The Secret to Impressive Extracurriculars

Not all extracurriculars are created equal. Some extracurriculars truly make applicants stand apart from their peers, such as developing a digital platform to help residents in your local community more easily request services from their local government. Others might make admissions officers see you as a good Samaritan, but nothing more. For instance, spending a summer simply serving food to unhoused people might feel good, but it doesn't demonstrate that you possess the skills or ambition to end world hunger. Admissions officers at top colleges want to admit students who will change the world. You can continue being a good Samaritan without a college education, but it would be very difficult to invent something or climb to a position of power where you can significantly impact world hunger without such an education.

Despite the gulf that exists between impactful extracurriculars and extracurriculars that don't impress admissions officers, there is something you can do to increase the persuasive impact that your current extracurriculars have on admissions officers.

Ask your supervisor or boss for more responsibility. No matter what you are doing, whether it's DECA, Key Club, working a service job, or volunteering at a shelter, asking for responsibility will help you become a stronger college applicant. More responsibility at the homeless shelter can open doors to becoming their logistics manager; more responsibility at Key Club can result in you being solely responsible for greatly increasing the number of members at your local chapter or redesigning its website to have faster loading times or better search engine optimization. By consistently asking for more responsibility, you immediately distinguish yourself from everyone else who isn't, thus making you a stronger applicant.

Colleges aren't looking for titles on your application; they are looking for results. Asking for more responsibility enables you to bypass the politics needed to acquire formal "leadership" positions and begin creating a distinguished impact in your current set of extracurriculars that will impress admissions officers. If a club or organization refuses to give you more responsibility, in our book, that is a sign that you should strongly consider leaving and using your time more impactfully elsewhere.

The bottom line is that extracurriculars that will impress admission officers involve leveraging specialized skills that are not commonly possessed—skills you've honed through years of hard work to create quantifiable results or positive impact on real people or organizations. Asking for more responsibilities, regardless of what you're currently doing, brings you one step closer to pursuing the type of extracurricular activities that truly resonate with admission officers and help you gain acceptance to your dream college.

If you need help planning out your extracurriculars, starting new ones, or making the most out of existing ones, schedule a complimentary consultation with an admissions expert today.