What we know thus far: don’t cast a wide net when looking for the best extracurricular activities for college admissions. It’ll stretch you out too thin and prevent you from taking genuinely meaningful and valuable positions. Now that we know how to avoid the rumors and myths of well-roundedness, it is time to focus on the best ones for college admissions you can strive for.
In today’s article, we will cover some of the best extracurricular activities for college admissions to pursue. We understand that some readers may be reading this essentials guide much earlier than their college application due date, while other procrastinators may be only days before their application deadline. That is what this disclaimer for the our procrastinators is for.
Disclaimer for readers whose college application deadlines are close: If you do not have the time to pick up an extracurricular activity or apply for competitions to write in your application, we have labeled the following activities which are most suitable for those with tight deadline schedules. Deadline-friendly extracurriculars and competitions are written in red.
We also go into detail about the necessary specifications of each item in our list of extracurricular activities for college admissions. Without further ado, here is our list below.
- Mid-Level Competitive Awards: Okay, we know. It looks a little bit confusing why we would put mid-level competitive awards before high-level ones. The reason we do that and say that you should be focusing on these more comes down to basic arithmetic.
We know, for obvious reasons, that the more difficult to achieve and the more competitive an award is, the better it looks for the college application. However, here’s the thing: most students are not the types who can achieve high-level competitive awards. There are exceptions, of course, for our fellow readers who may have placed in large regional competitions and have an upcoming larger one to prepare for. Those students are exempt of this. They can apply for high-level competitions and consider them more than mid-level ones.
For you, if you are an average student looking for the best extracurricular activities for college admissions, your best bet is to apply for mid-level competitive awards. It is basic arithmetic. If you invest all of your time in high-level competitive awards for a very small chance of success, you most probably are not going to receive anything and would have wasted your time. You can still achieve a level of prestige by applying for medium level competitions (which most students actually ignore because the average student does not seek awards at all to begin with). This increases your chances of at least achieving some level of prestige in your college application rather than slimming your chances even further.
In short, pick mid-level competitions as your top priority when looking for the best extracurricular activities for college admissions. Mid-level competitions will raise your chances of success significantly and will still provide you with major benefits in the admissions process. In the case of cost-effectiveness for your time, mid-level competitive awards give you the best “bang for your buck.”
- High-Level Competitive Awards: Now for the high-level competitive awards. This only really applies for students who are already on a track and path to major competitions that involve statewide to nationwide and up competitions. Though this also applies for mid-level competitions and just about any kind of award earned in general, the best ones are the ones most related to the field that you want to pursue. Remember to be wise about which ones you want to pursue: the most powerful ones are the ones related to your field that are high competition, but they may also be difficult to pursue.
- Accomplishments Made In a Club: These are useful since they demonstrate that you and your team of cabinet members have contributed to a project or mission that was expected properly. These can be small or big accomplishments, with bigger ones being obviously better. It is important to not that these accomplishments should be less team-based and more you-based in order for it to be most effective. The objective of having accomplishments from a club you are in is to show the admissions officers that you have contributed a great deal to the club. The more you are involved in the success of the project and accomplishment in the club, the better the topic becomes.
Here is an example a client of ours had written about that had gotten him accepted into the University of California schools he had applied for: He had talked about how he made by himself a new brand of clothing for his school’s tight-knit (no pun intended) fashion club. He convinced his other cabinet members, who were losing faith in the popularity of the club, to promote the brand of clothing he had made. His brand later became popular in the school and the club was able to raise enough money to save it from sinking.
- Prestigious/ Noteworthy Club Positions: Holding a position as an important cabinet member, particularly that of a leader or founder of an important one is a very valuable asset in the college admissions process. We would like for you to please read that again: particularly that of a leader or founder of an important one. If you created a club in your school whose only members are your friends and you, and easily allows you to grant yourself a position as president, your club position may not take you very far in the college admission process. Most college admission officers actually know that there are plenty of “hacks” who will try to make clubs for the sake of having a position worthy of note in the college admissions process.
Trust us, they know.
You, however, may not actually know whether your granted position in a club is worthy of note in your college application. You need to be very careful about this: on one hand, an unworthy position may simply not impress the admissions officers and they remain unaffected; on the other hand, they may see you as a student who only makes clubs to gain powerful titles for themselves and actually have a bias against your favor. That is not to say that your small-community club and your position in it is not worthy of mention in the college application essay. It just requires accurate judgment and a bit of an eye for appraisal. If you are stumped on whether to actually put your position in your college application, you should consider having a consultation for our experts to handle the situation.
- Career-Related Service Hours: More often than not, service hours do not have much value in the college application. Service hours that do have a lot of value, however, ones related to your desired major or field of study are very powerful. They demonstrate that unlike most applicants, you already have a well-developed vision and idea of what you want to do in your life. They also show that you are willing to take initiative and go above and beyond for your field, whether it is through the charitable good-will of your heart or your dedication and love for your field.
The only disadvantage of this type of extracurricular activity is that it is not something that can differentiate you between the rest of the application pool as much as awards and honorable mentions. Service hours and work experience is very valuable in that it proves you have dedicated time into your field, but it is also does not demonstrate that you have beaten others in something competitive.
Awards and honorable mentions earned by merit and competitions are the most valuable assets when looking for the best extracurricular activities for college admissions; career-related service hours, though, will still be valuable in that they show your dedication to your field compared to other applicants.
- Sports-Related Accomplishments: There are a few exceptions where this would be at the top of the list; that would make this more valuable than any of the other items in this list: If you are an applicant who is already exceptionally talented at sports. This is not to say that you tend to score more points than most other players at your age. What we mean by talented is talented at an extreme level; as in, applicants should be able to defeat many other players and enter region-wide, state-wide, or nation-wide competitions. If you are considered or believe yourself to be capable of entering competitions of that scale, then you should consider pursuing said competitions to make yourself stand out most in the admissions process. There is without a doubt that being able to compete at such a scale would make any applicant irresistible; that and just about any large-scale competitions make for the best extracurricular activities for college admissions.
With that said, if you do not consider yourself capable of entering region-wide, state-wide, or nation-wide competitions; you should consider against investing too put time into sports. We know: there are some students who are passionate about the sport of their choice and who would be capable of writing great stories about their experiences playing it. The disadvantage you should consider, however, is that sports is very unrewarding when it comes to bragging rights in the college application process. It is a wonderful activity to pursue when looking for topics to write about in the application essay, but it is by no means a field that is ripe with awards, honorary mentions, and powerful perks that will grant you the competitiveness you need in the application pool.
- Unrelated Service Hours:
Though this is last on the list, and often considered the last resort of extracurricular activities, (because it most definitely is) unrelated service hours can still be useful. A useful extracurricular activity to put on the college application may not have related career obligations, and it most certainly will not have any competitive awards to show for to stand out amongst the rest of the applicants. Unrelated service hours, however, can still make for a wonderful common application personal statement or essay topic. It is the perfect recipe for the fateful encounter or the archetypal growth and self-care theme. These themes are perfect for college applications, especially since they strive most for college application essays that show growth and change; fortunately, growth and change are easy to come by when you get out of your comfort zone and commit your time to unrelated service hours of foreign fields.
Here is an example of this working out well. Perhaps you are applying as an engineering major in a major Stem-focused school. Instead of having the stereotypical story about the kid who attended the science bowl and became president of their engineering club, you may stand out by connecting your experience and new outlook on the field you enjoy through a different medium. Perhaps taking care of cats at the animal shelter by building structures that do not fall apart from cat scratches could transition into your love for engineering to make changes for the better in the world.
It is creative stories such as these, the ones with the unexpected twists and demonstration of growth and maturity over time, which admissions officers love dearly. You certainly won’t be bragging about a national award, but you will still have the opportunity to stand out amongst the rest and not become a statistic in the admissions pool.
The Best Extracurricular Activities For College Admissions: Conclusion
The list we presented above are our top recommendations when looking for the best extracurricular activities for college admissions. It is not always clear for some readers how to approach the extracurricular field in the college application, especially when they are short on time or have too many or too few extracurriculars to talk about. If you feel you may be one of these people, or simply have concerns about how to approach extracurriculars in the college application in general, you should consider hiring services and speaking to a consultant with your questions to steer you into the right path.
