Four score and seven years ago, you weren’t even born yet. Your parents weren’t even born. Probably not even your grandparents either. But your love of history transcends the worldly plane! Four score and seven years ago might contain historical moments you’re passionately interested in: Jesse Owens won 4 medals at the Berlin Olympics, the Great Depression continued to ravage the United States, and fascism started to grab ahold of Europe. But you’re struggling with how to turn those interests into tangible extracurriculars to prove that you’re passionate. No worries, we got you.
When you think about the college admissions essays that face you down the line, you need to think of them like persuasive research papers. The thesis is “I should go to school here please,” and the evidence is the extracurriculars you’ve pursued throughout high school. Basically, it’s time to amp up your extracurriculars, and here’s a guide on how to do it.
Reading
If you like history, you better love reading. Thankfully, historical nonfiction has a million options to help you narrow down your niche. We want to get you to a point where you have a specific historical interest that makes you stand out from the crowd. For example, one of our counselors who majored in history developed a niche interest in 90s ATF and FBI history during high school and ended up writing her college thesis in this niche. One way you can get to this point is BOOKS! Think about what you like about your history classes and go from there. Maybe you want to read Women in World History 1450 to the Present by Bonnie G. Smith or Howard Zinn’s A People's History of the United States.
Online or In-person Classes
Next up on expanding your niche are classes!! There are so many types of history to explore. Once you’ve read some books, time to hop onto sites like Coursera or Yale Open Courses to delve into those niches more. One of the great things about history is that you can combine it with almost any other interest. If you really like taking French in school, try exploring French history. If you love your sport, learn about the history of that sport. History is always expanding and you'll always have the opportunity to explore the history of some incredibly niche topic.
Summer Programs
Summer programs are a great way to start putting your historical interests into action. History is a collaborative and rich discipline, and summer programs are a great way to dive in. Pre-college programs at schools like Columbia, Harvard, Brown, UCLA, and Boston University (to name a few) often have tons of classes to choose from, all while giving you that intro to college feel. You can even earn college credit, which not only looks good on your apps, but helps give you a headstart.
Research
Now that you’ve really explored your interests and refined your goals, it’s time to do research. Researching with a professor at a local college is easier said than done, but not entirely impossible. Most professors (and sorry to all the professors out there) are nerds who love talking about what they’ve dedicated their careers to, so try cold emailing as many as you can. They are also pretty cool about responding to emails. Even if research doesn’t come to fruition, these interactions can help you feel more confident navigating an academic space.
Intern
Finding an internship in history is a little more challenging. There aren’t like, History Companies. This is where you need to lean on the area in history you’re passionate about. Think tanks are an option for those of you interested in American political history, or if you’re one of those aforementioned sports history nerds, maybe you could intern at a front office for a professional sports team. If you’re interested in history because it’s a good foundation for law school, intern with a law firm. Maybe you think history is a good foundation for a journalism or writing career–so start interning for your local paper. Use an internship to show colleges how you would apply your history degree to real life.
Get Published
“Published? I am a child,” you say. Pshhhhh. Sure, you can try to get published in a journal for history. But you can also publish your musings on 15th-century mysticism independently on a platform like Medium or your own blog. You can write a column for your school or local paper where you analyze historical events and compare them to the goings on around town. You can submit articles and essays to magazines and other small-ish publications. There are literally thousands of platforms out there for you to explore, and smaller (or even online-specific) publications are a great start for submissions. The world needs to hear your thoughts, so get a-typin’.
Look, it’s crucial to start exploring your potential major now. What if you get to college and realize you actually hate history?? We don’t want that. We want you to love what you decide to study and foster a deep passion for the academic area of your choosing. Exploring these topics now as a sophomore or junior will cut down on regret two, five, or ten years down the line.
If you need help developing your extracurriculars and strategizing for college admissions, reach out to us today.