Are Extracurricular Activities in College Important?

Hit­ting the books and earn­ing good grades is impor­tant to your col­le­giate career. But being an A+ stu­dent won’t nec­es­sar­i­ly pre­pare you for the work­ing world. Most employ­ers will give more weight to skills and expe­ri­ences gained than your col­lege GPA. One of the best ways to broad­en your hori­zons out­side the class­room is through extra-cur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties. An extra-cur­ric­u­lar can be vir­tu­al­ly any vol­un­tary, unpaid group activ­i­ty that fos­ters your tal­ents or inter­ests. Spend­ing your valu­able spare time on extra-cur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties can help max­i­mize your col­lege years with mean­ing­ful life lessons.

Types of College Extra-Curricular Activities

Extra-cur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties come in many shapes for col­lege stu­dents. Per­haps the most pop­u­lar kind are pro­fes­sion­al asso­ci­a­tions. Stu­dents can join indus­try-relat­ed pro­fes­sion­al chap­ters based on their aca­d­e­m­ic major. These orga­ni­za­tions con­nect stu­dents with field prac­ti­tion­ers for net­work­ing and added job prepa­ra­tion. Mem­ber­ship fees may be required, but find­ing skill-build­ing sem­i­nars, con­fer­ences, and intern­ships will pay off. For instance, the Soci­ety of Human Resource Man­age­ment (SHRM) has over 575 affil­i­at­ed chap­ters on uni­ver­si­ty cam­pus­es. High-achiev­ing stu­dents can also join aca­d­e­m­ic hon­or soci­eties like Psi Chi or Phi Beta Kappa.

Com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice orga­ni­za­tions offer more resume-build­ing extra-cur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties. Near­ly all col­leges bring stu­dents togeth­er to engage in ser­vice learn­ing projects. Stu­dents work close­ly with local, nation­al, or glob­al agen­cies to meet var­i­ous com­mu­ni­ty needs. For exam­ple, Habi­tat for Human­i­ty chap­ters spon­sor “build days” to erect afford­able hous­ing in pover­ty-strick­en areas. Col­lege Red Cross orga­ni­za­tions help sup­port cam­pus blood dri­ves that give pints to save lives. Amnesty Inter­na­tion­al groups also get activists involved in human rights cam­paigns that end social suffering.

Extra-cur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties in col­lege can also be sim­ply about fun. Stu­dents who don’t land a cov­et­ed ath­let­ic schol­ar­ship can still join intra­mur­al sports clubs. Intra­mur­al ath­letes meet reg­u­lar­ly to prac­tice and orga­nize match­es against oth­er teams. This could be a great way to stay phys­i­cal­ly active and avoid the fresh­man 15. Cam­pus­es offer var­i­ous intra­mu­rals from soc­cer and bad­minton to swing danc­ing and ulti­mate Fris­bee and rock climbing.

Benefits of Extra-Curricular Activities

Whether you’re par­tic­i­pat­ing in spir­i­tu­al wor­ship groups or stu­dent gov­ern­ment, extra-cur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties will help build your com­mu­ni­ty. Stu­dent-run clubs will con­nect you with peers who share com­mon inter­ests and beliefs. Mak­ing new friends is essen­tial for a healthy social life, espe­cial­ly when you’re mov­ing away from your fam­i­ly. Col­lege stu­dents join­ing extra-cur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties learn how to inter­act with oth­ers to devel­op good com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills. If you’re elect­ed as a club pres­i­dent, you’ll also fine-tune your lead­er­ship abil­i­ties. Start­ing a “habit” for com­mu­ni­ty involve­ment may fol­low you into adult­hood for good citizenship.

Dab­bling in dif­fer­ent extra-cur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties could pro­vide eye-open­ing learn­ing expe­ri­ences. Per­haps audi­tion­ing for a the­atre group helps you dis­cov­er your love for the spot­light. Or sign­ing up for ani­me club unleash­es your artis­tic side. Col­lege clubs are designed to help you iden­ti­fy and fos­ter your unique tal­ents. Hav­ing a fun out­let for enjoy­ing your pas­sions can help com­bat col­le­giate stress. That’s impor­tant because there’s been a 58 per­cent increase in stress-relat­ed men­tal health issues on col­lege cam­pus­es since 2000.

Find­ing extra-cur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties can also help posi­tion you for future employ­ment. Rich col­lege expe­ri­ences will devel­op the skill sets employ­ers seek in new hires. For instance, edit­ing your col­lege news­pa­per could bright­en your future in jour­nal­ism. Com­pa­nies want to hire stu­dents with well-round­ed edu­ca­tion both inside and out­side lec­ture halls. Although you may think extra-cur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties would com­pro­mise study time, get­ting involved may boost your aca­d­e­m­ic achieve­ment. The NCES report­ed that extra-cur­ric­u­lar par­tic­i­pants were more like­ly to have above a 3.0 GPA and less like­ly to skip class­es.

Getting More Involved in Campus Life

Extra-cur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties are one of the eas­i­est ways for shy, young fresh­men to form con­nec­tions on vast col­lege cam­pus­es. Pick­ing from the array of extra-cur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties offered can be over­whelm­ing though. Most uni­ver­si­ties list stu­dent clubs and blurbs about their mis­sions on the web­site. Nar­row down the options based on your inter­ests, but don’t be afraid to try some­thing new! Con­sid­er tak­ing an online quiz to deter­mine which extra-cur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties suit your per­son­al­i­ty. Take advan­tage of any cam­pus fairs to learn more about stu­dent-led orga­ni­za­tions look­ing for new recruits. Talk with a coun­selor at your col­lege’s cam­pus activ­i­ties office for more guidance.

Remem­ber that per­ma­nent posi­tions with stu­dent clubs and soci­eties aren’t the only way to find extra-cur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties. Keep an ear open when pro­fes­sors dis­cuss any tem­po­rary research stud­ies, ser­vice learn­ing cam­paigns, or study abroad trips. Meet with fac­ul­ty dur­ing their office hours to get sug­ges­tions on indus­try-relat­ed projects. Look for fliers in your school’s stu­dent union or social media tweets about upcom­ing events. Even attend­ing “cheesy” socials orga­nized by your RA can intro­duce you to cool new peo­ple. It’s impor­tant for stu­dents to take charge and assertive­ly hunt for extra-cur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties for a com­plete col­lege experience.

Relat­ed:

The Real Rea­son Mil­len­ni­als are Struggling

The Eco­nom­ics of a Bach­e­lor’s Degree

A Cost/Benefit Analy­sis of a Bach­e­lor’s Degree