As a rising senior, there is a nervous and sometimes jealous feeling when talking to other high-academic students with their planned future. While they are completing a variety of activities outside inside and outside of the classroom which will be beneficial for their plans to get into college. There are a bunch of different ways students can do extracurricular activities like joining school clubs and being involved within the school community. On the other hand, the creation of passion projects, enrollment in summer programs, job internships, and the racking up of volunteer hours are great achievements and definitely help with college admissions, but there are students that get accepted to college with little to no extracurriculars.
With the different majors and ideas of students’ personal future plans, participation from a student and their extracurriculars can really vary. Personally, comparing different extracurriculars from student to student is just added pressure on others and student athletes, regular students, and high academic students all have different goals, so the push to do a lot of extracurriculars is just bad pressure. As a student athlete, I am blessed enough to have the chances to find a good fit college with only a decent amount of extracurriculars, but not push myself to the limit by loading my schedule up to the max. Many seniors that were student athletes this year had gotten committed to a college with zero to a few external activities to put on their highschool resumes, but they were able to find a college that suits their interests and reach their goals without a ton of extracurriculars. These activities and busy schedules during the school year, some during the summer break, are great accomplishments; however, there are a bunch of students who put this weight on their shoulders to fit in or get ahead of their fellow classmates instead of enjoying the actual activity itself.
This can also be seen with graduation cords, as some participate in clubs, sports, jobs, volunteering, and more to get the full experience and are passionate about what they are participating in, others will just see these activities as another factor to advance their resumes and get another cord on graduation to show off how many cords they have. Of course, all cords symbolize achievements and that is very important, but there are some students who lack authenticity and do not realize that doing activities that will resonate with their future goals will benefit them just fine. Doing extracurriculars because another student who is high-achieving is participating in one and the constant internal battle to “look presentable” to leaders in their futures can lead to a sense of inadequacy.
While taking on different tasks, students most likely will develop burn out syndrome where they feel like they are going through the motions–mentally and physically drained to the point where they cannot do their work with efficiency or passion. This kind of pressure can develop comparison culture, but students need to recognize that everyone has a different plan for their life. Some people might have different situations and circumstances while considering outside interests and others might need specific courses that don’t apply to another students’ future decision. This pressure can definitely impact a student’s high school experience since their focus would be about the future. Students can miss out on the growth and experimental elements that are highlighted in high school. The need to be a competitive applicant can be worse than just being oneself and being active in activities that a student can give their one hundred percent attention, commitment, and devotion towards.
