Extracurricular Activities
Life Outside the Classroom
Sure, life in school is pretty interesting. You've got algebraic equations, Bunsen burners, sentence diagrams... but chances are, you've got commitments outside of school, too. Maybe you have a part time job, play in a band, are on a sports team, or do volunteer work.
Colleges Care The good news is that colleges pay attention to your life both inside and outside the classroom. Yes, your academics probably come first, but your activities reveal a great deal about you, such as:
Keep in mind, colleges are not interested in seeing you "do it all."
"We're looking for a commitment to and a passion for an activity outside of the academic setting—we're looking for depth rather than breadth," explains Nanci Tessier, a college admissions director.
Colleges don't have a checklist of requirements when it comes to extracurriculars—they want to see your individuality—and your consistent commitment.
Haven't Gotten Involved Yet?
Lots of school, community, and religious organizations give you chances to explore your interests and talents. If you haven't felt drawn into something yet, there's no shortage of opportunities for you to explore.
School Activities
It's pretty easy to find out about activities available at school. Once you start exploring, sometimes the challenge is figuring out how much to do. Here are some quick tips:
Work experience—paid or volunteer, year-round or summer—can help you identify career interests and goals, gain work experience, and apply classroom learning to the real world. It's also a great way to earn money for college, of course. Consider arranging for an internship or to shadow someone at his or her job.
Community Service
You can also gain skills and experience through volunteer work, such as by tutoring elementary school kids or spending time at a local hospital. Some schools even offer academic credit for volunteer work.
Life Outside the Classroom
Sure, life in school is pretty interesting. You've got algebraic equations, Bunsen burners, sentence diagrams... but chances are, you've got commitments outside of school, too. Maybe you have a part time job, play in a band, are on a sports team, or do volunteer work.
Colleges Care The good news is that colleges pay attention to your life both inside and outside the classroom. Yes, your academics probably come first, but your activities reveal a great deal about you, such as:
- How you've made a meaningful contribution to something
- What your non-academic interests are
- Whether you can maintain a long-term commitment
- Whether you can manage your time and priorities
- What diversity you'd bring to the student body
Keep in mind, colleges are not interested in seeing you "do it all."
"We're looking for a commitment to and a passion for an activity outside of the academic setting—we're looking for depth rather than breadth," explains Nanci Tessier, a college admissions director.
Colleges don't have a checklist of requirements when it comes to extracurriculars—they want to see your individuality—and your consistent commitment.
Haven't Gotten Involved Yet?
Lots of school, community, and religious organizations give you chances to explore your interests and talents. If you haven't felt drawn into something yet, there's no shortage of opportunities for you to explore.
School Activities
It's pretty easy to find out about activities available at school. Once you start exploring, sometimes the challenge is figuring out how much to do. Here are some quick tips:
- Most importantly, when you find something you like to do, stick with it.
- If you're interested and have extra time, try to excel in more than one area. For example, write for the paper and volunteer. But make sure you're giving your all to each activity, and, most importantly, to your school work.
- Don't worry about being president, or captain. The key is whether you've done something significant, center stage or behind the scenes.
Work experience—paid or volunteer, year-round or summer—can help you identify career interests and goals, gain work experience, and apply classroom learning to the real world. It's also a great way to earn money for college, of course. Consider arranging for an internship or to shadow someone at his or her job.
Community Service
You can also gain skills and experience through volunteer work, such as by tutoring elementary school kids or spending time at a local hospital. Some schools even offer academic credit for volunteer work.
Making Extracurricular Activities Stand Out in College Applications
At first glance, college applications seem easy enough. You give the basic facts about your background, education, and achievements. However, one section that stumps many students is the section for extracurricular activities.
Most students simply create chronological lists of their extracurricular accomplishments. Big mistake! This is a section where you can really set yourself apart from other applicants by employing a little strategy. Anyone can be a member of the Key Club, but not anyone can start an adult literacy program or become the assistant manager at Wayne's Weenie World.
The key to making your extracurricular activities stand out within the limited space of the application form is to focus on leadership.
But before you can do this, you first need to make a list of all your extracurricular activities, summer activities, and jobs. List everything big and small. Significant and insignificant. Don't forget that extracurricular activities include experiences like teaching all those hyper kids at Sunday School, whacking the ball around on the ping pong team, playing the triangle in band, leading a sit-in against animal fur, or volunteering as a candy striper at the hospital.
For every activity, job, and sport you should try to list as much of the following as possible:
If you're having trouble remembering everything, make use of other people's memories. Although you are far from senility, you will still find that it is surprising what other people remember that you have overlooked. Show your list to your parents, teachers, siblings, friends, advisors, or anyone else who may recall something you did.
Once you have your list, you need to prioritize since you won't be able to fit everything on the application form. The single most important criteria in prioritizing is to find activities in which you've demonstrated leadership.
Why Leadership Is Better Than Membership
Let's have some fun and put on the shoes of an admissions officer for the next few paragraphs. Imagine that you are looking at your 551st and 552nd application for today. Whew, time to call it a day! But, before you go home, you need to make a decision about these last two. Here are some things that each mentioned in their list of activities.
Applicant A
Reporter for school newspaper
Speech team member
Teen Voter Club Member
Applicant B
Editor-in-chief of school newspaper
Organizer of citywide speech contest for 1,000 children
Director of Teen Voter Registration Day for Democrat Club Who would you admit? Of course Applicant B! The activities in which you have leadership roles or responsibility are the most memorable and impressive. Applicant B demonstrates her leadership and dedication through her accomplishments while Applicant A only catalogs his participation.
When describing your roles, do not be afraid to brag a little. You need to highlight the importance of your contributions and responsibilities. Admissions officers like to see students who are not only members but are also leaders. They want students who are initiators both inside and outside of the classroom.
If you organize and prioritize your activities by the degree of leadership you demonstrated you will create a strong impression on the admissions officers and be well on your way to creating a winning application.
At first glance, college applications seem easy enough. You give the basic facts about your background, education, and achievements. However, one section that stumps many students is the section for extracurricular activities.
Most students simply create chronological lists of their extracurricular accomplishments. Big mistake! This is a section where you can really set yourself apart from other applicants by employing a little strategy. Anyone can be a member of the Key Club, but not anyone can start an adult literacy program or become the assistant manager at Wayne's Weenie World.
The key to making your extracurricular activities stand out within the limited space of the application form is to focus on leadership.
But before you can do this, you first need to make a list of all your extracurricular activities, summer activities, and jobs. List everything big and small. Significant and insignificant. Don't forget that extracurricular activities include experiences like teaching all those hyper kids at Sunday School, whacking the ball around on the ping pong team, playing the triangle in band, leading a sit-in against animal fur, or volunteering as a candy striper at the hospital.
For every activity, job, and sport you should try to list as much of the following as possible:
- Name of the organization, program, or business.
- A short one to two sentence description of the group, program, or business.
- Any leadership positions you held and your responsibilities.
- Any special projects that you initiated or oversaw. These could be either long-term or one-time projects.
- Dates you participated or worked.
- Number of hours per week you spent on the activity or job.
If you're having trouble remembering everything, make use of other people's memories. Although you are far from senility, you will still find that it is surprising what other people remember that you have overlooked. Show your list to your parents, teachers, siblings, friends, advisors, or anyone else who may recall something you did.
Once you have your list, you need to prioritize since you won't be able to fit everything on the application form. The single most important criteria in prioritizing is to find activities in which you've demonstrated leadership.
Why Leadership Is Better Than Membership
Let's have some fun and put on the shoes of an admissions officer for the next few paragraphs. Imagine that you are looking at your 551st and 552nd application for today. Whew, time to call it a day! But, before you go home, you need to make a decision about these last two. Here are some things that each mentioned in their list of activities.
Applicant A
Reporter for school newspaper
Speech team member
Teen Voter Club Member
Applicant B
Editor-in-chief of school newspaper
Organizer of citywide speech contest for 1,000 children
Director of Teen Voter Registration Day for Democrat Club Who would you admit? Of course Applicant B! The activities in which you have leadership roles or responsibility are the most memorable and impressive. Applicant B demonstrates her leadership and dedication through her accomplishments while Applicant A only catalogs his participation.
When describing your roles, do not be afraid to brag a little. You need to highlight the importance of your contributions and responsibilities. Admissions officers like to see students who are not only members but are also leaders. They want students who are initiators both inside and outside of the classroom.
If you organize and prioritize your activities by the degree of leadership you demonstrated you will create a strong impression on the admissions officers and be well on your way to creating a winning application.
