Stay Active: Top 5 Tips for Great Extracurriculars

Stay Active: Top 5 Tips for Great Extracurriculars

I’ve written about activities before (http://collegeappchick.com/?p=33) but I’ve never gotten into the nitty gritty of just what you should be doing with your extracurriculars.

With the way the CommonApp is changing, there’s going to be a huge shift in how you need to represent your extracurricular involvement. So to start on this, lets go with my top 5 tips for how to utilize your extracurriculars.

1.    Have at least 2 high commitment activities

To start out, have at least 2 high commitment clubs. These are clubs that you’ll list high on the importance scale, and likely the ones you’ll talk about in interviews and on “activity” essays.

Don’t just be a one trick pony who only does one thing. Do try your best to make your two high commitment activities slightly different. If you’re really involved in your high school’s Young Democrats don’t have your other high involvement activity be a local chapter of young democrats. Do something different. If you’re a Young Democrat, maybe you’re also a cross-country runner. If you’re on the kickline team, don’t have your only other high-commitment activity be a competitive dance team. Maybe you do that and the competitive dance team as your top 2 commitments, but you also do a lot of community service.

They don’t have to be as drastically different as my examples (see next item on the list) but you want to add some variety.   

*One exception to this rule is if you are an INCREDIBLY high-ranked or successful person in your field.

Examples: A near-Olympic level gymnast who practices 50 hours a week, or a professional actor who does equity shows while being a full time student.

2.    Have an angle (What will you add to the school?)

This may sound a bit like I’m contradicting my last point, but bear with me.

Have a PASSION.

Part of the reason that a school looks at your activity resume is because they want to know what you’re going to add to the community. They want a vibrant school with dancers, activists, LARP-ers, Quidditch players, baseball Players, Greek life, etc. etc. etc.

And they want to know where you’ll fit in. What clubs are you going to join at their school, what will you add to the community?

Which is why it’s best to have a strong angle. In high school you’re a Jock or a Theatre Kid, or a Science Olympiad, or whatever. This is a good thing.

Lets go back to my example from before, the Young Democrat. If you’re super interested in politics volunteer on a campaign or write political columns for the school newspaper. Be a strongly angled “politics” person. They know what you’re going to add to that community, they see your “brand” and they know what you’re about.
BUT: If you’re a strong politics person, don’t write your big essay about politics. Tell them something they don’t know.

Personal example, I was strongly angled towards the performing arts in high school. My top 3 activities in High School were drama club, chorus, and speech/debate tournaments. I had other non-performing activities, but those were my big ones.

The “Well-Rounded” thing is sort of a myth (another post for another day). Be triangular at most. Remember that a jack-of-all-trades is a master of none. You want to excel in one or two areas.

3.    Watch your hours/week counts

This goes back to my top 3 overall tips. DON’T EVER, EVER LIE. But especially don’t lie about your hours. They add up. If you’re doing 200 hours a week of activities, they’re not really going to believe you and it will reflect poorly on the rest of your application.

Example: Drama club was legitimately a 30-hour a week commitment for me in high school, but I only listed it as 20+. Unless you are an aforementioned “near professional” don’t go above that 20-hour mark in any given activity.

Another personal example, I was recently asked in an interview to go through my hours/week for my college activities. The woman was skeptical of the hours I gave (even though they were honest) and I told her, point blank, that I usually don’t eat lunch, I do grab and go dinner, and that I don’t often socialize during the week. You don’t get that chance to explain on your CommonApp.

4.    Stay Committed (long term) and increase difficulty

This is another point I’ll rehash.

Have long-term commitments to things. Don’t join a bunch of clubs junior year. Have a passion. Join things freshman and sophomore year and stick to them.

More than that, make commitments to these clubs. Be an officer or make huge contributions.

And increase the time you spend in the clubs. Take on more responsibility each year. Go from JV to Varsity on your sports teams. Be a captain of quiz bowl. Start ranking higher in your debate tournaments.
Show that you’ve improved and grown with your activities.

5.    Don’t be afraid to leave empty space

The final tip I’ll give you is that its okay to only have 2 or 3 clubs. Its best to have a few high commitments than a million varied low-commitment things (see previous jack of all trades comment).
If there are 10 lines for activities, and you only really have 4, that’s okay. Don’t list every show you’ve been in or every season of baseball as a separate thing just to fill up space. Be proud of what you’ve done. It’s all about quality, not quantity.

So there it is, 5 things to remember when you’re thinking about your extracurriculars.