These are all great suggestions. I just want to add a quick note that I think in some circles, there has been a real distortion of a good idea into a not-so-good idea.
The good idea is if you are thinking about a possible major and eventually a career in some field, it can be well worth seeing how that job field actually looks up close. Internships, volunteer positions, shadowing opportunities, normal jobs available to HS kids, and so on . . . all can give you a window into the real working side of things.
And in fact, sometimes you will learn what you thought might be a cool career field is maybe not so much for you. Or, there are parts of the field you love, parts you don’t. And so on.
So these experiences can be great for that purpose. And to the extent they are valuable in that way, they can show up in college application essays, including “Why us?” or “Why this major?” essays.
OK, so that’s the good idea. The not-so-good version is when people start treating these experiences like qualifications. Does it “look good” to colleges? Is it “impressive”? Is it “prestigious”? That sort of thing.
And my understanding is like 99 times out of 100, the answer is no, it isn’t going to be “impressive”. Even among the successful applicants to the most selective colleges, very few have done anything truly impressive in that sense.
Because–and no offense, kids–most serious organizations do not trust HS kids with the sorts of things that could even plausibly be truly impressive. They will instead give you tasks that they trust that an intelligent, hard-working kid can do. And therefore you won’t really be showing you are more “impressive” than other intelligent, hard-working kids.
But that’s OK! You are not wasting your time, because again virtually no one actually does stuff like that. As long as YOU get out of it something valuable, including a better idea of what you may or may not want to pursue as a career, then it has served its purpose.
And colleges will be totally fine with that, because they actually do want you kids to do well in life. And so they have zero problem with kids wisely spending some of their time in such ways–if they so choose.
But if they want to do sports or music or debate or whatever instead, that’s good too.