College applications are becoming increasingly more competitive so it’s important to start thinking about college early in your high school career. Extracurricular activities are an important factor for your college applications, especially as you brainstorm ways to stand out to colleges. 

This is because extracurriculars and clubs help demonstrate your passions, interests, values, and personality to college admissions committees. College essays and extracurricular activities also help personalize the admissions process, especially at highly-selective institutions. If you’re wondering what clubs look good on college applications or how many extracurriculars for college, read on!

Start thinking about your college applications now. Plan ahead by considering what extracurricular activities look good on college applications. Discuss opportunities with your high school guidance counselor, teachers, coaches, and mentors. Don’t be afraid to ask for help with college applications. You may even consider hiring a college counselor, especially since college acceptance rates for the class of 2026 have decreased significantly. 

In this article, we will discuss tips for college applications, as well as some of the best extracurriculars for college applications. Learn more about how to stand out to colleges and put together a competitive college application!

Academic clubs

Joining academic clubs is a great way to enrich your high school career while actively preparing for college. Through your involvement with these high school clubs, you will gain opportunities to make meaningful friendships and forge productive, working relationships with your academic advisors. 

It is important to foster meaningful connections with teachers early in your high school career who will be able to write thorough and thoughtful college recommendation letters during your senior year of high school. This is an important tip for college applications, especially as you consider how to stand out on college applications.

Consider joining one (if not several) of the following clubs in order to pursue personal interests, develop your passions, and impress college admissions committees as you start thinking about your college applications. Check in with your teachers and high school counselor about extracurricular activities offered through your school. 

The following gallery includes some of the best extracurriculars for college applications. Use this to start brainstorming about what clubs are good for college. 

Art, music, and performance

Colleges want to admit passionate students who invest in their dreams. For many students, the arts play an important role in their lives outside of academics. Students with significant performance experience exhibit confidence and professionalism, and are often skilled at public speaking.

College admissions committees want to admit diverse, vibrant student bodies. If you are wondering what are good extracurriculars for college applications, involvement in the arts is an important factor for many colleges. 

Many schools recruit talented student performers with the expectation that students will continue their artistic and musical involvement during their college careers. Vocalists, instrumentalists, actors, poets, and visual artists can offer a lot to their future college communities in terms of cultural enrichment.

The following list includes creative extracurricular activities suitable for artists, musicians, writers, and actors. Use this list to gain inspiration and start brainstorming ways to actively prepare for your college applications and learn how to stand out to colleges. 

  • Concert band
  • Jazz band
  • Marching band
  • Orchestra
  • Chorus
  • Solo music projects
  • Music lessons
  • Musical theater
  • Art lessons
  • Art club
  • Drama club
  • Theater set design
  • School radio
  • Slam poetry

Leadership opportunities

College admissions officers want to admit students who are serious about their personal and academic goals and are able to take the initiative. This is why it is important to showcase your leadership skills in your college applications, especially as you start thinking about what makes you stand out to colleges as you move forward with your college applications.

College applications can be incredibly competitive, especially if you are interested in attending an elite institution such as an

Ivy League college. Leadership positions and opportunities are a great way to demonstrate your passion, commitment, and dedication while helping you learn how to stand out to ivy league colleges.

There are lots of leadership opportunities to pursue in high school. Some high school clubs naturally foster leadership abilities through the nature of the club. This is often the case with extracurriculars and clubs involving student government, mock trials, model congress, or other related activities. 

Another way to pursue leadership opportunities is by acting as an executive officer for a high school club. These roles often include acting as the president, vice president, secretary, or treasurer.

There are countless ways to demonstrate your leadership abilities. The list to the right includes some of the best extracurriculars for college that will help you gain leadership experience as you continue to prepare for your college career. 

Athletic participation

Many prestigious schools recruit talented student-athletes; this is especially the case for Ivy League schools. Being recruited is an important aspiration for many high school athletes. This is not the only way, however, that athletic participation can enhance your college application. 

Participation in sports can highlight important values such as hard work, determination, teamwork, and a desire for excellence. Athletic coaches can be valuable resources for students as well, especially when considering who to ask for personalized college recommendations.

There are countless ways to participate in athletics during high school. As is the case with all extracurriculars and clubs, continued involvement throughout your high school career will help demonstrate commitment, passion, and responsibility. 

The following list includes popular athletic extracurricular activities. Learn valuable life skills about teamwork, hard work, and communication by joining a team!

  • Soccer
  • Football
  • Baseball
  • Softball
  • Basketball
  • Cheerleading
  • Dance
  • Gymnastics
  • Swim team
  • Track and field
  • Fencing
  • Golf
  • Tennis
  • Martial arts
  • Skiing
  • Hockey
  • Water polo
  • Yoga
  • Lacrosse
  • Volleyball

Volunteer opportunities

There are countless ways to invest in your community by pursuing various volunteer opportunities. Giving back to your community is an important way to demonstrate passion and initiative. Volunteer opportunities can also grant your college application a competitive edge, especially as you consider how to stand out to ivy league colleges. 

Working with professionals and organizations in your community can be an important opportunity for personal, academic, and professional growth. These opportunities could also result in meaningful college recommendation letters, as well as potential employment or internships.

Demonstrate your passion and commitment by including various volunteer opportunities on your college applications. The examples to the right will give you some good ideas to get started!

Work experience and internships

Internships and part-time and/or summer jobs can help you stand out to colleges on your college applications. These opportunities will help demonstrate personal initiative, responsibility, maturity, and commitment. Jobs and internships can also help expose you to potential career options, as well as present you with valuable networking opportunities, as you transition into college and start thinking more seriously about your potential career. This is an important tip for college applications. 

The possibilities for employment and internships are endless. Do your research and see what’s available in your area. Reach out to teachers, your high school guidance counselor, coaches, mentors, and other professionals in your life to find out more about opportunities that may be available to you in order to help with college applications and learn how to stand out to colleges. 

Consider pursuing an internship at a library, museum, education center, hospital, publication, or research center. There may be opportunities for one-on-one mentorships available to you as well, whether you are interested in the arts, sciences, finances, media, or more. 

Key takeaways and moving forward

Academics, class ranking, college essays, and SAT scores are all important college admissions factors. Extracurricular activities and clubs, however, are equally important. This is why it is important to be involved in your community through your involvement in academic clubs, the arts, athletics, leadership opportunities, volunteer opportunities, internships, and work experience. 

College admissions officers appreciate students who commit to clubs, teams, and extracurricular activities all four years of high school. This is because continued involvement shows passion, commitment, and responsibility. When thinking about how many extracurriculars for college, focus instead on how to best contribute meaningfully to a few extracurricular activities. This is among the top tips for filling out college applications.

College essays and extracurricular activities are important ways to share personal details on the Common App. It’s important to use every opportunity available to you to personalize your college applications and give admissions committees a reason to want to admit you to their college. This is especially true today, as applications become increasingly more competitive.

As you continue your high school career, make goals for yourself and seek out additional college planning resources to help with college applications. If you feel like you could benefit from professional, individualized assistance, reach out to learn more about our services.

Choosing your college major is an important step into your college experience. Not only are you trying to decide what career you want to venture into, but the world is constantly changing so there are many new opportunities evolving. New companies are started, technology is constantly advancing, and one job now could become irrelevant in the next few years. These are just a few examples of why choosing your college major is important. 

Ideally, students should choose a college major or program that they are interested in. This will in turn reward them for working a job that they enjoy doing. However, most students choose a career path that will eventually make them a significant amount of money. Consider thinking of careers that provide a steady income, job, and personal satisfaction for yourself. While looking into these career choices, there are also degrees that are in demand for the near future. Let’s take a look at what exactly that means. 

When you look at the most in-demand majors or programs, you are considering opportunities that have specific needs and that will never go away. For example, there will always be a need for doctors, nurses, and engineers. The career standards may change because medicine is always evolving, but the need for people in this kind of workforce will always remain. There are a lot of opportunities in the high-demand workforce.

Moving into the best college majors and programs in 2022, we’ve conducted a list of the most popular and demanding ones. Needless to say, if you are having trouble finding the best major or program for you, this list is all you need. Let’s jump into it! 

01

Software engineering

This major teaches you how to design and develop software programs before sending them to customers. One can expect a heavy emphasis on math when considering this degree. Another thing you will encounter when choosing this major is building software for operating systems, designing databases, and more computer architecture.

There are many benefits to choosing a software engineering major. Some of those benefits are learning the basics of programming, understanding the lifecycle of software, becoming a better leader, understanding emerging technology, and understanding ethical and security concerns. The specific career opportunities that would be open to you are a software developer or software engineer.

Since computer hardware architecture is constantly evolving and changing, there will always be jobs for software engineers and developers. Whether they’re updating existing software or installing new hardware and software, the demand for software engineering majors will continue to grow.  

02

Biology

When considering an undergraduate degree in biology you will be easily set off for a career in medicine. Some of these careers include nursing or a physician’s assistant. However, remember to read all the job requirements because most medical work requires graduate work. Additionally, a biology major will help you set up the basic demands for this field of work.

There is a high demand for this career type. You’ll be starting off your career with a strong outlook when you choose a biology degree. Some other benefits to choosing this subject as your major are that you are opening up chances for opportunities, it is easily accessible for pre-health advising, you have access to peer mentoring, and you are setting yourself up for a premedical curriculum. 

The career path of a nurse or physician’s assistant is always in high demand. The human population is constantly aging and needing medical care. They seek professional’s opinions and help with their age-related questions. They are looking for ways to improve their quality of life, and in turn, hospitals will seek medical professionals. There will always be opportunities for people to find a career in the medical world.   

03

Data science

What you can expect out of a data science major is learning how to examine and analyze data for specific information and organizes it into reports. This is how you learn to program languages and visualization software to help businesses and governments make sense of all the data they collect.

Some career choices that coincide with having a data science degree are a data scientist, enterprise architect, or statistician. Some of the benefits that you can find when having a data science degree are helping organizations find the best time to sell products, as well as where to sell them. You would also be helping companies launch their products at the right time to improve customer experiences.

Data science is one of the newer majors to take off with importance, and we see it growing in demand rapidly. Businesses are constantly collecting data and want to use it to convert into ways to capture more sales and revenue based on buying habits. However, most companies need someone to analyze the data for them. This is a way you can easily make sense of it all for them.  

04

Accounting

Accounting is one of the best majors for 2022 because all reports indicate healthy, stable market growth. Accounting majors learn versatile skills they can use in most financial departments and workplaces. They learn accounting competencies and advanced financial skills, and they also learn how to maintain financial records and understand financial skills.

With an accounting degree, you can easily find careers as an accountant, financial analyst, or auditor. You can benefit from this degree by having a better understanding of finances, the growing demand that accountants have, opportunities for advancements, the ability to start your own business, and an understanding of taxation and business law.

The good thing about obtaining a financing degree is that you shouldn’t have trouble finding a long-term career because businesses are always in need of someone to manage their money and cash flow.  

05

Cyber security

Companies are increasingly reliant on technology for every aspect of their business. With this increased reliance comes the increased need to protect organizations from digital attacks and keep their information safe. Cybersecurity majors learn all about the complex world of information security. They learn what it takes to safeguard computer systems, networks, and data. They also gain hands-on experience learning about cloud security, digital forensics, hacking, and risk management. The coursework uses computer science, information systems, and mathematics to help students address cybersecurity challenges.

Your career choices with a degree in cyber security are security engineer, chief information security officer, or IT security manager. Some additional benefits to having a cyber security degree are fast-growing career opportunities, learning basic computer skills, learning management and leadership skills, and networking opportunities present themselves. This major is an opportunity for unique ways to make a difference. 

06

Game design

Did you know students with a passion for gaming can turn it into a lucrative career? As gaming becomes increasingly popular, so does the demand for game design majors. Students in this major learn the basics of creating video games and applications, coding, and software development skills.

With a game design degree, you can become a game designer, software developer, or application developer. Some other perks that come with these jobs and having a game design degree are using your creative and analytical skills, working in an enthusiastic and creative environment, and you have the opportunity to help people have fun.

07

Hospitality management

The hospitality management major teaches students the skills they need to be leaders in the hospitality industry. They learn risk management, marketing, managing resources, and innovative problem-solving techniques. In addition to a bachelor’s degree, hospitality management majors can earn specialized certifications in areas like executive leadership, event management, travel and tourism, and restaurant management.

Some career choices you can achieve by studying for a hospitality management degree are Restaurant Mgr, Hotel Mgr, Event Coordinator, or Human Resources Mgr, Event Planner. There are a subsequential amount of benefits that come with earning this type of degree. Some of them are working in a dynamic industry, inspiring innovation in the hospitality industry, there are global opportunities, and you can learn a lot of in-demand skills. 

The Importance of Taking a Personality Assessment Before Applying to College
08

Pre-law

While the legal job market isn’t growing as fast as other job markets, the one area that could see an increase in career opportunities is elder law. This type of law focuses primarily on vulnerable, elderly individuals. A degree in pre-law (or even political science, history, English, or philosophy) will prepare aspiring lawyers for law school because it offers a broad overview of humanities and the social sciences.

The benefits of obtaining a pre-law degree are demonstrating your commitment to law school, a chance at a higher LSAT score, learning well-rounded social skills, and helping you with advancement into becoming a lawyer. 

09

Aerospace engineering

An aerospace engineering major uses math and science to help them understand the basics of flight and space travel. They use this knowledge to design and develop newer, safer, more robust aircraft, spacecraft, and missiles. Their studies also include aerodynamics, launch, flight controls, and engines.

With an Aerospace Engineering degree, you have the potential to get a job as an Aircraft/Spacecraft Designer, Military Aerospace Engineer, Inspector, Compliance. The demand for this career choice has increased 9% over the last few years. There are more benefits that come with choosing this career as your major, and those are understanding aircraft mechanics, the physics of a functioning aircraft, and helping with the advancement and innovation of aircraft. 

10

Financial technology

Financial technology, also known as Fintech, majors are starting to pop up at universities worldwide. As one of the newest and fastest-growing job sectors in finance, fintech majors are looking at a robust job market. Students who study this exciting new career path focus on themes like financial analysis and blockchain technology.

This career has a high demand of 25% within the next few years. Some job options are Blockchain Developer, Apps Developer, or Quantitative Analyst. Some benefits that come with this degree are funding becomes more obtainable, there’s a boost in efficiency, financial operations are more consistent, and you learn quality people skills.

Key take-aways of choosing the right college major for you

In conclusion, as high school students are venturing into career choices and what kind of job interests them, they should choose what they’re interested in or excel at. There is no shortage of career opportunities, but make the choice that is best for you. Happy career choosing! 

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