Creating an extracurricular strategy

College admission representatives regularly declare that they want students to “follow their passion.” But most students do not know what they are passionate about early in their high school career. The most successful students are generally those who do something that they are interested in, for an extended period of time. They may not be great at first, but it is something they enjoy doing, and they invest their time and energy into it. Eventually, they become more talented in that discipline and their interest becomes a passion.

It is impossible to predict or plan what a student’s extracurricular trajectory will look like year by year, because students’ interests evolve so much throughout each year. The best approach is for the student to get involved in a few things he or she enjoys. And students should not be afraid to drop activities they do not like (or are not very good at) – but if students drop an activity, they maybe want to try some other activity in its place. Further, students don’t need to tell colleges about every activity he or she tried and then dropped! Students only need to tell colleges about those activities that they stuck with for two, three or four years – obviously, those are the activities that are much more meaningful and enjoyable to the student.

How do you make the most of those activities that you enjoy and stay involved in for multiple school years? Students should try to think about how to make their experiences unique and help to evolve the organizations that they are a part of.

Admissions officers have read thousands of essays about debate, Spanish club, soccer and robotics. And there is nothing wrong with any of these organizations! In fact, please join them (if they are of interest to you). But on top of these more commonplace activities, try to be the type of applicant who studied rare insects in the desert, or established a partnership between her school and a local animal shelter, or created a documentary about homelessness in his city, or performed extensive research on the history of her town/school.

Stephen has 10+ years of admissions experience at Cornell University and Princeton University. He is a founder at AcceptU, an admissions counseling group comprised entirely of former admissions officers from highly selective colleges and universities. For questions or to learn more about AcceptU, contact Stephen (stephen@acceptu.com, 617-424-0700) or visit www.AcceptU.com.

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