I surveyed all 65 current members of Dewey Smart, from our college counselors to the SAT tutors to the software development team, asking just one question: “what’s the most interesting high school extracurricular you’ve come across?” After a week of collecting these results, I have assembled and ranked the 20 most stand-out and unique extracurriculars from the collective experiences of those at Dewey Smart.
People who do unique extracurriculars have one major thing in common: they demonstrate incredible initiative and courage in the face of risk, adversity, and failure. Will that be you?
If you are realizing that you need to hurry and add more to your student resume, consider applying to Dewey Smart's High School Internship Match program, which guarantees that you will be invited to participate in a summer internship.
Every college is different and has their own scoring methods for each aspect of your college application. We devised a rubrick for ranking ideas for extracurricular activities based on important factors for college admissions. I rank the unique extracurriculars using these five criteria which I believe encompasses the main factors that make an extracurricular activity outstanding to colleges on your target list. Instead of making choices on based on getting into top colleges, make sure that you are leading with authenticity and genuine passion. Here is our ranking criteria for extracurricular activities, independent projects, and community activities:
Difficulty and Risk
How much risk was involved in the activity? What were the consequences of failure? How hard is it to engage in this activity? Does it require a certain level of expertise in a specific area?
Uniqueness
A general impression of the activity itself. How many other people do this activity or are capable of doing it? Did the person do it in a way that was innovative or creative?
Impact
What did the activity accomplish? Did it help other people or a certain community? Did it lead to self-growth or the acquisition of new skills?
Initiative
How much preparation and planning is required to do this activity? How did the person decide to do it, how was the idea formed?
Commitment
How long did the activity occur? Is the activity difficult to commit to/is it a stressful activity that requires endurance and persistence?
This student is a pretty ordinary city student– except for one thing. He raised chickens while taking care of his brothers. He ended up writing an essay about the way he accepted these as responsibilities and how he learned from helping the chickens (and his brothers) grow and thrive in his home.
Difficulty/Risk 5/10
Uniqueness 7/10
Impact 8/10
Initiative 3/10
Commitment 7/10
Score 30/50
A friend I met from Shanghai, China won a contest where he designed cute trash cans that encourage correct disposal of waste. He presented his design as a business proposal/patented invention and it won 1st place.
Difficulty/Risk 7/10
Uniqueness 7/10
Impact 8/10
Initiative 7/10
Commitment 2/10
Score 31/50
One student who studied English Literature at UCLA wrote hundreds of poems a year and posted it on his poetry blog with 200 followers. He also joined a poetry radio group and read his poems on the radio every week.
Difficulty/Risk 6/10
Uniqueness 8/10
Impact 6/10
Initiative 6/10
Commitment 7/10
Score 33/50
One student I have built 3D replicas of video games he enjoyed and implemented code into them using arduino boards. Another student learned mechanical engineering from his school and the internet and built his own electric skateboard. He even constructed his own pyrotechnics! Engineering hobbies can look great on your college application, especially if you are demonstrating commitment to safety and other types of skills.
Difficulty/Risk 7/10
Uniqueness 7/10
Impact 6/10
Initiative 8/10
Commitment 6/10
Score 34/50
One student interested in civil engineering joined a program where he helped build sidewalks so that elementary school kids could walk safely to school.
Difficulty/Risk 6/10
Uniqueness 7/10
Impact1 0/10
Initiative 7/10
Commitment 6/10
Score 36/50
An economics student started her own slime business where she made her own slime and sold over 1,700 units in a year using Amazon, Ebay, and Etsy. She then used those funds to invest in a study abroad trip to Italy.
Difficulty/Risk 5/10
Uniqueness 9/10
Impact 7/10
Initiative 8/10
Commitment 7/10
Score 36/50
One of our tutors’ students grew up in Thailand where she helped at her parents' pharmacy. She used that knowledge to get an internship where she worked at an animal clinic, helping out with cataloging, preparing dosages, organizing pharmaceutical pills, researching, writing and other administrative work.
Difficulty/Risk 7/10
Uniqueness 6/10
Impact 8/10
Initiative 8/10
Commitment 8/10
Score 37/50
One of our students participated in the civil air patrol program, a nonprofit dedicated to serving the airforce and the general public through youth development and aerospace education. At the program, she got to learn how to fly a plane, deploy a parachute safely, and be a leader during times of emergency.
Difficulty/Risk 7/10
Uniqueness 8/10
Impact 9/10
Initiative 6/10
Commitment 8/10
Score 38/50
At first, the student was just a barista at Starbucks. However, after working for a while and noticing behaviors and mechanisms that led to a lag in service, he created a more efficient ordering system. Because he was also interested in computer science, he created his own coffeeshop game using the development platform, Unity.
Difficulty/Risk 7/10
Uniqueness 9/10
Impact 9/10
Initiative 10/10
Commitment 5/10
Score 40/50
Another student always enjoyed making earrings and was obsessed with recycling old earrings and parts to make new ones. During high school, she started an earring business which used up-cycled jewelry and 14k gold/sterling and sold them on different platforms like Instagram, Offer-up and Etsy. She even offered custom requests for unique earring ideas.
Difficulty/Risk 7/10
Uniqueness 8/10
Impact 8/10
Initiative 9/10
Commitment 8/10
Score 40/50
We also came across an engineering student who hiked all 46 Adirondack Mountains. The mountains are between 1000-4000 feet high, contain over 3000 lakes, and present challenges to both the body and the mind.
Difficulty/Risk 9/10
Uniqueness 9/10
Impact 6/10
Initiative 6/10
Commitment 10/10
Score 40/50
I had a student this year who built computers for fun while learning music production, writing original melodies and lyrics, releasing 4 original rock songs on Spotify (2 of which had over 1,000 plays), and performing at local venues. He was also a talented car mechanic who could take apart an entire car and put it back together.
Difficulty/Risk 9/10
Uniqueness 7/10
Impact 4/10
Initiative 10/10
Commitment 10/10
Score40/50
A student majoring in linguistics wrote a 40,000 word interactive fiction project, with multiple plots and storylines which you could follow depending on the reader’s choices. The student then posted it on a popular website for anyone to play.
Difficulty/Risk 9/10
Uniqueness 8/10
Impact 7/10
Initiative 6/10
Commitment 10/10
Score 40/50
Another student majoring in theater wrote a play about the complex issues with family and having a grandmother with Alzheimer's. They managed its production from start to finish.
Difficulty/Risk8/10Uniqueness10/10Impact7/10Initiative8/10Commitment8/10Score41/50
One exceptional student participated in a program called Cubes in Space, where student researchers set up experiments in cubes and send them to space. She was working with anti-bacterial nanopillars and tested how they would hold up in space and under UV radiation. After receiving the results of the experiment, she used that information to design and manufacture antibacterial astronaut suits.
Difficulty/Risk8/10Uniqueness10/10Impact8/10Initiative8/10Commitment7/10Score41/50
One of our tutors, Pooja Ramadas, studied the cytotoxicity of the popular food additives MSG and NaB, tested for C. immitis presence in Contra Costa County, analyzed plant soil bacteria, and worked on synthesizing UV-curing hydrogel glue for surgical use. Pooja also co-founded an organization called Project MedMagnified, which helped over 300 pre-med and pre-health students of all ages (from middle school to even graduate school) discover medicine through a whole new lens.
Difficulty/Risk9/10Uniqueness7/10Impact10/10Initiative10/10Commitment8/10Score44/50
A student watched videos of creative vloggers like Casey Neistat and Roman Atwood and became interested in vlogging and filming himself. He started a YouTube channel and ended up gaining over 100,000 subscribers. Through this process he learned skills such as writing, video editing, marketing, business, and media communication.
Difficulty/Risk10/10Uniqueness9/10Impact7/10Initiative10/10Commitment10/10Score46/50
A student self-learned digital sculpting and rendering (which is the process of using software to create life-like 3D art) and did commissions for indie game companies, including Roblox.
Difficulty/Risk10/10Uniqueness9/10Impact8/10Initiative10/10Commitment9/10Score46/50
One student at Dewey Smart was an internationally ranked table tennis player. She was passionate about ping pong her whole life and had an incredible amount of discipline and ambition.
Difficulty/Risk10/10Uniqueness9/10Impact9/10Initiative10/10Commitment10/10Score48/50
Another student was quite the renaissance person. They were a drag queen and an olympic sailor. We scored this at the top extracurricular because it takes an outstanding commitment to dare to be all of these things!
Difficulty/Risk 10/10
Uniqueness 10/10
Impact 10/10
Initiative 10/10
Commitment 10/10
Scorev50/50
While everyone knows that in addition to getting high scores on the SAT & ACT as well as having a strong GPA, you need to stand out in your college applications. Although unique extracurriculars catch the eye of the admissions officers, the most important part is what you are able to achieve with the activity. Even something as simple as the National Honor Society can be incredible, if you organize the cleanup of over 1500 pounds of trash or another larger community service project.
Equally important to unique extracurriculars is what you gain from the experience. Character traits such as resilience, ambition, adaptability, courage, and open-mindedness go a long way and will help you succeed during difficult times.
You may also have noticed another common factor among unique extracurriculars: many of our students have self-learned knowledge and created their own projects. If you don’t participate or get accepted into a prestigious pre-college program, you can still demonstrate initiative and professional skills by brainstorming and accomplishing a project of your own.
Need help finding unique extracurricular activities? Schedule an appointment with a DeweySmart admissions counselor here!
