DO WHAT YOU LOVE, OR AT LEAST WHAT YOU’RE INTERESTED IN

Most high school students don’t have very much control over the courses they take, especially if they are pursuing a rigorous college preparatory schedule. On the other hand, students have a lot of control over what they do outside the classroom. Unfortunately, many students act like robots and sign up for random activity after activity because that’s what they think they should do. Some students wait endlessly for something interesting to show up in their lives, and end up doing very little at all. Still others say that they would like to do something, but they don’t know what.

Whether it is an extracurricular activity now or later in life, people who do things that they enjoy are much more likely to be happy, healthy people, let alone successful in whatever they pursue. College admissions people often have a sixth sense for when a student pursues an activity about which she or he feels passionate. One’s enthusiasm--or lack of it--comes through in applications. Needless to say, lively, energetic descriptions of activities you love are more likely to help with your admissions than simply identifying a long list of “whatever.”

One of the first things you can do to increase the likelihood of your enjoying extracurricular activities is to pay attention to how you feel when you are doing them. Knowing whether you like something, more importantly knowing when you do not, is very important information. Obviously, there are times when we must do things that we’re not really crazy about, e.g., practice an instrument or work out, in order to reach a goal. However, there are many other times when we continue on with activities we dread out of a sense of obligation or guilt, or just because they’ve become a habit. If the latter is the case, do something to make the activity more interesting, drop it, or move on to an activity that is more rewarding.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to increase the chances of your getting involved with extracurriculars that you really like:

• Think back to your childhood for what you always enjoyed or did well. Did you love to draw, help people, write stories, read, play sports, or cook? How can you update or act on those long-term interests?

• What are the activities in which you find yourself losing track of time, when minutes and hours just seem to fly by?

• What is fun or interesting to you? What gives you energy or leaves you feeling refreshed?

• What do you like learning or reading about? What are your favorite classes? Which articles in magazines and newspapers are you drawn to?

• What topics or causes do you really care about?