Key Takeaways
Almost half of schools consider extracurriculars "moderately to considerably important," according to a study by the National Association for College Admission Counseling.
There isn't any magical list of extracurriculars that will make you a shoe-in at your chosen college.
Admissions officers want to understand who you are as a person. Impact, investment, commitment, and engagement matter.
Strong academics and test scores show admissions officers you're capable in class, but extracurriculars on your college application give more insight into why you're a good fit for the school.
Colleges look for well-rounded students with a strong mix of good grades, a wide range of interests, and volunteer hours. However, schools want to build a diverse student body, and a cookie-cutter approach to how students present themselves contradicts that aim.
There is no such thing as the "right" set of extracurriculars. The best approach is to focus on pursuits that reflect your passions and bolster your strengths. Some admissions experts recommend developing a particular "hook" or unique selling point, and building your activity list around that.
10 Best Extracurriculars for College
1. School-Based Activities
Involvement in programs your school offers that align with your interests typically reflect well in a college application. Being part of student leadership at school clubs or organizations can showcase valuable skills such as:
Project management
Decision making
Conflict resolution
Activities such as debate teams, robotics clubs, or math competitions will all help underscore your intellectual curiosity and ability to handle pressure.
Competitive schools will likely have many applicants who participated in school-based programs. The key to stand out is how you sell it. Rather than a generic "Led the student yearbook committee," a dynamic description emphasizing impact and skill development will help you stand out.
Something like "I managed the editorial team, set art and content deadlines around the school's event calendar, and incorporated yearbook software for the first time," has much more zing to it.
2. Research-Based Activities
If your interests align with STEM subjects, experience around research will be a great talking point. Aside from school programs or science fairs, don't be afraid to think bigger and leverage whatever resources you may have.
Reach out to teachers at your school and see whether they can point you toward research or internship opportunities. Contact local research labs, and even try cold emailing professors nearby. Even "citizen science" projects can connect you to potential bigger things.
3. Part-Time Jobs
Adding your after- or out-of-school job as one of your extracurriculars serves a double purpose. One, it helps explain why you may have had less available time to dedicate to other activities, and it demonstrates:
Time management
Maturity
Work ethic
Easily transferable skills
Make sure to focus on achievements and how the experience helped you grow as an individual or a leader. And, if you were employed for a specific reason, such as contributing to the family budget or to save money for school, this can also help reinforce your responsibility.
Responsibilities and Circumstances
If you're applying to schools through the Common App, the most widely used college application system in the country, you can fill out one application and send it to up to twenty schools at once from its +1,000 list of participating colleges and universities.
The app also allows you to explain your household or familial commitments under a separate question called Responsibilities and Circumstances in the Activities and Honors section.
Colleges want to see students holistically, in context. They want to understand your accomplishments, of course, but also the circumstances in which you achieved them.
4. Performing and Visual Arts
If you're pursuing an education in the arts, your application likely already shows your passion and experience via a portfolio or audition tape. However, pairing that with an award, such as a Scholastic Gold or Silver Key or Scholastic Art and Writing Awards National Medal (for students looking to enroll in creative writing, visual arts, or other humanities programs) can help you stand out.
YoungArts also offers annual awards for dance, classical music, design, photography, film, and more. Arts mentoring programs can also be a great addition to your application, while developing your portfolio.
The point is to demonstrate artistic development, an ability to take feedback, and dedication to your craft.
5. Community and Volunteering
Students used to be able to demonstrate civic responsibility by completing volunteer hours. However, the truth is that simply pencilling in a few hours every week or month at your local community center comes across as an obligation rather than a commitment.
Spending time giving back to your community is absolutely a worthwhile endeavor, but it should ideally align with your educational and career goals. If you're interested in veterinary health, volunteer at a shelter or in wildlife conservation
Starting community initiatives can also be a great way to showcase your skills, particularly when you can point to measurable results. Some examples include:
Digital literacy initiative for the elderly at your local library
Composting program for a community garden
Coding club with a regional hackathon
6. Social Activism
As with every other activity on this list, make sure you're not just checking an imaginary box. If there's a cause you truly believe in, organizing and participating in activism can demonstrate critical thinking skills, exposure to different backgrounds, leadership, and a bias to action.
Stuffing envelopes or putting together press packets are not going to look great on your application. Measurable impact matters. Some great additions can include:
Putting on a conference
Bringing in a speaker
Raising money for a cause
7. Internships
Demonstrable commitment to an area of interest is one of the things that admissions officers will weigh the heaviest. An internship can be an excellent asset to feature in your list of extracurriculars. Not only will it let you explore and gain some experience in a prospective career path, it can help you understand the different roles available to you in a particular field.
Remember to fill in the organization, your title, hours worked, and use active descriptors of your tasks, emphasizing the impact you had. Even if it only lasted a summer, presenting your experience as valuable — both to yourself and the organization you worked at — is what matters.
8. Entrepreneurial Activities
While this may not be for everybody, launching your own business or growing an existing one can be a great hook, especially if you're applying to a business program (though it can also demonstrate a wide range of skills that are useful for many other academic pursuits). Entrepreneurshiprequires initiative, problem solving, and resourcefulness developed via real-world challenges.
However, when you're writing it out, make sure to use approachable language and focus instead on the story behind your business. Mentioning how you're filling a gap in the market is fine, but describing how you met a challenge with initiative is better. The "why" builds a stronger story than the "what."
9. Unique Personal Projects
This can be any number of things:
Producing a successful YouTube podcast
Building a cycling route app for your area
Developing a drag persona and performing
Training to be a yoga teacher
You'll note that some of these might fall under other categories on this list. However, the distinctive feature of a personal project is that it's usually focused on self-driven goals and growth, even if it may have tangible benefits for others.
Remember, admissions officers care about what your project says about your character and potential.
10. Athletics
This is a tricky one. If your college is not recruiting you on the basis of your athletic ability, the key here is to highlight difficulty or skill level and involvement and impact. On your application, make sure you identify:
Your hard work
Leadership positions (if applicable)
Personal or skill growth
Time investment
How to Add Your Extracurriculars to the Common App Activities List
Most students applying to several four-year colleges and universities will do so via the Common App, which allows you to fill out one standard form and send it to 20 schools at a time (from their 1,000-plus-school searchable database).
The application has 10 spaces for extracurriculars, for each of which you'll add your role, the name of the organization, and have 150 characters to explain the activity. You'll also be asked to input an approximate number of hours per week, and then the weeks per year.
As we've mentioned above, it's important to maximize your use of that limited space, though you do have the option of using the Additional Information box in the Writing section to share more details.
Tips for the Biggest Impact
Order your extracurriculars from most to least meaningful. By this we mean those in which you've participated in the longest, have a significant role in, relate to your choice of major, or spend the most time doing.
Use dynamic, impactful language. Think about action verbs, focus on your why, share specific challenges and how you overcame them, and consider what you learned. Try to avoid corporate jargon such as audited, outpaced, allocated, yielded and the like.
While you have ten spaces, don't feel pressured to include everything you did. Three to five activities is absolutely fine, if they represent you accurately and showcase your passion and skills.
What Extracurriculars Are Overrated?
There's not really any such thing as an overrated or underrated extracurricular. The rule of thumb is to choose your activities because they fulfill and challenge you. Even something that might be considered quirky or left field such as LARPing or being a D&D dungeon master can be a great addition, so long as it's framed correctly.
That said, beware of adding things simply to fill out each available row, and be wary of how some activities may present a negative picture or not do much to help you stand out. Yearly vacations to the Aegean can come across as privileged. Participation in classic school activities like Model UN, Debate or Math Club can be fine, again, as long as you can describe them in a way that makes you stand out.
Even a hobby can make for a good story about you. Say you're an enthusiastic amateur baker and start a web series where you make every Great British Baking Show Technical Challenge along with the bakers competing that season. If you paint this as dedication, growth, and something that produced transferable skills, you're golden.
The most important thing in this section is that you present yourself as a unique candidate, with your list telling a cohesive story about who you are and what interests you.
Frequently Asked Questions On The 10 Best Extracurriculars For College
Academic performance is the most important factor in your college application, which boils down to a combination of your grade point average (GPA) and your test scores. While admissions officers will take your extracurriculars into consideration, how much weight they give them will depend on the school. A good tip is to check if your schools of choice have filled out the Common Data Set form, where they list and rate the different factors they take into account during the admissions process, from Very Important to Not Considered.
