Hey, I am a sophmore at high school and my counselor told me that being in extracurricular activities/ being in leadership roles are essential to getting in a good college. I was wondering if there are any specific clubs that I could start that look good on a college application.
Thanks
Hello from a fellow student from the class of 2020! Overall, it depends on what your school offers and what you like.
In general, service clubs both look good and are for a good cause.
Consider Key Club, Interact Club, and Student Council.
Do you like academic clubs and competing against other schools?
Try Quiz Bowl, Science Olympiad, Academic teams such as Academic Super Bowl or American Decathlon, Math Team/Club, or Spell Bowl.
Do you like public speaking or government?
Speech, Debate, Model UN, and similar might be good options.
Thinking about going into business or finance?
Maybe try DECA.
Are you thinking about going into a STEM-related career?
You could join your school’s VEX or BEST robotics team, join a computer programming club, or your school’s medical club/program if interested and if your school has such a thing.
Are you in a sport, or do you think you have the time and athletic capabilities to join a team?
Do you enjoy music programs and extra-curriculars in or outside of school?
Do you have a passion for working with peers with special needs? Best Buddies is a great opportunity if you are.
None of these extra-curriculars would look bad on college applications. Involvement in student government is another activity that looks good. More important than the club itself is your investment in it. If you can show investment and possibly have a leadership position in any club, this is always better than just joining activities to make your application look better. Of course, not every school has a plethora of activities to choose from, so you can’t be penalized for, say, not doing Speech and Debate if your school doesn’t have a debate team. Another option that might be available is creating a club. It doesn’t even have to be an “academic” club. At my school, for example, students have taken the initiative to create a rock climbing club, a baking club, a reading club, and a competitive paintball club. While these aren’t traditional “academic” clubs, they show the initiative and interest of the students that went to the effort of creating a new club, and as a plus, you’d likely be able to hold a leadership position in your new club if you were successfully able to create one.
Good luck and hope this gave you some ideas!
I almost forgot to mention, activities outside of school are often considered extra-curricular activities as well. These could range from recreational sports to piano/music lessons to regular volunteering for another organization to working on publications outside of school. Hope this helps.
Do what interests you. You don’t have to stick to activities at school. Colleges kind of see through “starting a club”.
Do what you want to do and what interests you. No need to start your own club just for leadership positions
“specific clubs that I could start that look good on a college application.”
Why reinvent the wheel? They aren’t looking for inventors. Some of the best experiences are where you join exisiting efforts, do things that are collaborative, stretch you, or offer you ways to serve others, directly, in your own community. Go look into the sorts of attributes your possible target colleges value, look for. It’s not just about doing what you want. Nor is it just about titles.
But what sort of colleges do you think you may aim for? Not all care to the same degree.
The main point of EC’s is for colleges to see who you are beyond the school work and stats. So choose ECs that interest you and not for any other purpose. That way you’ll be more likely to stick to the EC and you’ll be more committed to it because you are genuinely interested rather than let’s say you did it just to look impressive on the college application. Good luck!
never do anything that doesn’t interest you. clubs are a good way to learn new things, gain more experience, gain more skills, and meet new people.
are you interested in STEM? join math team, science olympiad, comp sci club, robotics, etc.
are you interested in liberal arts? join history club, quiz bowl, etc.
do you like helping people? join a service club!