How important are extracurricular activities for college?

Question

I'm going to be a junior next year and I'm extremely concerned (and regretting the fact) that I have practically no extracurricular activities. I get good grades and lets say I do well on the SATs and ACTs, how much is this going to hurt me.

I do however have a lot of community service hours and 5 years of french but I realize that it's not a replacement for sports and music.

Answer 1

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm also going into junior year and have NO sports or music extracurriculars but i think that academic awards and community service are a valid replacement. Not everyone is musically or athletically gifted and colleges know it. National Honor Society is GREAT too because it combines academic acknowledgment with a lot of community service. I also think essays are really important for this reason too--because that is your chance to show that you may have passions or extracurriculars that aren't offered at school. Like I'm an experienced horse back rider who spends all my time with my horse so even though i am athletic there is no way i can do it at school because mine doesn't have that program. I also think that after school jobs look great on college applications too. Don't worry about it much--my school is an alternative program that doesn't even offer sports and we still have an amazing reputation with lots of graduating seniors getting accepted at top schools.  

Answer 2

The answers that you'll get here are nowhere near as good as the ones you'll get at http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/. That forum is specially made for high school and college people. You have people of all sorts there like high school students like yourself, college counselors, high school valedictorians and college students. Make an account there and ask this question.

Answer 3

It's not all about GPA.

Communication skills are key. Be sure you can make public speeches and are able to communicate clearly both on paper and in speaking.

Extracurriculars can be anything, from a cultural club to a kazoo band. Just as long at you are involved with something outside of academics to show that you are a well rounded person and you have team skills, leadership skills and initiative.

Not being involved with extracurriculars shows them that you are a loner and can not work well with other people and you don't have good social skills that will help you become a contributor to your community and a leader. Most universities look down on loners because you will have to learn to work effective in teams in college and in society.

Just find something you like and do that. If the school doesn't have a club that meets your interests, start a club. That will show leadership skill, initiative and team building skills. Now when they ask you about if you have any leadership skills and team building skills you can point out the school club you started. And you can learn great public speaking and communication skills by starting your own club. You knock out like five birds with one stone by starting your own school club.

Answer 4

Depends on where you want to got to school.  Ivy League Schools use extracurricular activities and offices held as a measure of leadership capabilities.  That is pretty important to them.  They want people who work well with people and are not loners, unless there is some highly unusual talent or capability, such as a mathematical genius who has actually proven their self, or a musical talent.

Community service is also important as it shows that you are not a sociopath and care about others.

My daughter, who went to Yale, also was able to demonstrate leadership skills by being the captain of her Sea Scout ship, a coed branch of Explorer Scouts.  Leadership skills can be demonstrated in many ways.  But she was held offices in about three or four school organizations.  

I would recommend that you get involved now.

Answer 5

I'm from a school district in New Jersey near princeton that is renown for have exceptional schools. I'm friends with a kid who was the valedictorian of his senior class (amazingly smart kid, perfect grades) but he had nearly no extracurricular activities and he was rejected from most of the schools he applied to. The same schools that other friends of mine with extracurriculars but lower grades were accepted to.

Answer 6

It's not as if you absolutely won't get in to college if you don't have extracurriculars, but you probably won't get into an Ivy or a really picky selective school.  If you want to increase your chances of getting into all schools, I suggest you pick up some sort of club or activity.  When I was in high school, I tried to stay as well rounded as possible.  I took honors classes (IB), I did community service, I held a job, and I did cheer.  The main thing that they are looking for is that you are diversified in your interests and that you have some social capabilities.  Colleges would be boring places if everyone on campus was as studious as could be.