I think most high school students involved in numerous clubs and activities have been guilty of this; only joining so “it looks good on college applications.”
I’m here to tell you that while getting involved is always a good thing, being in a club to get into college shouldn’t be your only reason for joining. Yes, we all want to make it to our dream school, but what’s the point of dedicating so much time to something out of school just for a few words on your transcript that say you did it?
Colleges these days are looking for so much more than good grades and being involved, especially as you apply to the more selective schools. They don’t want to just see a bunch of random clubs you’ve done that you don’t have any interest in, they want to see how you have made a difference in your community, and how you have used these extracurriculars to do it. Not only are you wasting your own time by being in clubs meaningless to you, but you bring other people down who are actually committed to the club.
If you do want to be involved and you want something to say for what you’ve done in high school, join something you’re actually passionate about. You’ll want to spend your time working with the club and making a difference. Colleges will be able to see your commitment within your essays too. If you can show them what you’ve done at your current school and the passion you have towards your accomplishments, it makes you that much more desirable of a student for them to have at their school.

What I’m trying to say is, don’t join a ton of pointless clubs just for the merit for certain colleges. Yes, we all want to get into that one amazing school, but it’s so much better to actually be dedicated to one or two clubs, than to just have a meaningless list of activities you don’t have anything to say for.

Erin Chambers, Co-Editor