Hopefully in 9th grade you got a chance to sample some of the cool activities that your high school offers. Maybe you didn't stick with all of them, but at least you tried them out. Now that you're in 10th Grade, it's a good idea to start thinking about how those activities are going to play a role in your college application. Already? Sure. College admissions officers have certain things they're going to look for as far as your extracurriculars go. But we'll get to that in a minute. First, here's the game plan we suggest for sophomores:

• Join or remain in organizations that interest you or that you enjoy.
  
  
• Quit organizations that waste your time or that you hate.
  
  
• Focus on organizations that allow you to develop, give you responsibility, and offer leadership potential.

You already know that colleges want students who are capable of doing college-level work. They also want students who are interesting. To a large extent, a college's opinion of how interesting you are will be determined by what you do when you're not in class. Your extracurricular activities can play a big part in distinguishing you from other applicants and determining your chances for admission.

We're not suggesting that you join or quit organizations simply because it will help or hurt you in college admissions. If you enjoy an activity, by all means keep doing it (as long as you're also able to get good grades!). On the other hand, as you evaluate which and how many activities you're going to pursue, you should understand the way that college admissions officers at selective and especially highly selective colleges will look at you. Here's the inside scoop:

Quantity is less important than quality and commitment.
Some students think that the way to impress an admissions officer is to sign up for every activity their school offers. No. In fact, this is not a good idea. Colleges are not impressed by students with one of everything on their applications—one year of glee club, one year of yearbook, and one year of soccer. You're much better off if you're deeply involved in just a few activities that you remain committed to year after year. Colleges want to see students who rise to leadership positions in interesting activities. They want to see a student who is sports reporter for the school newspaper as a freshman, assistant sports editor as a sophomore, managing editor as a junior, and editor-in-chief as a senior. The way to impress an admissions officer is to demonstrate that you can stick with something long enough to excel to the top. You want to show that you can be a leader.

This doesn't mean you can't become involved in lots of different activities. To the extent that it's possible, you should try lots of different activities in which you have a genuine interest. But by the end of sophomore year, you might consider narrowing your activities to the ones you truly want to pursue, and then give those activities a high priority for your last two years.

All extracurricular activities are not equally impressive.
Ultimately, you need to be involved in activities that you enjoy and that your good at, but you do need to understand that college admissions officers tend to look favorably on students who are involved in any of the following activities:

• Student newspaper, especially in leadership positions
  
  
• Student government, especially if you hold an executive office
  
  
• Choir or orchestra, especially if you are a soloist or a first-chair
  
  
• Varsity sports, particularly if you are a captain or an all-star of some kind
  
  
• Leadership positions with substantial time commitment in organizations or community service activities.
  
  
• Activities with a special significance at your school or in your community. If the Harvest Queen is the most important person at your school—more important than the president of the Student Council—and you are the Harvest Queen, then of course it's a big deal
  
  
• Anything unusual that took a lot of time and effort, such as organizing a major community service project, founding a new club at school and seeing it through, or being a volunteer firefighter
  
  
• All-state anything
  
  

Remember why colleges are interested in extracurricular activities.
Colleges are most interested in students who do interesting things, stick with them, and rise to positions of leadership in them. Beyond this, they are most interested in activities that show you have the respect of your peers. You should be careful about putting too much emphasis on activities that don't bring you into contact with other people: hiking or writing poetry, for example. These are great activities and they're worth pursuing! But if be sure you're also doing things that demonstrate your ability to be a leader and get along with groups of people. Balanced, well-rounded individuals are desirable to colleges.

Colleges also look for your involvement in activities that reinforce academic or other goals that you mention in your application. If you plan to say in your college application that writing is very important to you, you should emphasize activities that gave you opportunities to write.

Extracurricular activities can make up for less-than-perfect grades, but only a little.
We can't stress this enough. Students who are deeply involved in extracurricular activities often find that their grades suffer as a result. Admissions officers understand this, but don't believe for a minute that your list of activities will make up for mediocre grades. If you want to attend a highly selective college, remember that there are a lot of high school students out there who are editors of their newspapers and straight-A students. Don't overextend yourself to the point where your grades tank. It's one thing for your grades to go down slightly the week that you lead your debate team to the state championship. It's quite another thing for your grades to suffer for an entire semester. Colleges might forgive slight declines in grades due to extraordinary extracurricular accomplishments, but they'll think you've got your priorities messed up if your grades go down significantly.

After-school jobs can be impressive, significant activities.
If you can't take part in extracurricular activities because you have to work after school, you won't necessarily be at a disadvantage. Work can be an impressive activity, and you should think about your job in the same way we've told you to think about your activities. You can use your job to convey what a good college candidate you are.

As with other extracurricular activities, the best after-school jobs are the ones you stick with for an extended period and ones in which you rise to positions of responsibility.

Unusual or creative jobs are better than ordinary, after-school, minimum-wage drudgery. If you have the choice (and not everyone does), try to choose a job that gives you skills that are valuable and useful. If you have to work so that your family can make ends meet, be sure the colleges you apply to know that. Helping to support a family is a serious, adult responsibility, and it demonstrates something good about your character.

If the money you earn after school goes for luxuries like expensive clothes and a new stereo, you need to be a little careful about your after-school job. Some students become so wrapped up in earning money that they lose all interest in activities offered by or associated with their schools. A student who helps his family make ends meet looks like a good prospect to an admissions officer; a student who misses out on school government because he's working to meet payments on a new car may not.

Consider choosing activities based on potential careers or majors
If you are strongly interested in a particular career or major, then consider activities, jobs, or community service opportunities that allow you to explore that field. That way, if you later decide that you want to pursue the career or major, you'll have some background in it already. The opposite situation is also valuable. If the activity, job, or service project makes you realize that you're not interested at all in that field, then it's a good lesson to learn while you're still in high school.

Try to live life deliberately and consciously. Rather than picking a random summer job, why not pick one that allows you to build on your interests or explore a career?