Passion vs. Participation: How to Make Your Application Shine
We all know those students who seem to do everything and more in high school. They’re captain of the soccer team, vice president of the student council, celebrated co-captain of the speech team, lead of the school play, and yet they still somehow manage to volunteer at the local hospital every Sunday, manage 5 AP classes, and get amazing grades and test scores to top it off. It seems impossible to keep up with these god-like characters in the race to college.
However, what most students don’t realize is that passion outshines participation in most college applications. As a Dornsife Ambassador, one of my jobs is to review Common Apps to determine which students should qualify for scholarships within the school after students after acceptances go out. While I am still relatively new to the program, I have read over a hundred applications, and I can definitively say that I barely pay attention to the page that shows what the students are involved in. When you’re reading so many applications at once, the extracurriculars blend together to the point that they are practically indistinguishable from each other.
What really makes students stand out in an application is the Common App essays and the short response questions. I much prefer reading about how students found their passions for their major, an interesting trip that they’ve taken, or how a certain activity that they did inspired them to pursue higher learning than a list of extracurricular activities, as do most other essay reviewers that I’ve talked with.
When I read the Common App essays, I truly see the passion of the students, and I get a feeling of what that applicant might be like in person and if they are a good fit for the school. Participation tells relatively nothing about a person aside from how they spend their time. On the other hand, passion shows what captures that person’s unique attention and how they want to impact the world around them.
So, how do you make sure to focus on passion rather than participation in a college app?
First, you should limit the number of extracurricular activities that you participate in, and instead focus on a few in which you can progress, gain leadership positions, and participate in for multiple years instead of just one. Application reviewers like to see progression and growth in a person, which can signify a continuation of that growth in college. By demonstrating you have gained leadership experience and shown dedication in a few clubs rather than many, you will look more focused and reliable.
Secondly, make sure that you are not doing too much that your grades suffer in the process. Colleges do like to see you doing things outside of school, but they also like to see good grades, or at least improvement in grades. If your grades start suffering because you joined some more extracurriculars, this could actually hurt you more than it helps you.
Going off of my last point, you should also not pile on so much that your mental health starts suffering. Even if you have great grades and an extensive list of extracurriculars, it is not worth it to jeopardize your personal health. Not everyone can function at the same level of productivity, and that is completely okay! I know some of you reading this may not believe me when I tell you this (I know high-school me wouldn’t have), but you don’t have to force yourself to do more extracurriculars when your body physically cannot take it. That includes sleep-deprivation as well for all you coffee-addicted high school students!
Lastly, you don’t always have to do extracurricular activities that will “strengthen your application”; it is important to do some things purely for fun. This one was a huge struggle for me in high school, and I ended up choosing more obligatory extracurricular activities than ones that I was actually interested in. The point of extracurricular activities is to explore something outside of school that you find interesting. Don’t just join academic clubs because you think that they will help you look advanced to colleges because I am here to tell you that nearly every student whose application I have read does this. Instead, become president of the gardening club at your school or start your own hand-knit sock business or learn how to advocate for social justice issues. I can assure you that while you may think these things are pointless, if you are truly passionate about what you are doing it will probably outshine a passionless, extracurricular-heavy application.
