing to International Relations at the school. It'll be a pretty big achievement to brag about in your personal statement if you have a handful of leadership roles, but don't go too overboard with them.
- Remember, leadership roles are important, but not essential. If you're struggling with your academics already, don't take on more. As I said, grades are the most important thing. 
- That said, don't abandon leadership roles. They are still important, and certain traits in your application would make you more desirable than other candidates. 

3. Club membership
- So again, follow the above tips for choosing the club you want to join. 
- Even though the universities consistently say that grades are important, join at least two clubs throughout your entire secondary year. One for interest, one for academic. Sports are optional. But have a social life outside of studying. The universities need to see that you can balance ECAs and your academics.

4. Awards
- I would say that this is more important for US than UK applications, to be honest. That said, do write about awards you've gotten. It's mostly for bragging rights, but of course if you relate it back to your course that'll be great too. 
- Academic-related ones are more desired as well, because welcome to the UK. But really, just treat it as a casual thing. There's no need to actively strive for awards UNLESS you have a focus in your ECAs. For example, you're a musician or a sports player. Then by all means go for it. But for those who aren't 1) an all-rounder (i.e. music prodigy who has a grade 7 in piano and have won at least three competitions, or a sports prodigy who has consistently played on behalf of the school/local/national team for three years) or 2) aiming for a professional/highly focused degree, then I'd say it's a yes or no. Again, like leadership roles, it's important, but not essential.

5. Exchange trips
- Again, not essential. The universities understand that it's an opportunity not many people could afford (me as well, and honestly I'm a bit hesitant to write about this part), so it's not really that important.

6. Extra Academic Work (and extra courses)
- This is a part they pay marginally more attention to. Academic stuff. Love it. 
- What this shows universities is basically you taking your academic interest in the course you're applying to outside of the classroom. Independent work and critical thinking appeals to them. So try to take on more academic work that's outside of your syllabus, if you can. If you can't, it wouldn't stand out exceptionally bad to the admission officers. 

**7. Reading
- Singularly the most important part for humanities/social sciences students. Not that much for science-oriented, but still read. It's as important as your grades.
- This is because raeding helps you develop your academic interest, so as to say. Similar to what's going on with the extra academic work, they want to see your interest in your course beyond the classroom. Reading is the most accessible thing to do, so you can't really botch on this one. Read as much as you could, as many books as you can get related to your course. 
- They'll definitely ask about your reading in interviews. Don't underestimate this.

8. Volunteering
- Is volunteering important? It depends on your course and your focus in your personal statement. Obviously it is quite an appealing approach to take, and gives you a likeable and favourable personality, but it's really up to you.
- Again, important, but not essential.

9. Internships/part-time jobs/work experience
- This is the most important thing to do for everyone except social sciences/humanities students (hello, me). 
- For professional degrees especially, it's important for you to show that you have so far of an interest in your career/subject so as to have an experience trying it out for yourself. It also reflects that you know a bit about what you're doing.
- For social sciences/humanities students, though, it depends on your future career. If you're set on your future career like being a journalist, go for it! If you have a chance to job shadow a diplomat, go for it! For us, it's more about there is such a large variety of choices to choose from, and the fact that there may be zero focus from your internship. Obviously if you land one that's great, but you don't have to actively seek one out. For us, the reading part is more important.

Course-specific tips
Note: I covered the more common and broader categories of university courses, but if your course isn't on here, feel free to ask me! 
Additional note: This is just from what I heard and see. If you have additional advice from your student counselors, it'll probably be wiser to follow their advice.

1. Professional Degrees (e.g. law, medicine)
 

2. Science-related degree 

3. Humanities/social sciences degree