The Best Extracurricular Activities for College Applications in 2023

Besides listing a student’s accomplishments, college applications give hopeful candidates the opportunity to tell universities about themselves, to tell a story to admissions officers about their academic journey and scholarly potential. One of the core elements of the college application is a student’s extracurricular involvements. 

Whether they are the topic of a high schooler’s personal statement or a track record of a student’s commitment to service or self-improvement, extracurricular activities are often an applicant’s best opportunity to set themselves apart from the rest of the pack.

This section of the college application is also a chance for institutions to get to know you as a person––your interests, hobbies, and beliefs. For this reason, students should not concern themselves with covering every base in an attempt to appear “well-rounded,” but should instead focus on the activities that really speak to them.

Still, it can be helpful for students familiarizing themselves with the college application process to understand how higher learning institutions view different types of extracurricular activities, especially when considering how much time to spend on different involvements as a busy high schooler. 

Best Extracurriculars for College Admissions

What looks good on college applications? It’s the question on most high school students’ minds as they strive to perform well academically and excel in their extracurriculars. Students don’t need to worry about listing every single activity they have completed and may consider that doing so can clutter their college application.

To be intentional about the extracurriculars to highlight on a college application, you should understand what college will learn about you based on different out-of-school activities. There is no strict hierarchy of extracurriculars, but students will want to consider how they would like to come across to college admissions officers who are trying to make determinations about a candidate’s potential and their place within the university’s community. 

Internships

Internships are a nice way of demonstrating interest in a field of study, particularly if a college requires you to apply for a specific major or disciplinary school. For example, a student applying to the computer science department at a top university would benefit from an internship in which they used their programming skills to assist in a large-scale research project. The specific details of the internship are not as important as the display of proficiency and professionalism in your field of choice.

At the same time, students who have not completed high school internships are by no means at a disadvantage. Colleges understand that not all high schools advertise or encourage internships. Additionally, college is often the place where many students decide the field in which they are interested. So, if you have internship experience, great! But if not, don’t feel pressure to complete an internship just for the sake of adding it to your college application. 

For students interested in exploring internship opportunities as a high schooler, check out this post on online resources for locating high school internships.

Work Experience

Like internships, work experience is not a necessary nor expected component of the college application. Yet, for students who do have work experience, this can be a valuable extracurricular to note. Depending on the type of work you have completed, work experience can contribute to an admissions officer’s sense of your industriousness, management skills, or personability. 

Creative Projects

For some students, there is a subject that is so engrossing that they decide to devote their free time to developing a personal project outside of any traditional outlet. Though students may not pursue these endeavors with college admissions in mind, the college application can be a great place for candidates to show off their unique accomplishment and project planning skills. 

High school students who successfully execute a passion project demonstrate initiative, curiosity, and commitment. Additionally, high-achieving students may be conveying a certain scholarly aptitude for research or artistic ability in a certain medium.

A personal passion project is often the surest indication of a student’s interest in a particular field because it is self-motivated. Because they require a lot of start-up and dedication, creative projects are not an activity that college application readers are specifically searching for, but they can give any college application a real boost in their full realization. 

Leadership Activities

Many colleges look for leadership skills or potential in their applicants because they pride themselves on producing world-leading professionals. Thus, leadership activities can be some of the most important extracurriculars to include on your college application. 

From founding and leading a high school club to being the captain of your sports team, high school leadership experiences are a great way of letting colleges know that you are a seasoned communicator and work well with others. This is important to schools because they are interested in cultivating a vibrant, inclusive community. 

Not in a leadership role at your high school? Not to worry! Think of other ways that you can take an active role in your community and gain leadership experience. Many leadership roles emerge out of a longstanding commitment to an organization, whether it be in a volunteer group or other community institution. Identify the areas of your local area in which you would like to get more involved and partner with local groups to achieve your goals. 

Sports/Athletic Participation

Participation in sports, whether at school or on a club, is an extracurricular common across many high schoolers’ college applications. Because of this, students can come under the false impression that athletic participation is not a valuable element of their college application. 

On the contrary, consistent participation in a sport over several years is one of the strongest examples of commitment that a student can show to college application evaluators. It demonstrates discipline, team building, and a determination to achieve one’s goals. 

Moreover, a student’s athletic experience is what they make of it. It may be true that only a select few student athletes will earn university scholarships, but this does not mean that high school students who are not among this group should not feature their sport as a significant attribute of their college application. 

In fact, sports can often provide some of the most compelling narratives for students’ personal statements as long as they emphasize their unique experience in their sport. Sports are also a topic that students are well-equipped to write about since they tend to form a large part of high schooler’s identities. As a high schooler participating in sports, ask yourself “why have I dedicated my time to this activity?”, “what have I learned from regular training and competition?”, “what role does my sport play in my identity?” 

Travel

Yes, travel. Though this can seem like an activity unrelated to an applicant’s candidacy, certain types of travel can be beneficial to college applications. If a high schooler has studied abroad, they may have a greater knowledge of another culture or fluency in another language. 

High school students are encouraged to highlight places they traveled for the purpose of learning a skill or completing a task. This is not travel of the family vacation variety. Instead, students can show that they are proactive by attending programs that suit their interests or allow them a valuable opportunity in locations away from their hometowns. 

Longer stays in a location away from home can also provide evidence to college application readers of a student’s comfort level and ability to acclimate to a new environment. In particular, if this location is in the same region, or even on the campus of, a student’s school of interest, such a travel experience can serve as a sort of successful trial period for both the college and the student. 

Volunteer Work & Service

Discussed previously as a potential avenue for leadership opportunities, volunteer work and community service are themselves very valuable on a college application. First, volunteer positions often make project management and professional development accessible to high school students and are thus roles in which they can grow their skills and receive mentorship from trained adults. 

Equally important is a student playing an active role in their community. As a volunteer, high school students will work with a variety of stakeholders throughout their local neighborhoods to effect change and address pressing local issues. A high school student who is deeply involved in their community through volunteer service is, in the eyes of a college application reader, a college student who will be invested in the quality of their college community, both on campus and in the surrounding area. 

By spending time with other community members, you will also develop strong connections to people who can offer career advice or feedback on your college applications. Some of these relationships may even result in a compelling letter of recommendation! 

Technical Skills

While technical and computing skills are becoming more common among high school students, they are still relatively rare and can help applicants stand out on their college applications. Abilities like computer programming, data analysis and visualization, and web design are specialized skills that may increase an application reader’s sense of a student’s academic potential as well as enable students to immediately participate in more advanced research efforts. 

Having multiple technical skills in your toolkit also tell colleges that you are willing to learn new skills. If you have used these skills for a larger project, personal or otherwise, this also shows college application evaluators that you have practice applying your skills and thinking analytically. 

Students who are interested in acquiring some of these advanced technical skills are encouraged to explore a wide range of research programs and extracurricular courses where they can receive training in these important skills. The AI Scholars program at InspiritAI is one example of a course that teaches high school students about computer programming and its applications.