Importance of Extracurricular Activities: Advice From College Advisors

If you’re in highschool, you might be wondering why extracurricular activities are important. To put it briefly, the clubs, sports, and societies you get involved with outside of regular class hours can be a great way to build skills and strengthen your academic resume before applying to college.

We asked four top college advisors, all members of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), to answer popular questions about the importance of extracurricular activities and how a student's extracurriculars influence college decisions. Each advisor shared their best tips and observations on how students can leverage their extracurricular experience when preparing for college.

Why Are Extracurricular Activities Important To Colleges?

Students and parents alike may wonder why colleges like to see extracurricular activities on a student’s resume. Dr. Dave Bergman responds: “When students become deeply involved in one or two activities, they’re demonstrating qualities like leadership, commitment, responsibility, and a willingness to connect with others in a positive way. These attributes help signal to admissions officers that an applicant would make a solid addition to a campus community. Further, research shows that students who are involved outside of the classroom go on to have greater post-secondary academic success.”

What Are The Best Extracurricular Activities For College Applications?

When students ask “What are the best extracurricular activities?” Joan Hahn poses a question of her own: “I like to start by asking my students, ‘If you had four hours on an idle Saturday afternoon, how would you spend your time?’ I get all kinds of interesting answers. I encourage them to be mindful of what they naturally gravitate toward because I think it offers important wisdom about their interests or what motivates them.”

Extracurricular participation is not about the quantity of activities, but the content and what kind of value you’re gaining from each. Be intentional about the things you want to do. When selecting an extracurricular activity, ask yourself: what excites me?

At the same time, 9th and 10th graders should be willing to take risks and try different things. That’s what those couple of years are for. And when you find those two or three things that really stick with you, then pursue them with depth, integrity, and enthusiasm.

How Many Extracurriculars Do Students Need?

Once you’ve chosen an activity or two, you (or your student) may wonder, “How many extracurriculars should I have?” Dr. Dave Bergman responds with a word of caution: “The potential pitfall for high school students is when students overextend themselves, filling every waking hour of the day with some type of structured activity. Not only will this do little to help you on the admissions front, but it will likely leave you gasping for air and with little time for other essential aspects of teenage life.”

Do Colleges Want Well-Rounded Students?

Since participating in a variety of extracurricular activities can make a student more well-rounded, a term used often in a student’s high school years, it may be tempting to go all in and try everything. But is that still something colleges look for? Dr. Joan Franklin says: “Things have changed. [College admissions] used to be about being well-rounded and now the term people use is ‘pointy.’ You want to be authentic and go with your passion.”

Instead of looking for the quantity of extracurricular activities, these days colleges look at a student’s length of involvement, level of involvement, and leadership. Did you move up in the organization? Did you take on leadership roles? Were you passionate about it? And college admissions officers prefer to see student leaders rather than someone who is in every sport and club.

6 Benefits of Extracurricular Activities

Here are the 6 benefits of partaking in extracurricular activities during high school.

No. 1 Extracurriculars Tell an Authentic Story

“There’s a desire for authenticity and a level of passion that schools want to see. Mostly they don’t really care what that passion is, only that there’s something a student is passionate about, whether that’s music, social activism, or taking care of your grandmother. If your extracurricular shows something about your authenticity and your passion, that says something about your character,” says Franklin.

Leading back to the first question we talked about in this article, an important question to ask yourself is “what are extracurricular activities that pique my interest?” And, what do you enjoy doing?

No. 2 Extracurriculars Help Students Build College Skills

Sumaiya Olatunde believes extracurricular participation teaches students how to balance competing responsibilities. She responds: “Part of the lesson is being able to participate in extracurricular activities while balancing other responsibilities, such as schoolwork, family obligations or even vacation time. Ideally, a student would learn a variety of skills, including time management, accountability, leadership, working with others or independently, and problem solving skills. This is great preparation for students to attend college because the transition from high school to college is abrupt and often leaves students feeling overwhelmed.

Additionally, extracurricular activities help prepare students for future internships and employment as well as inform colleges about an applicant’s interests, goals and preparedness for the college. That being said, it’s important that a student enjoys the activities they’re involved in. It can give them an opportunity to regularly experience joy and success.”

No. 3 Extracurricular Activities Are a Safe Space to Make Mistakes

Hahn responds: “My students are different now than they were four years ago. I think there’s a lot more advocacy that we’re doing. Students are finding their resiliency a little bit later and may need a little more help to figure things out. Extracurriculars allow them to learn, to make mistakes, and realize mistakes are actually the learning opportunities where we find our most growth. And extracurriculars help them learn how to deal with disappointment – you don’t always get what you want. That’s where the really great lessons come from.”

No. 4 Extracurriculars Help Develop Leadership Qualities

Sumaiya Olatunde, says “The benefits of extracurricular activities depend largely on the role that the student plays in the activity and how much effort they put into the experience.”

Franklin underscores the importance of demonstrating student leadership experience: “Colleges want to train leaders. They want kids who started thinking about leadership in high school and are going to continue with leadership in the college community and beyond. Any extracurricular where you can move up and have some leadership roles is very helpful both in terms of your college application and in terms of your experience being a leader.”

No. 5 International Extracurricular Experiences Build Confidence

“I love extracurricular activities that take students outside of their communities. That’s an important experience to have in high school because that’s like a preview of what college will be like,” says Franklin.

Hahn explains the growth from international experiences like study abroad and international leadership programs: “ I think these educational forums push students out of their comfort zone in a healthy way. It allows them to engage in a thought process they’ve never really experienced before, and to explore, contemplate, and experience learning in meaningful ways, not necessarily to make a value judgment, but to just see it, breathe it in, and ask questions.”

No. 6 Extracurriculars Can Help Students Choose the Right College

Bergman explains that some students will factor their extracurricular passions into their college selection: “Not all schools offer the same quality of outside-the-classroom options. For example, a student interested in journalism may target colleges with award-winning newspapers, or a student interested in singing may seek a school with a serious a cappella group. Of course, an extracurricular activity in high school may also uncover or crystalize a deep love of a certain subject that directly translates into an academic path/future career. In these cases, a high school club or activity can end up having an immensely significant impact on one’s collegiate journey.”

Should Students Continue with Extracurriculars in College?

Franklin responds with a college application tip: “Students are asked on their applications whether they will continue with the activity in college. We tell them not to say yes to everything – but you should say you’re going to continue with something. It shows that you do have some future-orientation and see yourself doing something.

The idea of college is that it can open up whole new perspectives. You’re going to experience things that you couldn’t even fathom before you got there and didn’t even know were available. The kids who are successful in college are the ones who are involved in something, that’s the key.”