Clubs, volunteering, and what US colleges look for

4 min read·Updated October 2026

Why activities matter in the US

Back home, admission often comes down to one number: board marks, or a JEE or NEET rank. US colleges, especially selective ones, use holistic review: they read the whole application. Grades and the difficulty of classes come first, but colleges also want to know who your child is outside the classroom.

On the Common App, the shared application many colleges use, students can list up to ten activities. Common App says that doesn’t mean they need ten. Colleges want to see what your child cares about, not how many things they joined.

What colleges look for

Admissions officers look for three things:

1. Depth, not a long list. Two or three activities over several years mean more than ten short ones.
2. Growing responsibility. Leading, organizing, teaching, or starting something.
3. Real impact. What changed because your child was there.

Here is the difference. One student joins eight clubs in grade 9 and goes to a few meetings of each. Another joins the robotics team in grade 9, keeps going, teaches new members in grade 11, and leads the build team in grade 12. The second student has fewer lines on the application, but a much clearer story.

No single club guarantees admission. There is no “right” list of activities, and colleges don’t expect every student to do the same things.

By grade

• Grade 9: try two or three different things: one academic club, one creative or sports activity, and some service.
• Grade 10: keep the ones your child enjoys. It’s fine to drop the rest.
• Grade 11: take on more responsibility: a leadership role, teaching others, or a bigger project.
• Grade 12: describe it well. The Common App gives only a short space for each activity, so help your child keep notes on hours, roles, and results along the way.

For ideas that fit your child’s career interest, see Clubs and volunteering by career.

These count too

Many families don’t realize that these are real activities in a US application:

• A paid part-time job, including in a family business.
• Caring for siblings, a grandparent, or translating for parents. Common App calls these family responsibilities. It says they meet an important need for the family, unlike everyday chores, and that knowing about them helps admission officers understand a student’s grades and activities.
• Steady service at your temple, gurdwara, mosque, or community group, such as teaching younger children or helping at events.

Be careful with expensive summer programs

Many universities run paid summer programs for high school students. Attending one, by itself, usually does not improve admission chances at that university. An article from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Global Youth Program calls that idea a myth, and notes that a campus’s summer-program office is separate from its admissions office.

Summer is better spent on things your child truly cares about. Free or selective programs, a steady local commitment, a part-time job, or a real project can mean as much as an expensive program, often more.

Your home language is an asset

Many US states give a Seal of Biliteracy, a special mark on the high school diploma or transcript, to students who speak, read, and write well in English and another language. California, for example, accepts any world language, and lets schools use approved tests when there’s no AP or IB exam in that language.

Languages like Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, or Tamil may qualify, depending on your state’s rules and the tests it accepts. Ask your child’s school counselor, or search for “Seal of Biliteracy” on your state’s department of education website. Teaching your home language to younger children at a community center also counts as service.