WHAT COLLEGES WANT TO SEE ON YOUR RESUME
The Importance of Extracurriculars
Grade Point Average (GPA), class rank, and standardized test scores loom over the heads of many students, especially those who are closer to college age and flip out about college admissions. These factors can stress out and really take a toll on college-bound youth. Some students stress so much to a point that taking standardized tests makes them seem unintelligent. These factors cause test taking anxiety and underperformance, which inhibits advanced education access to the creators and engineers of the future. If only it was the case that colleges and universities saw past the sometimes bias and unfair academics. You’re in luck if this thought has crossed your mind because colleges are putting more focus on extracurriculars and outside of school activities.
“Your accomplishments outside the classroom show what you’re passionate about and that you have qualities valued by colleges” (College Board). There are some qualities in people that are impossible to display in the classroom. Colleges realize that life is not about test taking strategies, but about qualities such as leadership and teamwork ability. These skills are essential in producing efficient members of society. This raises the question: are the things I do outside of school helping prepare me for college? A study in Boston concerning learning instruments stated that instrument training “requires a host of skills” and is a “multisensory experience” (NCBI). Being such an experience, it increases brain plasticity and brain function by creating new neurological pathways. This does not only apply to music, though, any sort of learning creates new pathways for individual logic skills, patience, and long-term gratification. Video games create fast thinking high tension skills needed for stressful situations. Even shopping helps teach math skills like tax and determining low risk higher return options.
The things you do outside of school with people also help colleges see what kind of person you are and if they want that kind of student at their university. Volunteering, community service, and mission trips are great, not only because they help people, but because you can also gain a lot from them. Some of the things the youth gains from the social activities mentioned, and others, include: teamwork skills, perseverance, perspective, humility, and tenacity. Character building is not something you see in a classroom or an academic setting, but personality and nature are some of the most important things that people look at to determine your placement in life.
Academic achievement and high marks are a wonderful determinate of college readiness, but some of the most creative things that make people individual are just as if not more important. When you’re filling out a college application, that one play you were in or that recital you were a part of or even that time you went halfway around the world to feed hungry children, might be the factor that differentiates you from other college applicants. Don’t be afraid to blend your personal life with your school life.
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