Here’s the truth: There aren’t a lot of options for extracurriculars for English majors.
We see great extracurricular opportunities for STEM fields left and right.
But, the Liberal Arts get pushed to the side.
Yeah, sure. There’s Speech & Debate. And, you’ve got Journalism or Yearbook. Though, they don’t have the level of rigor some of the other world-class STEM fields have.
Why? Well, it’s simple.
The Liberal Arts (especially in English) is not the craze.
Schools, parents, teachers, and even social media influencers are pushing for people to learn more “practical majors.” That’s why fields like Medicine, Engineering, Programming, or even Tech Sales are booming. The big craze is STEM –especially computer science. That’s why most institutions subsidize and endorse STEM-related extracurriculars and clubs, while those in the Liberal Arts are sparse.
Now, does this mean English majors will have an easier time getting accepted into college compared to their STEM counterparts?
Sure!
But, don’t get so excited yet.
This doesn’t mean students majoring in English will have it easy.
English majors will still need to scour the Earth for the best extracurriculars to boost their applications. This is especially true if they want to maximize their chances of acceptance into a prestigious school.
And while it may seem like English Majors have no viable extracurriculars, there are still great ones out there. You simply need to find the right place. That’s why we’ve listed 12 of the best extracurriculars for English majors. These will best improve their resumes and give lasting impressions to admissions officers.
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The 12 Best Extracurriculars for English Majors
Below we’ve listed 12 of the best extracurriculars for English majors.
Note: there are more extracurriculars than those on this list. We just chose these 12 since they work best when put on students’ college applications. These 12 items demonstrate the most value to admissions officers.
Additionally, the items on this list are easy to write about in the college essay.
These topics show a lot of personal character that works wonders when answering the essay prompts. They easily demonstrate depth of character and legitimacy, further boosting your admissions officer’s impression of you.
If you need help with any items on this list, consider speaking with our professional college admissions consultants. We’ve worked with students and parents alike with reaching high-level Liberal Arts colleges like Brown, Cornell, Columbia, UPenn, and more.
Speech & Debate (DECA)
This is a no brianer.
English majors benefit A LOT from Speech & Debate as an extracurricular. We put this at the beginning of our list because it’s a very versatile and persuasive EC. Persuasiveness is crucial in every industry, making it a great addition to your application.
Bloggers use it to retain attention and funnel to a sale. Businesses and entrepreneurs need it to land big deals that drive their company forward. Tech companies use persuasive language to control their public image.
Everywhere we look, persuasive communication runs deep. And, admissions officers recognize this versatility as an important element of students’ success in the future.
In addition, Speech & Debate requires very strong logic and articulation skills. Performing well in Speech & Debate proves your logical reasoning and articulation skills exceed that of most others. This is a very special skill that has a high barrier to entry.
But, here’s the best part: getting very good at Speech & Debate is learnable. With just a few weeks of practice, any reasonable student can cut through the competition like butter. That’s because most students don’t actually learn Speech & Debate in the correct way. Most Speech & Debate classes simply give rote work and exercises. Proper prep and coaching can put you at the top; and, you can brag about it too!
Even our consultants have seen students improve their logic and articulation skills within just a few weeks of dedicated coaching. Some become qualified to lead their school’s Speech & Debate team, and others even win competitions)
Now, if you win a competition in Speech & Debate, it’s actually very, very impressive. College admissions officers will see your logic and articulation skills are strong enough to place you at the competitive level. This serves as a benchmark that quantifies your skill level and gives legitimacy to your ability. Holding a title like “President of Speech & Debate” is one thing. But a quantifiable experience such as placing Third, Second, or First in a competition grounds your experience in measurable skill. And trust us: that measurability is crucial to admissions officers.
Journalism
Journalism is a very valid and strong extracurricular for students planning to get accepted into prestigious universities for English. However, it should be noted that Journalism can be quite a double-edged sword.
The good side: participating in or leading a journalism team can demonstrate writing and articulation ability. Additionally, journalism is a great way of entering competitions in newspaper writing. While some elements of journalism will be considered “easier” and therefore less prestigious such as “news writing” and “photography”, other more difficult competitions like opinion writing are more difficult to win in competitions. This makes them stronger for college admissions. Additionally, joining journalism and focusing on competitive sections like opinion writing put you at the forefront of controversial topics involving politics, economics, social justice, and more. Being successful in writing about such topics would make you a fantastic addition to just about any university that values deep articulation and depth of thought.
The bad side: journalism can oftentimes be less a meritocracy and more a popularity contest. If you’re looking for strong titles like “editor” or “editor in chief” to place in your application, they may help slightly. However, that’s just a slight boost. This is because universities have caught on to the fact that students only really earn these titles as vanity points. They don’t truly demonstrate great leadership or writing ability; instead, they’re often elected by popularity. This makes journalism an extracurricular where you can’t just take titles for the sake of boosting college apps. You need to truly demonstrate your ability whether by writing about your journalism experience in college essays or earning awards in difficult parts of journalism such as opinion writing.
Note: we highly, highly recommend students to join journalism and focus on competing for opinion writing competitions if they have experience in Speech & Debate. Often, the experiences gained in Speech & Debate translate to opinion writing competitions –especially since you’ll need to come up with smart, clever, and well-written ideas on complex ideas that have nuanced perspectives. Also, the coverage of controversial topics so often involved in opinion writing makes you a fantastic addition to almost any university you apply to, as it demonstrates to admissions officers that you can think on your feet about problems of diversity, equity, and inclusion –elements every school will be keeping in mind when reviewing your profile.
Search Engine Optimization (Articling)
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, is one of the best extracurriculars for English majors to take if they want something both easy and impressive.
SEO involves the improvement of websites and other platforms to help increase visibility online. This may include a multitude of tasks such as making websites faster, improving their user interface, and improving the code on the backend.
However, for the purpose of this article, we’re going to focus on the writing element. That is, writing articles and optimizing them for SEO.
High school and college students looking for a strong extracurricular as an English major should consider writing articles for websites to increase their search engine visibility. This often involves approaching small businesses and offering to help write articles for their websites that are strong enough in copy (writing quality) to rank on Google’s search results. These articles should aim to get business owners and website visitors on their pages.
The reason SEO is so strong and perhaps one of the best extracurriculars for English majors is because of its legitimacy.
While most college applications have extracurriculars and titles that can be faked (such as chairman of a club or founder of a nonprofit) writing articles and optimizing them for SEO is just that: articles! You can’t cheat your way into writing 50 optimized articles for a website. Once admissions officers see that you’ve put in the work to write articles to rank on Google, they can visualize the effort you’ve put in. They don’t need to second guess whether or not you’re trying to “fake it ’till you make it.” All the proof is in the writing.
The only downside is, well, it’s a lot of writing.
You’ll need to write a lot of articles, optimize each one, and have each be long enough in-depth to be viable for admissions officers (approximately 1200 words per article). Once you get the ball rolling and you get the hang of writing, it becomes a matter of grit and determination.
That’s why it’s easy. It has a low barrier of entry, and you can learn everything you need within a short 1-2 weeks of coaching. Then, after that, you can write and optimize articles on your own; the more you write and the better the quality of your articles, the better your chances of impressing admissions officers.
Additionally, if you choose to write articles for websites, you’re not obligated to have them rank on Google.
Remember: most marketing agencies have professionals writing for them. So, the likelihood you’ll be able to rank articles for others as a high school or college student is slim. Nonetheless, admissions officers will see the work you put in if you’re writing lots of high-quality articles. That in itself makes SEO a strong extracurricular, as elbow grease alone can still leave a lasting impression on your admissions officers.
Note: SEO is a complex field. There are many variables and externalities that come into the equation, and it’s impossible to learn everything. So, it’s best to learn how to write SEO-optimized articles from people who have experience in the field and have ranked articles for students already. (Ahem, us!)
Blogging
This one goes a bit hand in hand with SEO.
Blogging involves creating your own website and publishing articles related to your blog’s topic. You will write articles and use your communication skills to create compelling stories to share in your blog. These articles should bring in, after a long period of time, a good following of people who are interested in listening to what you have to write about.
You can essentially think of this as Search Engine Optimization articling but for your own website. Additionally, blogging is more reserved for personal stories and takes. (example: documenting your experiences traveling abroad, what it’s like to live as a college-aged woman dealing with catcalls, etc.) Meanwhile, articles are more focused on answering important questions, providing useful information to online inquiries, or creating a marketing funnel for prospective clients.
If you’re planning on creating a blog as a prospective English major, don’t be lazy.
One of the biggest problems students have when starting a blog is that they lose traction over time. They don’t continue to publish content on their online blog, and it prevents algorithms from picking up on said traction. The more consistent and engaging your writing is, the more you’ll stand out to algorithms. This helps you grow a following, which can be very, very impressive to admissions officers.
But, that consistency is hard.
We recommend, following a consistent publication schedule, where you publish 1-2 articles or content pieces on your blog per week. You can increase or decrease this number depending on your personal preferences. But, we’ve found while working with students on their blogs that 1-2 articles seem to help them stay consistent. And, this has helped them make the most of their extracurriculars when applying to college –effectively, helping them stand out from the rest of the application pool.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing can be a great way of boosting your application and making your extracurriculars more solid. Just about every school club will need a social media page. And, marketing your club on social media (or helping other students market their club) is a great way of showing admissions officers the amount of effort you put outside of academics alone.
Additionally, it shows that you’re not just starting a club for the sake of college admissions. Having a social media page and actively updating it with engaging posts that market it to other fellow students and parents shows your initiative and willingness to dedicate your time to the cause.
You’re not limited to school clubs, either.
You can also help small businesses such as local jewelry stores or jumpstarting food trucks create social media pieces that appeal to online viewers. If you help them get clients as a result of your social media posts, that’s even better.
However, it’s important to note that social media often involves video and photo content. Writing only consists of a small portion of social media. Nonetheless, it still plays a role in most social media platforms. The writing you craft in posts like that of TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram still plays an important role when engaging viewers and users, especially in getting them to take a “call to action” whether that be to visit another page or purchase a product.
When discussing this extracurricular in your application, be sure to focus on the writing elements as much as you do the video or photo parts; after all, you’re applying as an English major! The closer your extracurricular description is to English and the art of writing, the better it is for your application to college!
Copywriting
A copywriter is a writer who writes text (called ‘copy’), often with the intention of promoting informational materials or marketing certain products or services. While copywriting is close to sales and marketing, it’s not limited to business-related things.
Students who wish to get into copywriting to build their extracurriculars should consider the multiple types of copywriting and which they gravitate towards the most. We’ve listed different types of copywriting students can get into as English majors.
- Technical Copywriting
- Creative Copywriting
- Brand Copywriting
- Email Copywriting
- Direct Response Copywriting
- B2C Copywriting
- B2B Copywriting
- Social Media Copywriting
Often, these extracurriculars involve students asking other existing companies for copywriting opportunities. As an example, you may ask your parent’s workplace to hire you as a creative copywriter who will increase their conversions. Or, you may ask an outside company if they are looking for a B2B copywriter who can write pieces aimed at other business owners.
But, if you’re looking for the best extracurriculars for English majors, they’re often from students who are self-starters. So, consider starting your own website and creating your own copy. It can be your own portfolio that you show admissions officers, which can impress them with your initiative and entrepreneurial spirit.
Of course, if you’re looking for help building a copywriting portfolio, consider speaking with us for extra help! We’d be happy to assist and give you step-by-step guidance!
Note: Direct Response copywriting is often associated with unethical practices. Examples include writing Direct Response copy for companies that sell timeshares, predatory loans, gimmicky health and wellness products, etc. Be careful of which institution or company you provide services for.
Yearbook
The same rules in Journalism apply to the Yearbook club. While Journalism can be great, be careful of popularity contests getting in the way of meritocracy.
Just because you land a solid editing position doesn’t mean admissions officers will be enamored. While leadership positions in Yearbook clubs hold some weight, it’s about what you’ve done for the club that truly matters.
Be sure to focus on the English elements of your Yearbook club. That is, how would you be conducting interviews with students? How do you help students create solid quotes for their graduation? How do you optimize writing quality to ensure both students and parents don’t cringe?
These are all important elements that make or break your Yearbook experience as a solid extracurricular for the English major.
When joining your school’s Yearbook club, be sure to put specific emphasis on your writing, copy, and interview process. Mention this when applying to colleges and putting your yearbook experience in the ECs list and college essay.
If you contribute to many pages of copy and optimize for readability, put this in your application as well. It demonstrates your ability to collaborate with other students, listen, and use empathy for writing compelling copy, and organizing
Remember also: the yearbook is a commodity of the school. The school sells it (and, for a rather high price at that!). The yearbook’s text and copy quality determine how likely students will be to purchase them. So, there is still to some degree a business and marketing element to editing a good yearbook!
Fiction Writing Competitions
This is quite straightforward. If you’ve got a passion for fiction writing, join some competitions!
One of the best things about fiction writing competitions is there’s not much competition. Of all the students, only a few have an interest in writing. Even fewer have the confidence to publish works of fiction. An even smaller fraction of those students would have the time of day to bother submitting content to compete.
This actually makes the pool of students you’re competing against quite small. Now, is it easy to win a fiction writing competition? Well, no. But, if you apply to many, you’ll maximize your chances of placing in at least one. And, realistically, that’s all you’ll really need to significantly boost your college application! Placing in a competition shows admissions officers a quantifiable measurement of your ability amongst the rest. Additionally, it demonstrates dedication to competing in your major. Most students can’t say the same!
We recommend creating a portfolio of short fiction pieces. Now, you can reuse and resubmit them to multiple competitions. Sure. But, take your time editing your work to ensure your submission is truly as strong as it can be.
Of course, if you need help with editing, don’t be afraid to ask us for help! Fiction editing is actually some of the most fun for us!
Sales/Marketing
Out of all the items on this list, an extracurricular in Sales/Marketing is perhaps one of the least English-related. Nonetheless, it can still serve a useful purpose.
In the world of sales and marketing, writing and editing are used to improve everything from the text in advertisements to the copy in emails. While this falls somewhat under the copywriting category, not all sales and marketing have to be writing-related.
In fact, a good number of sales and marketing experiences require you to use your speech and public speaking skills.
Some extracurriculars or side jobs you can do to boost your application include the following
- Tech Sales
- Door-to-Door Sales
- Deck Presentation
- Cold Emailing
- Cold Calling
These elements of Sales/Marketing are not limited to just writing or typing. They’re often times more speech-related. Nonetheless, they still count as a solid extracurricular for English majors. These extracurriculars demand a quick and thorough ability of articulation; so, they work well for impressing admissions officers when it comes time for college application season.
Additionally, if you decide to do more speech-related Sales/Marketing, consider recording your achievements and successes. For instance, keep track of how many successful closes you’ve made during cold calls. This allows you to provide quantifiable evidence of English articulation and speaking mastery to admissions officers, letting the numbers do the talking for you.
Business Courses or Workshops
This one is a bit difficult to do. So, disclaimer: most business courses and workshops you find online are not viable. They’re often not the best extracurriculars to put in your application as an English major, and they also don’t provide enough value to be considered rigorous or in-depth in training.
However, the keyword here is “most” and not all.
It does not mean business courses and workshops can’t be used as viable extracurriculars. In fact, they can actually work very well for English majors since the good courses and workshops are often very writing and articulation-heavy.
Aim for business courses and workshops that demand a lot of writing and linguistic processing skills. Ones that require you to do some level of copywriting, speech, deck presenting, and B2B proposals can work very well for you. While these are in the realm of business, they once again fall very closely to the English world. And, applied English concepts work very well for students looking for the best extracurriculars for English majors.
A solid business course or workshop does not have to be very long or very expensive either. It just needs to be thorough, informative, trustworthy, and rigorous enough to be considered an extracurricular activity.
While reliable business courses and workshops can be hard to find –especially since most of the non-gimmicky ones are local and limited to in-person spaces– we do help students locate business coaching and workshop programs that suit their individual skill levels and expertise. Some students who work with us have a lot of business knowledge, whereas others less so. We know which programs work best for whom; so if you or your child wish to know who to work with, feel free to consider speaking with us for customized recommendations based on your child’s needs!
Tutoring and Teaching
This is a classic for most English majors.
Tutoring and teaching is practically the quintessential extracurricular activity for students majoring in English. But fear not. This doesn’t mean tutoring or teaching is cliche. In fact, tutoring and teaching make for a great extracurricular to talk about in your application. This includes the college essays!
There are many different levels of English tutoring that you can teach. For some, they may enjoy teaching youths basic fundamentals of grammar and vocabulary. For others, they may enjoy helping other high school or college students grapple with difficult topics like persuasive essays. The inverse is also true. You can teach gifted and talented youths difficult concepts. Or, help older students who are struggling with English with basic English language fundamentals.
Don’t forget: there is A LOT of demand for students who are capable of helping ESL and non-first-language English speakers. If you speak a second language such as Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish, French, etc, you can use this to help non-native English speakers improve their skills. This is a massive boon for your college applications, especially since you’re navigating two linguistic communication objectives: speaking in their native tongue, and helping them transition from said native tongue to English.
Additionally, special ed is in its own camp. There are many special ed kids who can benefit a lot from additional English tutoring. And, having experience working with special ed or at-risk students actually works very well in showing admissions officers that you have more skills than just tutoring alone.
One good example of tutoring or teaching as an extracurricular is working at your school’s after-school program. Often, there are after-school programs that help students of all levels improve their academic performance. If you’re doing well in English classes, consider speaking with these after-school programs and requesting to help them.
Now, let’s say you’re good at a specific element of English (such as argumentative essays, analysis in AP Lit, grammar, etc) then you can also let these programs know you’re good at helping students with these subjects.
If you’re in high school, you can help students in exchange for community service hours. For college students, it makes for a good side hustle that rewards a pretty penny. Whether you’re making money or community service hours off of tutoring and teaching, it makes for a great extracurricular activity.
Note: tutoring isn’t just about throwing information at students and hoping that they retain it. The teaching process is sophisticated and requires teachers or tutors to analyze their students to assess their strengths and weaknesses. If you’re writing about tutoring or teaching in your college essays, consider all of the hard and soft skills required to truly help students comprehend information. This falls under learning sciences, which you can find more information about here.
Freelance Writing (paid)
Last but not least on this list is paid freelance writing.
Freelance writing can include just about any kind of writing that other people wish to commission you for. Someone may want you to help bring their fictional idea to life by hiring you to write a short novel. Or, they may need assistance in writing a legal letter because they can’t afford the premium rates of a prestigious law firm.
There are a multitude of freelance writing options out there that you can choose from. In fact, you likely can scour through Fiverr for ideas on freelance writing opportunities.
Now: we know what you’re thinking. Why does freelance writing have to be paid? Why not just do free freelancing for others if you’re just looking to boost your college applications anyway?
Well, it’s not that there’s anything wrong with writing for others for free just so you can boost your college apps. But, here’s a little industry secret: the more money you’re paid to do a job, the more authority it holds. Authority means the validity or “legitness” of your work. If a client is willing to pay you money for your labor, it means there’s to some degree an understanding of the value that you’re providing that is worth investing in. The more they’re willing to pay, the more inherent value is implied.
Here’s an example: let’s say you do 20 freelance writing projects for free for relatives. You put this in your application. That’s quite decent. But, let’s change it up now. Let’s say you did 10 freelance writing projects for relatives and were paid $500.00 per project. That’s a total of $5,000 that your skills demanded and successfully negotiated. Other people (the market) agreed that your time and writing skills were worth that much monetary value. This leaves a great impression on admissions officers.
In other words, any extracurriculars in your application that involve you earning money signals to admissions officers that your work is valuable enough to be considered worth monetizing by other people. It gives the extracurriculars in your application “street cred.”
Well, that’s it for our comprehensive guide to the best extracurriculars for English majors! If you’re still on the fence about which ECs to choose for you or your child, don’t worry! We can help! Consider scheduling a free consultation with us, and we’ll help you select extracurriculars that work best for your unique background and profile!