I’m a sophomore in high school currently, and I’m wondering if there are any activities or extracurriculars that I can do that will help me show my interests. I think I want to study journalism and/or political science when I’m in college, so does anyone know of any extracurriculars that will help me follow this passion?
School newspaper, yearbook, speech and debate, mock trial, intern for your Congressman/woman, attend student advocacy trip to state/national capital.
Agreed, I would also add Model UN to the list, not every school has it. Don’t do them all; it’s better to do 2 or 3 activities well and really make a difference in/with them than 6 with ho-hum participation.
100%. Couldn’t agree more. Having a long list of activities is not nearly as impressive as showing success and passion for a smaller number.
I think at the end of the day, there’s no point in doing too many activities and being stretched too thin. Like the comments above, I think you should choose a few and then dedicate your time to it (ie. Speech and Debate and an internship at a local paper) because that passion and dedication WILL BE REFLECTED in your personal essays! If you have a laundry list of activities and dedicate too little time to each one, your essays will often come out very generic or not indicative of your deep passion.
You have it backwards. You don’t do ECs to “show your interest”. You do ECs which allow you to engage in your interests. If Journalism interests you, find a way in which to engage in journalism.
Trying to impress colleges doesn’t impress colleges. Taking classes and doing ECs to tick off the “right” boxes is very easy to spot.
Have you been engaged in your high school’s newspaper? Have you contacted any journalists and asked them what experiences there are for high school students?
In general, for the best way to engage in any specific field or direction which interests you, you should contact people who work in those fields. Alternatively, contact professors who teach those fields in college.