Extracurriculars offer you a plethora of personal benefits, but they also have an impact on your college applications. Colleges don’t just care about your GPA or test scores. They want insights into how you’ll interact with the campus community, contribute to campus life and academic discussions, and if you have motivations, aspirations, and personal qualities that will elevate and shape your learning and what you’ll do with that learning.

With this in mind, many students seek extracurriculars which will be fulfilling personally while also scouting for activities offering ample opportunities for developing and demonstrating qualities that can support a strong college application. In this post we’ll explore what extracurriculars are and a range of substantial benefits — for personal growth and wellbeing, and for college admissions.

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It used to be the case that the best college applicants had perfect test scores, top grades, and well-rounded extracurriculars — but the admissions landscape is ever-evolving. As universities receive more applications every year, the baseline requirements to get accepted have changed. Now, top universities look for much more.

In addition to outstanding academics , today’s admissions officers want to see proof of tremendous ambition and initiative, illustrated by compelling extracurricular activities that are an expression of authentic commitments and aspirations.

This means that taking part in a laundry list of activities outside of class probably won’t reflect a coherent personal story and the deeper introspection that will make an applicant stand out.

In this article we’ll highlight the full range of benefits that extracurricular activities can offer, for life balance and personal wellbeing, for academic enrichment, and for your college admissions process down the road.

If you’re aspiring to pursue a degree at a top-tier university, a rich participation in extracurriculars is perhaps more a necessity than a choice. That said, there's plenty of decision-making to grapple with when it comes to which extracurriculars are the right fit for you — for your fulfillment and wellbeing and for building a remarkable application profile that really helps you stand out.

We encourage you to consider the benefits discussed below and use these insights to make your own extracurricular journey as satisfying and empowering as possible!

What Are Extracurricular Activities?

By definition, extracurricular activities are “pursued in addition to the normal course of study.” In short, extracurricular activities are positive and purposeful activities you engage in outside of the classroom and in addition to doing homework.

While clubs, debate teams, athletics, and marching bands come to mind for many people, extracurriculars are truly defined very broadly, and even your hobby or part-time job will be considered as relevant in holistic admissions contexts, as will summertime pre-college courses, internships, travel and study abroad, and more.

When it comes to your college applications, though, extracurriculars will have more value for admissions when they require some commitments, social skills, or initiative-taking, and spotlight your ability to juggle priorities and manage your time effectively.

In the best cases, a student will also choose activities that provide ample opportunities for personal growth, in the form of developing and demonstrating qualities such as leadership, organizational skills, a commitment to community service, or purposeful activism — qualities you won't fully develop or express in your academic classes, and which you can't spotlight through GPA and test scores alone.

Exploring and Choosing Extracurriculars

The world of extracurriculars is truly limitless and there is no single “right way” to approach your own decision making. Maybe you want to simply try something new, like taking an online course in coding or trying out a poetry writing workshop. Others may harbor a desire to create something on their own and decide to start a podcast, or even their own business!

The authenticity and dedication that make your choices personally meaningful are typically more important than the difficulty or grandeur of your extracurriculars.

When choosing extracurricular activities, start early because the personal learning involved, and the friendships you could build, will deepen over time. In addition, when choosing ECAs, don’t just think about how they’ll “look” down the road on college applications. You probably want to consider a range of factors and motivations that make sense for you individually.

Motivations to Consider

• Personal interests and passions
• A healthy life-study balance
• Desire to go deeper in an area of academic learning
• Community service, or activism for a social cause
• Physical exercise and activity
• Surrounding myself with peers who have similar interests, beliefs, or passions
• Growing relational skills or soft skills (leadership skills, organizational skills, initiative-taking…)
• Entrepreneurship (e.g. starting a business, nonprofit, or online network) or conducting independent research
• A need or desire to work part-time or in the summer and earn money

Popular Categories to Choose Between

• Athletics and Competitive Team Sports
• School Clubs, Youth Groups, Community Groups or Clubs, Online Clubs
• Academic ECAs (e.g., Debate, Mathletes, Model UN, Peer Ambassadors…)
• Creative Arts, Fine Arts, Performing Arts
• Volunteer work, Internships, and Paid Employment
• Community Service or Activism
• Entrepreneurship
• Blogging, Web-based Initiatives, Digital Design or Animation

Check out our blog for more great examples of extracurricular activities that look great on college applications.

8 Benefits of Extracurriculars for High School Students

Now that you understand what extracurriculars are and you know they’re crucial for personal wellbeing and amplifying your college applications, let’s see some specific ways you can benefit so you have real insights for your own decision making.

1. Improved Academic Performance

Loads of studies have been conducted on the relationship between extracurricular activities and academic performance. These investigations, in education journals, medical research, from the National Institutes of Health, and science journals all agree that extracurricular activities correlate with improved academic success.

The kinds of connections and benefits vary, based on the type of activities, the individual, and other factors. From promoting better attendance to boosting “executive function” — like organization and time management skills — extracurricular participation is an exciting way to set yourself up for a more positive school life and better academic achievement as well.

Check out just some of the ways researchers are finding positive connections between extracurricular participation and academic success:

• Higher GPA; higher scores on math and reading assessments
• More consistent attendance at school and more likely to graduate high school
• Increased academic aspirations and easier transitions to college
• More prosocial behavior
• Improved study habits, including time management, effective routines, and more follow-through

Some students worry that participating in extracurriculars may take away too much time from their schoolwork, thus hurting their grades. And, actually, some studies have found that in the later years in high school, spending too much time in extracurriculars can sometimes hinder academic achievement.

This could be a reminder to apply some common sense: while extracurricular activities offer great benefits, balancing your extracurriculars and your academic workload remains paramount.

In most cases, though, whether it’s better focus and concentration when you’re studying for exams, or better results managing your time, extracurricular activities have clear benefits for academic performance and success inside the classroom in addition to the change of pace they bring to your life outside the classroom.

2. Explore Interests and Create Broader Perspectives

Here’s an intangible but tremendously powerful benefit of extracurriculars that’s often overlooked: they can be a catalyst for uncovering an authentic and bigger personal vision.

That’s right, simply being more intentional about how you want to leverage your time spent doing extracurriculars can lead to valuable introspection and insight.

These insights can amplify your vision and accomplishments in ways you perhaps never thought possible at first, naturally connecting your extracurricular activities to your bigger life story — to deeper personal passions and motivations.

When you stop to reflect on where you’ll commit the limited time you have — to what kind of activities — your introspection can unexpectedly open doors to an inner voice or passion that sparks a bigger, more creative set of future-oriented aspirations for your college journey and life journey.

At Crimson Education we work day-in day-out with motivated students from around the world who are passionate about using a top-tier education to pursue outsized dreams. We’re keenly aware of how students’ visions can inspire and motivate amazing extracurricular interests and accomplishments, including highly creative, research-focused, or entrepreneurial initiatives.

Often, by dreaming big, students uncover visions that connect their educational aspirations with a deeper sense of purpose and service and a broader awareness of the world around them and its many urgent needs and diverse communities.

3. Higher Self-esteem

When you succeed in the activities you love, your self-confidence will improve. For example, let’s say you’re really good at math and your teacher encourages you to get involved in competitions. You decide to join the school team and start training for the national Math Olympiad. You realize how fun math can be and how talented you actually are during the process, which gives your confidence a massive boost.

Working hard and mastering new skills in a fun, relaxed — and sometimes competitive — setting allows you to be successful without the pressure of getting a good grade. Plus, once your confidence improves, you’ll be more open to taking risks in all aspects of your life, not just in Math Olympiads.

Lower levels of anxiety and depression, and higher levels of satisfaction with life and more optimism, are among the reported benefits.

Researchers affiliated with the National Institutes of Health, concur, and identified crucial emotional benefits linked to extracurriculars:

• Positive emotional experiences that carry into adulthood
• Fewer incidences of risky behavior, such as drinking or drug use
• Less time spent after school on surfing the internet or playing video games
• Increased levels of self-confidence, self-esteem, and belonging
• Decreased incidences of depression; improved emotional well-being
• Improved social skills and longer-lasting friendships

No doubt university leaders understand how important this emotional landscape is for individuals across college communities too. This means your participation in positive and relational extracurricular activities should be personally fulfilling for you, while also demonstrating your own investments in personal growth and emotional resilience as you prepare for college life.

4. Social Opportunities

Let’s be honest. Making friends can be challenging. But just as challenging can be stepping into opportunities that will allow you to build deeper interpersonal skills and friendships, expand your social network, stretch beyond your regular interpersonal comfort zone, and even get better at cross-cultural communication.

With screen-time distractions and social media apps filling our lives, it’s more important than ever to spotlight social opportunities as a crucial benefit of extracurricular activities. The right ECAs will lead you to opportunities that make it easier to ratchet up your commitments to social wizardry — helping you cultivate a vibrant circle of friends around some common interests, build community, and more comfortably navigate interpersonal communications, including with people from different cultures or walks of life.

Your participation in the kinds of extracurriculars that help you gain and demonstrate social confidence around diverse peers and larger communities will boost your admissions profile and ease your transition to college, so you can do more and be more, with less social jitters and more fulfilling friendships and partnerships.

5. Productive Breaks

Extracurricular activities give you something fun to do aside from school, an important way to be productive and creative, while also taking breaks that are essential to feel rejuvenated and focused during class time. It also gives you the chance to explore your passions, to discover things you may be interested in beyond academics. For example, you could take yoga or self defense classes, take guitar lessons, experiment with digital animation tools, or write a collection of poems or short stories.

If you’re motivated to succeed academically, you’re likely to find that productive breaks help you maintain balance and mental acuity for the long run. And, some individuals, more than others, cultivate their best selves by exploring passions, by enjoying healthy relaxation, or by making space for free-flowing creativity.

6. Essential Life Skills

On top of all the benefits of extracurricular activities we’ve already discussed, one of the greatest advantages extracurricular activities give you is a wide range of valuable foundational life skills — sometimes called “soft skills,” “professional skills,” or “real-world” skills. Whatever the name or the category they fall into, skills like these reward you in virtually all your efforts and endeavors, for a lifetime.

In fact, some of these skills, such as critical thinking, leadership, collaboration, active listening and interpersonal communication… are also referred to as “cognitive skills.” Economists and business leaders highlight many of these skills — both cognitive and relational — as being drivers of workplace success in today’s information-driven, tech-infused, and change-dominated global economy.

These skills include:

• Goal setting
• Teamwork
• Time management
• Prioritization
• Problem-solving
• Analytical thinking
• Leadership
• Public speaking

The more you push yourself in your extracurricular endeavours, the more you’ll develop these skills. If you’re passionate about coding, you might join the school coding club, where you’ll develop teamwork, problem-solving, and analytical thinking skills.

Or, if you organize a student group for environmental activism, you’ll need to hone a wide range of leadership, coordination, planning, problem-solving, and decision-making skills and help other group members identify their individual talents and work cooperatively with others.

With bigger aspirations, the road ahead can seem a bit intimidating. But that’s a reflection of your growth trajectory too! Each and every step will teach you a new skill you can use for the rest of your life.

Learn more about how you can turn an idea into a portfolio of leadership projects.

7. Resumes

Without previous work experience, one of the only ways hiring managers can assess your ability and work ethic is through your extracurricular activities. It’s kind of the same for your college admissions journey as well. There are some really important abilities and personal qualities that college admissions officers can only appreciate by virtue of the ways you participate in various extracurriculars, and by what you accomplish in those roles.

For example, your grades and test scores aside, if you were on a debating team, the manager would know that you’re able to speak publicly (or at least be brave enough to work at it) and communicate professionally. These are all awesome skills to be able to demonstrate, and your extracurricular achievements spotlight important areas of future promise in academic settings and in many professional roles!

8. Development of Networking Skills

Participating in extracurricular activities exposes students to new people, including classmates, teachers, coaches, and community leaders. This allows students to build and maintain relationships, which can lead to valuable connections and opportunities in the future.

If you want to build networks and networking skills, you might want to consider participating in workplace internships — at businesses or nonprofits — or look for roles in advocacy or activism that also align with your longer-term life and career interests. If you want to study law or major in political science, for example, internships or volunteer roles in relevant organizations should help you get acquainted with a range of people active in these sectors, and help you hone your professional communication skills.

A Few Quick Tips from Crimson’s Expert Advisors…

Admissions officers at US colleges, viewing applicants holistically, often assess students’ extracurricular activities in terms of meaningful personal growth and professional skill building, so here’s a few tips to guide your decision making as you navigate your own extracurriculars:

1. Longevity: You stick with one type of activity rather than joining a new activity every week and quitting one every other week.
2. Passion: You care about your extracurricular activities and aren’t doing them just to get into a university. Your activities reflect and reveal a defining set of interests, motivations, aspirations, or character qualities.
3. Leadership and Initiative-Taking: You have taken the initiative to become a leader within your activities and community and you’re proactive as a participant working alongside other leaders, co-leaders, and activity participants.