smartesttonormal

In high school ECs were the road to elite college admissions. In college it seems that a high GPA and work experience are key to a good job. While a high GPA, high test scores and research experience is key to getting into grad school.

Where does extracurricular activities fit into the equation? After being somewhat overloaded with ECs in high school I am now not doing any. I am sure this will change with time. I am trying to find activities that I am actually passionate rather than padding to the resume which I looked for in high school.

sidenote: Many of the activities that I started with extrinsic motivation ended up being intrinsically rewarding.

TheAnalyst

Employers frequently look for "leadership" experience on the resume. While it is possible to demonstrate leadership at work, students often use ECs for this purpose as well. You are unlikely to be able to show leadership just by joining lots of things. You would need to become an officer of the club, or for example, in addition to joining the Outdoors Club, you might lead one of their trips, etc.

With that said, my own two kids aren't big on the leadership front and they seem to be doing just fine. To thine own self be true.

jessiehl

For grad school? ECs don't really fit into the equation unless they're field-relevant.

Professional schools and employers may care about some of them, for their demonstration of leadership and all that. I will note that, for leadership-demonstration purposes, running an activity that you really care about is probably better than having a menial job in the student government because you think student government sounds good (though if you really care about student government and want to take a true leadership role in it, more power to you - it's what I did! ).

So I would say, do activities because you enjoy them, or think you might. I wouldn't stress how they look on your resume too much. If they look good, that's great, but there are other things you can build your resume with.

Marian

College ECs seem to be more important for students who are going into the business world after graduation than for those who are going to graduate school. My son, who went straight into a Ph.D. program after college, was never asked about ECs (which is good because he didn't have any). My daughter, who plans to work for several years before going back to school for an M.B.A., constantly has to mention extracurricular experiences on internship applications and will presumably have to do so on full-time job applications as well. Fortunately, she actually has an EC, with a leadership role of sorts, and a couple of fairly impressive past jobs/internships to refer to.

MagnoliaMom

My daughter is a college senior applying to Ph.D. programs and she took the path that you've described. She has been very involved on campus, but only in things that she was passionate about. She says that many kids still do the resume padding in college but she didn't see the point or the need. One of her honors leadership and scholarship seminars did talk about the importance in being more deeply involved in fewer, more select activities in applying for the "big" national fellowships like the Truman and the Marshall.

Be aware also that it seems that many honorary awards or scholarships you actually have to seek out and apply for in college if that's something you deem important. My daughter is a humble sort and really doesn't enjoy the process of tooting your own horn by "applying" for an honor. She says that's not why she does what she does. She prefers the honors that come unsolicited.

I echo the poster who said be true to yourself.

jonri

My kid is passionate about an EC and continued it in college. I think it helped a bit in getting into law school. My kid had no business background, but applied for several prestigious summer business jobs for the summer after junior year. I think they took a chance on my kid because of the EC--every job interview focused on that.

More importantly, it is how my kid made friends in college. Now, after graduating from law school as well, the majority of kid's friends are still folks who were involved in the same EC. It probably helps that it's how kid met spouse--who went to a different college.

It would "out" me if I told you all of the opportunities the EC gave my kid. They were amazing, truly amazing.

College would have been an entirely different experience for my kid without the EC--and nowhere near as rewarding an experience.

I think that the kids who are involved in college ECs enjoy college more, make better friends, and develop important skills. In many cases, ECs do lead to--or away from--jobs. (I look at the NY Times and see news stories written by kids whose by-lines I recognize from my kid's college paper, for example. )

There are so many threads here started my kids and parents of kids who "can't find their people" in college. ECs help you do that.

FallGirl

I noticed years ago that I do very well on job interviews. I honestly attribute that to having been through sorority rush from both sides as a "rushee" and as a member. No kidding. I know that's not for everyone, but it was one of the best skills I developed in college.

Whatever your interest is, I agree that EC's are a great way to meet people especially "your people". And that's always good.