3 Extracurricular Activities That Look Good on a Scholarship Essay & Why

We know that a lot of parents and students will want to start preparing at some point to apply for scholarships, and with that comes some added help that could make your applications more appealing to colleges. At Send Your Kids to College, we have the tools and information to help you in this process. We will tell you about 3 extracurricular activities that will look good on your scholarship essay and why they help.

Participation in Athletics

Sports are one of the most well-known examples to use when applying for scholarships and reaping a good reward for hard work. We’ve all seen the videos of when athletes receive their scholarship in an exciting announcement around their teammates. Including athletics in your scholarship essay will allow you to be well represented among other candidates who will be considered for it.

Being an athlete is also one of the only other aspects of educational life that allows you to be in the presence of someone who helps to teach you, and in this case, it’s the coaches on your teams who can help with recommendations and be references for a scholarship letter if you choose to use that when applying. 

Being an athlete, especially a full-time athlete, there comes a sense of pressure on students to also spend their time on their other academics for classes and exams. Lots of athletes find it to be a struggle balancing both, but there are those rare examples of when a kid does balance both and does well in both. The people who review these scholarship essays will like that kind of thing because it showcases dedication. Again, we know that might be a challenge for many, but it’s worth it to try. Just try!

Initiative on Student Councils and Leadership Groups

Something that absolutely will resonate in your scholarship essays is a sense of leadership and activity around school clubs, leadership groups, and student councils. It’s something that will be considered with all kinds of schools, whether they are lower-tier or higher-tier.

Like with athletics, club activity, or participating in student councils, will require your ability to handle both that and your academic work. Now, let's say that you’re someone very passionate about being in these groups and want to do more than just be a participant. These things on the side act as one of your best chances to showcase leadership qualities. Explain to people how those leadership qualities make you grow as a person now and how they will impact your future. 

Non-Academic Based Experience and Work

The amount of experience that you bring into your academic life from outside experiences can also be very beneficial. Primarily, this is about job experience or perhaps even shadow work if you’re a medical student. This includes experience with jobs that were full-time, part-time time or whether you work a job while taking classes for school. Any form of it counts, and it’s something that educators look for heavily when considering you for a scholarship.

Even if it wasn’t the most important thing in the world, it’s a bonus to your essays that shows you have a willingness to work hard and get as much experience as possible. The more closely that experience relates to your college major is also another added bonus.

One of our top scholarship opportunities ties very closely to this called the Young Achievers Scholarship Application. We recommend you read more into it!

How Our Scholarship Opportunities Can Help You

Here in Buffalo and WNY, we offer a wide range of scholarship application opportunities that will allow you to decide what the best path is for you to take when sending out your essays and letters. Each one is based on a certain type of path that you can follow with the major you take classes for. 

One of our best features for a couple of local scholarship opportunities pertains to location, or if you’re the relative of a veteran or first responder who lives in WNY. It’s an added customized way for certain people who want to approach their process of doing this in different ways than what is normally done, and we don’t just offer generic options.

We also have a page of National Scholarship Resources listing multiple local schools, websites for scholarship research, and other scholarships we’ve listed. Please read more into these opportunities before you consider which scholarships to apply for, and also talk with one of our college planning experts for more questions. Good luck!

More Info - WNY Scholarships

More Info - Young Achievers Scholarship Application

More Info - National Scholarships Resources