By: Emily Tran
When a high GPA becomes a requirement for college applications, how do colleges sort out their most academically gifted applicants? By essays, recommendations, and extracurriculars. But we’ll just focus on the last one. Extracurricular activities include school clubs, personal research, jobs, internships, and hobbies. Why are extracurriculars important? Because they are a way to stand out on applications and can help find your passions.
If you have no idea where to start, you don’t have to enter a prestigious summer camp or win a national level competition. Although, those would definitely be nice. First, find a hobby you want to do and expand on it. Before you choose an extracurricular, ask yourself what it will show about you and who it can help. Don’t just choose the most impressive one. Choose one you actually like and can tolerate.
Below is list of a few things you can do to gain experience and strengthen your extracurriculars:
1) Education
-Start a nonprofit or organization that helps tutor students (ex: Kara Tutoring).
-Work as a tutor (online or in-person).
-Become a teacher assistant.
2) Writing
-Join your school newspaper.
-Publish a novel.
-Being published in literary magazines (ex: The Adroit Journal, Youth Science Magazine).
-Become an editor or blogger for a magazine. Many literary magazines are student-run and will accept high schoolers as staff members (ex: Polyphony Lit, GenZHER).
-Win national/international writing competitions (ex: Scholastic Art and Writing Awards).
-For more info, click here: https://www.newpages.com/writers-resources/young-writers-guide
3) Art
-If submitting to an art school, it’s best to build on your portfolio. An impressive art portfolio is held higher than extracurriculars.
-Join the Art Club, Photography Club, Film Club or Yearbook at your school.
-Join art competitions (for more info, click here: https://www.studentartguide.com/resources/high-school-art-competitions-list) and submit cover art to magazines.
4) Business
-Join FBLA, DECA, MUN, and other similar clubs. It gives more access to competitions and a chance to be a leader in the community.
-Join a marketing team for an organization or become a marketing volunteer. In this position, you usually promote on social media or reach out to other organizations for partnerships (ex: United Under Arts, Cliche Teen Journal).
-Become an ambassador for your school or an organization.
-Being involved in economics or investing clubs (ex: CASH Club, Youth Econ Initiative).
-Create a business (ex: selling shoes, selling makeup, any products).
5) Programming
-Join a STEM club or robotics club.
-Join a local hackathon. They welcome both beginners and experienced programmers.
-Have a side project such as creating a website or an app. This is important because it helps you gain experience and shows that you have some sort of goal.
6) Activism
-If you want to bring a few social issues to light, consider creating a podcast (for more info, click here: https://www.podcastinsights.com/start-a-podcast/) or creating a free website on Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, or even creating a YouTube channel.
-Join a debate team. This allows you to research further into current issues such as unfair laws and helps you improve your public speaking.
-Join an organization that supports your interests or create a new club at your school.
7) Medicine
-Shadow a doctor. This is one of the most useful premed activities you can do as a high-schooler.
-Volunteer at a nursing home or a homeless shelter.
-Apply for an internship or mentorship.
-Volunteer at a hospital.
8) Politics, History
-Join Mock Trial, MUN, student government
-Join any teenage political organization (ex: Young Democrats of America, Teenage Republicans). Some parties allow you to host events through their websites.
-Other school clubs are Debate Club, Speech Club, Model Congress.
9) Music
-Join band or the orchestra at your school.
-Join Chamber Music Group or Tri-M Music Honor Society.
-Volunteer to play at nursing homes.
-Gather a group of people to create a band or create your own music and upload it online (ex: Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud).
10) Academic/Other
-Joining Honor Societies and participating in Science or Math Olympiad.
-Academic Decathlon.
-Learning a new skill from a free online course (ex: Udemy, edX, Skillshare, Coursera).
-Host a charity event.
-Create a blog about your interests.
-Run a marathon (honestly, this is the hardest on this list).
If you would like to see how strong your extracurriculars are, CollegeVine provides a “calculator” (https://www.collegevine.com/chanceme/wizard/basic-info?source=chancing_login).
To leave a strong impression on your application reviewers, the extracurriculars would need to be unique, awarded at a national level, or be a series of impressive activities. Colleges would like to see leadership, commitment, and a desire to help others. Being in student government, president, manager, a founder/director, or editor-in-chief are great for showing leadership. To show commitment, you need to show you are serious about your passion and have attempted to gain experience in any way possible. Getting an internship or becoming a research assistant are often used to show this. A desire to help others can be shown through volunteering or running a nonprofit.
Remember that you can have other extracurriculars other than ones showing your passion. If you like a school club that doesn’t reflect your intended passion, join it! High school is a time to explore what you like and choose what you want to dedicate your time to.
Sources:
https://blog.collegevine.com/your-complete-list-of-extracurricular-activities/
https://www.testive.com/extracurricular-activities/
https://www.niche.com/blog/5-ways-to-get-pre-med-experience-while-youre-still-in-high-school/
https://www.podcastinsights.com/start-a-podcast/
https://www.newpages.com/writers-resources/young-writers-guide
https://www.studentartguide.com/resources/high-school-art-competitions-list
https://blog.prepscholar.com/list-of-extracurricular-activities-examples
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