Join Something. Change Everything. How Activities Shape Who You Are and Where You're Going

Every season, I work with clients at different stages of their journeys, from 8^th graders figuring out who they are to college students trying to stand out in a competitive world to young professionals wondering how to grow and expand their opportunities. What connects them all is this: the activities they choose to engage in shape them far more than they realize.

This post contains practical tips and information on what colleges look for in applicants, and what employers seek in candidates, because the qualities that open doors in admissions are strikingly similar to the ones that open doors in the workplace. Both are built through doing.

What Colleges Look For in Applicants

College applications are not resumes; they are a window into who you are as an applicant and a potential student. Admissions officers are not counting your clubs or tallying your awards; they are trying to understand who you are, what you care about, and what kind of person you'll be on their campus.

As more schools move to or maintain test-optional policies, activities have become more important than ever. Academic performance still matters; it typically accounts for roughly 40% of an application's overall evaluation, but what distinguishes competitive applicants from one another is character.

Here’s what admissions officers consistently say colleges are looking for:

Academic Readiness and Intellectual Curiosity

Colleges want students who have challenged themselves appropriately, not necessarily taken every AP course available, but pushed themselves at a level that demonstrates genuine intellectual engagement. Beyond grades and rigor, they want to see a love of learning that shows up in how you talk about what you study, what you explore independently, and how you connect ideas across disciplines.

Leadership: Defined More Broadly Than You Think

Leadership is among the most cited qualities, but the definition is wider than most students realize. Admissions officers are not just looking for club presidents and team captains. They're looking for students who identified a problem and did something about it, who took initiative without being asked, who influenced others through integrity rather than title. A student who noticed a gap in their community and quietly filled it demonstrates more compelling leadership than one who held a position without leaving a mark.

Resilience and the Ability to Grow Through Difficulty

Perhaps no trait is more predictive of college success than resilience, the demonstrated ability to face setbacks, learn from failure, and keep going. Admissions officers read thousands of applications from students with strong grades and polished profiles. What impresses them is the student who failed at something, struggled honestly, and came out different on the other side. That story, told with reflection and self-awareness, is one of the most powerful things an application can contain.

Creativity and Original Thinking

Creativity in the admissions context is not limited to the arts. It means approaching problems in new ways, starting something that hasn't been done before, and demonstrating entrepreneurial thinking, whether that's founding a club, launching a project, or proposing a solution nobody else thought of. Based on a recent Adobe study, 95% of admissions decision-makers believe in the value of creative skills, and it's explicitly listed among the top qualities considered by institutions, including Duke, MIT, and UCLA.

Collaboration and Community Orientation

Colleges are building living-learning communities, not admitting individuals in isolation. They want students who work well with others, who put the needs of a team alongside their own, and who contribute to the environment around them. Evidence of genuine collaboration in athletics, ensembles, service projects, or any team endeavor speaks directly to this.

Authentic Character and Self-Awareness

Across every admissions resource and admissions officer interview, one theme recurs with striking consistency: colleges want students who are genuinely themselves. Harvard's former Dean of Admissions William Fitzsimmons has described the ideal applicant as a "humanist," someone who is real, reflective, and oriented toward the world beyond themselves.

Demonstrated Interest and Intentionality

Finally, colleges want to know why you want to attend their institution specifically. Visiting campus, engaging with admissions staff, attending information sessions, and writing supplemental essays that reference specific programs or values all signal that your interest is genuine rather than generic.

What Employers Look For in Candidates

If the qualities colleges look for sound familiar, that's not a coincidence. The traits that get students into college are the same traits that get professionals hired, promoted, and entrusted with leadership.

According to the NACE Job Outlook Survey and the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report, the skills employers cite most consistently are:

• Communication skills (written and verbal): ranked #1 or #2 by employers for over a decade

• Critical thinking and problem solving

• Teamwork and collaboration

• Leadership

• Work ethic and professionalism

• Adaptability and flexibility

• Analytical and creative thinking

• Resilience and self-efficacy

• Curiosity and lifelong learning

• Empathy and active listening

The Pattern Worth Noticing

Read the two lists above side by side, and you'll notice something striking: they are almost identical. Colleges and employers, separated by four or more years of a student's development, are looking for the same thing: curious, resilient, collaborative, self-aware individuals who show up for something beyond themselves.

That convergence is not accidental. It reflects something true about human potential and what makes people thrive in communities, whether those communities are college campuses, workplaces, or neighborhoods. It points directly to why activities matter so much.

Activities are where these qualities are built. Not in the abstract. Not in a classroom lecture. In the messy, uncertain, sometimes failing, always revealing process of actually doing something alongside other people.

High School Students: Activities, Authenticity, and the College Application

Now that you know what colleges are looking for: leadership, resilience, creativity, collaboration, and authentic character, the question becomes: where do you build those things?

The answer is your activities. But only if they're real. The difference between an activity that strengthens your application and one that doesn't isn't prestige; it's genuineness. Ten hours of robotics you love beats sixty hours of Model UN you attended because someone told you it looked good. Admissions officers have seen every version of the manufactured application. What they remember are the ones that feel like an actual person.

What Counts as an Activity?

• Athletics: school teams, club sports, recreational leagues, individual fitness pursuits

• Arts: visual art, music, theater, film, creative writing, photography, dance

• Academic clubs and competitions: debate, Model UN, Science Olympiad, math team, robotics

• Community service: food banks, tutoring, hospital volunteering, environmental work

• Student government and leadership: class officer, student council, club president

• Work and employment: part-time jobs, babysitting, family business involvement

• Religious and cultural activities: youth groups, cultural organizations, faith-based service

• Family responsibilities: caregiving for siblings or elderly relatives, household management

• Independent projects: starting a small business, launching a YouTube channel, writing a blog, building an app

• Research and internships: working with a professor, shadowing a professional, and lab work

How Activities Build Skills

• Initiative & Leadership: Leadership roles in any activity

• Teamwork & Collaboration: Team sports, ensemble music, group theater, collaborative projects

• Communication: Student government, debate, public speaking, theater performance

• Creative Thinking: Starting an independent project, entering a design competition

• Empathy & Community Orientation: Sustained volunteerism, peer mentoring, working with underserved populations

• Work Ethic & Time Management: Maintaining a part-time job alongside a full academic schedule

• Resilience: Sticking with a difficult activity through failure or frustration

• Intellectual Curiosity & Self-Direction: Pursuing an independent interest with no external requirement or reward

A Grade-by-Grade Guide

• 8th–9th grade: Explore broadly. Try things. Some will stick; many won't. That's exactly right. Both outcomes are useful.

• 10th grade: Begin focusing on the activities that genuinely energize you. Pursue depth over breadth. One thing done well is worth more than five things done adequately.

• 11th grade: Take on leadership or ownership within your strongest activities. Look for meaningful summer opportunities that deepen your story — not add new chapters.

• 12th grade: Articulate your activities with precision. Describe not just what you did, but what you contributed, what you learned, and why it mattered.

College Students: Building the Person Employers Want to Hire

In college, activities operate on two levels at once. On the surface, they build your resume and give you stories for interviews, but more fundamentally, they shape the kind of professional and person you're becoming.

Look back at the employer skills list above: communication, critical thinking, teamwork, leadership, adaptability, resilience, and creativity. None of these are built into lectures. They are built in the experience of doing something hard alongside other people, navigating setbacks, and figuring out how to move forward anyway. That's what college activities offer if you choose them with intention.

High-Impact Activities for College Students

• Campus leadership roles: managing a budget, leading a team, and running an organization develop real management skills that classroom case studies can't replicate

• Undergraduate research: demonstrates intellectual curiosity, rigorous thinking, and the ability to work autonomously; essential for graduate school and any analytically driven career

• Internships and co-ops: the single best signal to employers of career readiness; even one substantive internship transforms how you present yourself in interviews

• Entrepreneurship and independent projects: launching a club, building a product, or running a small business demonstrates initiative, creativity, and follow-through

• Athletics: builds discipline, coachability, and the ability to perform under pressure, all of which employers explicitly value

• Performing and visual arts: cultivate creative confidence, collaboration, and comfort with public presentation

• Community service and social impact: develop empathy, cross-cultural communication, and purpose-driven leadership

• Study abroad and international experiences: build adaptability, cultural fluency, and independence

• Peer tutoring and mentorship: teaching deepens your own understanding while building communication and leadership

• Professional associations and industry clubs: provide early exposure to professional norms, networks, and the language of your field

Translating Activities Into Employer-Ready Skills

When describing activities on your resume or in interviews, connect each experience to a specific skill employers value.

For instance:

• Running a student organization budget → Financial management, leadership, accountability

• Starting a podcast or YouTube channel → Content strategy, communication, digital literacy

• Tutoring peers → Teaching, communication, patience, analytical thinking

• Leading a volunteer project → Project management, empathy, community engagement

• Competing in a case competition → Critical thinking, teamwork, public speaking, business acumen

• Conducting faculty research → Intellectual rigor, initiative, analytical problem-solving

The Portfolio Mindset

Think of your college activities not as a list to populate but as a portfolio to curate. By senior year, you want to be able to tell a coherent story: here is who I am, here is what I've done, and here is why I'm ready. Every activity is a chapter.

Career Professionals: Growing Beyond the Job Description

Activities aren't just for students. The professionals who grow fastest and open the most doors are the ones who invest in themselves outside of their formal job responsibilities. The skills employers say they want in new hires are the same skills hiring managers look for when evaluating people for promotion, leadership, and new opportunities.

Here's what that looks like in practice:

• Professional associations: Actively participating (not just paying dues) provides professional development, emerging research, peer networks, and leadership opportunities through presenting, serving on committees, or writing for industry publications.

• Volunteering and board service: Serving on a nonprofit board builds strategic thinking, governance experience, and cross-sector networks. For professionals seeking their first leadership role, board service is one of the fastest paths to it.

• Mentoring and coaching others: Formally or informally, mentoring develops leadership, communication, and empathy in ways that managing up cannot.

• Continuing education and certifications: Online courses, professional certifications, and workshops signal commitment to growth and keep skills current in rapidly evolving fields.

• Writing and thought leadership: Publishing articles, writing a newsletter, or speaking at events builds professional visibility, sharpens thinking, and expands your network. You do not need a large platform to start.

• Cross-functional projects and stretch assignments: Volunteering for work outside your core role builds the adaptability and breadth that senior leaders look for in high-potential employees.

• Entrepreneurial side projects: Whether consulting, a product, or a creative endeavor, side projects develop initiative, resilience, and tolerance for ambiguity, all of which translate to leadership effectiveness.

• Civic and community engagement: Involvement in advisory boards, school boards, or community coalitions builds civic leadership and demonstrates commitment beyond individual advancement.

• Physical and wellness practices: Consistently pursuing fitness, mindfulness, or team sports builds the resilience and energy management that sustained high performance requires.

A Practical Framework: The 3 Zones of Professional Activity

• Zone 1 — Deepen: Activities that make you better at what you already do (certifications, peer learning groups, advanced coursework in your field)

• Zone 2 — Expand: Activities that develop capabilities adjacent to your current role (cross-functional projects, leadership experiences, public speaking)

• Zone 3 — Explore: Activities that open doors to directions you haven't fully pursued yet (informational interviews, industry conferences outside your sector, side projects)

The Thread That Connects All of Us

Whether you're an 8th grader stepping into your first club, a college junior trying to build a meaningful internship record, or a young professional looking to grow beyond your current role, the activities you choose to engage in tell a story about who you are and who you're becoming. Colleges see it. Employers see it. And over time, you see it too.

The most compelling stories are about genuine engagement, sustained commitment, and the honest growth that comes from showing up for something beyond yourself. That's the kind of story that gets you into college, that gets you hired, and that gets you promoted.

As always, I’m here to help. Contact Me!