Selecting activities during high school can sometimes feel overwhelming—with all the time you are likely spending on schoolwork, it can sometimes seem as though you don’t have any time left over for activities outside of class. As this article will explain, however, engaging in activities will not only help you when it comes time to apply to college, but can also be a major source of personal and professional inspiration and growth as you prepare for the next big step in your life. Through activities such as those described in this article, you can find ways to make an impact and a difference in the world. If you would like more suggestions for inspiring activities, a knowledgeable advisor, such as a school counselor or a qualified agent from New Oriental, is an excellent resource to assist you.
Why are Activities Important?
When it comes to applying to American universities and liberal arts colleges, it is important to be aware of what aspects of your application will have the most impact on your chances of success. While your GPA and standardized test scores—such as the SAT and ACT—are undoubtedly important components of your application that schools will look at, they are not the only factor that schools will consider. American universities and liberal arts colleges focus on a holistic process of admissions that weighs not only your grades, but also your extracurricular involvement, interests, honors, and meaningful experiences. This means that a student who has strong academics but few or no activities is unlikely to secure admission to a top-tier university or liberal arts college. Conversely, a student whose academic performance is sub-optimal might still be able to enroll in a top-tier school if they have outstanding activities.
We can get a sense of just how much value schools place on activities by looking at the Common Application and Coalition Application forms. These are the most common means of applying to American post-secondary schools, and each devotes an entire section to allow students to list their involvement in different activities. The Common Application provides space for ten activities, while the Coalition Application allows students to write about up to eight activities. Regardless of which application form you plan to use, you should aim to completely fill out all of the available activities on the form in order to maximize your chances of being admitted. However, you should not think of your activities as simply an obligation that you need to fulfill in order to get into a good school. Rather, by making the most of your activity selection you can engage in activities that inspire your intellect, emotions, and creativity.
Activity to Spark Inspiration
The activities that we will discuss in this section share a few commonalities.
First and foremost, these are activities that are meant to provide you with an enhanced feeling of purpose and direction. These activities will hopefully provide you with new perspective on life and the world, and potentially on yourself and others as well. Moreover, they should make you feel that they are meaningful and worthwhile, rather than simply a task you need to complete before you can go off to college.
Second, the activities listed here tend to be service-oriented activities. There is a psychological basis for this relationship as numerous studies have shown that community service has positive effects on mental health and overall wellbeing, which leads to feelings of greater fulfillment in life and can increase one’s sense of purpose and self-worth. Finally, many of these activities can provide relevant experience in your desired major,whatever it may be, even if they do not seem related at first glance. It should only take a small amount of creativity to see the potential connections to any given major you may wish to study.
Top Activities to Spark Inspiration
Providing mentorship is one way to directly improve the lives of people around you. Many schools have programs or clubs that give high schoolers the chance to offer education and guidance to younger students. These students might be from underprivileged locations, such as those in rural areas, lower socio-economic settings, or in other at-risk situations. On the other hand, students might be underclassmen at your own high school. In some cases, students with exception performance in certain subjects might even be able to teach adults with limited educational experience through continuing-education institutions. No matter who you end up working with, helping others overcome adversity and grow in their knowledge and educational opportunities can provide you with a sense of fulfillment as you help others to achieve the same kinds of successes that you have already achieved. Moreover, instructing others on material that you have already learned can provide you with a valuable opportunity to review your own knowledge while simultaneously approaching it with fresh eyes, which may lead to new understandings for not only your students but yourself as well.
There are numerous ways to help others beyond teaching and mentorship, and the unifying goal of helping improve the lives of others is the most rewarding aspect of these kinds of volunteer activities. One way to start thinking about how to help is choosing a demographic to help. Existing institutions such as hospitals, retirement homes, soup kitchens and homeless shelters, law offices, and libraries all provide valuable services to specific groups of people in need. Other organizations provide assistance in the form of constructing and renovating houses of low-income families or those who have lost their homes in natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and fires. Still other organizations focus on specific causes, be it medical, political, social, or something else, and try to raise awareness among the general public while also seeking to raise funds to further their causes. While some of these activities might require a small amount of specialized knowledge, the organizations are often more than happy to use eager volunteers to help service others. Even if an activity does not have any prerequisites, you can certainly relate your service to any major you might pursue in college, from business or finance to psychology or literature.
All of these activities provide you with an opportunity to assist people in need and to aid others who might be facing hardship or difficulties in their life. You should select an organization or activity that you feel is personally meaningful in order to maximize the transformative effects on yourself as well as those you will help.
If you would rather spend your time with animals as opposed to people, then organizations also exist that allow you to do just that. Working with animals provides a means of affecting the lives of a particularly vulnerable group that also plays in invaluable role in our own lives and society. Stray animals are often a visible and unfortunate component of living in large cities. Animal shelters and other animal welfare organizations that are dedicated to serving them are often understaffed and overworked. This means that your help will be greatly appreciated by both the human staff and the animals in your care. Volunteering with animals can mean anything from veterinary care, to socializing and exercising the animals, to outreach efforts to locate potential families for adoption. Working with animals can also include work such as volunteering on a farm, ranch, or other organization that deals with animals in some capacity. Additionally, more creative animal-related volunteer activities include such work as getting involved with the increasingly-popular practice of animal therapy.
This is one way in which you can combine a love of animals with a desire to help those who are facing difficulty in their life.
As awareness of the fragile state of the world in which we live increases, more and more people are offering their time and energy to protect our environment. There are a wide range of eco-friendly, or “green”, activities that one can engage in to help protect and nurture our natural environment. Many volunteers are needed to collect trash and other refuse from not only city streets but also parks, waterways, and other green spaces. Regarding scenic areas, many organizations worldwide utilize volunteers to provide information to visitors at national parks. This work also serves to raise awareness about conservation in these locations that are invaluable symbols of our shared connection with the planet and all the life on it.
Another way to increase awareness about sustainable living and engage with the people around you is working in community gardens, which can have the added benefit of providing food to families in need. Finally, acts as simple as planting trees or other plants is a time-honored environmental activity, which is practiced annually on April 22, Earth Day (although this activity can of course be practiced at any time in the year according to local climate conditions). No matter what activity you choose, you can feel proud that your actions are helping to make a difference not only on the lives of people around you locally, but also the entire community of shared humanity on planet Earth.
Samuel Gonzales
耶鲁大学 -东亚研究硕士学位
匹兹堡大学-中国历史学学士学位，优秀毕业生
Samuel导师有丰富的留学相关行业工作经验。在匹兹堡的一个中美留学公司工作期间，协助中国留学生寻找美国寄宿家庭、帮助他们适应在国外生活。Samuel导师教学经验也很丰富：教过SAT课程、一对一英语课程、等等。
