Hi, I’m an incoming junior at my high school! I was thinking about another club or two that I could join next year, and I’m considering choosing something out of DECA, Mock Trial, and Debate. I really love all three, but with my hectic schedule, I may only do one of them. I feel almost peer pressured to do DECA because I have a lot of (successful) friends that I look up to doing it, not to mention that it’s the biggest club on our campus and well known to be the “smart/successful kid club.” The DECA kids I know are fully infatuated and dedicated to the club. I did think about doing it as a sophomore, but I chose LEO Club instead. Is it too late for me to join something like this? I don’t want to do it if it’s just going to be a waste of my time, but I don’t want to feel left out either. Please help!
I can’t help you with your club selection, but I can tell you that junior year is not too late to start new activities. The hours you put into them and the experience you gain will help you with college admissions even though they are only participated in for a shorter time. Be sure to think about community service and summer activities too. My kids had a number of volunteer activities that were not long term or continuous but still added up and helped them to grow in different ways. If you pick activities that increase your knowledge and skills about things you are interested in or activities that help others, you are never wasting your time no matter what colleges think of them.
It should not be too late but I would start off by talking to the club advisor and try to get a sense of if you could make meaningful contributions to the club in your last two years of HS.
It’s not a waste of time if it’s something that would give you pleasure, in spite of the peer pressure thing.
If you’re counting on it to make a difference in college applications, let’s say you wouldn’t be the first student to suddenly find interest in “important” clubs as a junior thinking about applications.