The humanities are a big bucket of subjects that aren’t easy to put numbers on. In there you’ve got your languages, including English, your histories, your electives at some high schools like political science and ethics. In college, these categories will have lots of little sub-categories, but for now, in high school, they are still pretty big buckets. One thing that is the same as it will be in college is that grading is super subjective. There are lots of questions that you can either get right or wrong, but there are many, many more that are in the realm of “ehhhhhh.” A teacher gets to decide if you are right, wrong, more right than wrong, or more wrong than right. You could get a point, or no point, or part of a point, on a test. If your teachers love you, this will work out in your favor. If they don’t, you may feel it on your report card. That essay for English you worked super hard on could be a B+ or an A- based solely on how your teacher’s migraines are doing today.
That is majorly annoying, but is also an unavoidable reality of any subject that doesn’t have a binary, right or wrong, grading system.
The whole grading thing isn’t the only reason why it can be hard for students who are passionate about the humanities, and want to major in a humanities subject in college, to stand out. There’s also the issue of activities. What should a student who is interested in the humanities do with their time? Well, that is what we are here to answer.
There is a lot you can do outside of acing your classes (and not just your humanities ones) to stand out from the pack when it comes time to write your college applications.
If you want to go to a top college but aren’t sure where to start, send us an email. We work with students as early as freshman year to chart a course for success.
School-Year Activities
The first — and most obvious — place to start is what you do in the hours during and after school throughout the school year. We break them into two categories: things you can’t win at and things you can win at. The things you can’t win at include literary journals, yearbook, and your school newspaper. You can go for a leadership role, like earning an editor position, but you don’t have to. Over in the things you can win at category, we’ve got quiz bowl, mock trial, Model UN, school-based writing and speech competitions, and other academic competitions outside of STEM. Ideally, you’ll become really passionate about one or two of these and excel.
The best part is, all of these activities are predominately free and facilitated by your school, and so are widely accessible. If one of these things sounds exciting to you but your school doesn’t have it, try talking to your favorite teacher about starting it up. All it takes is a few motivated students and a teacher willing to stay late to create a club!
Summer Programs
There is a whole industry of summer programs that offer humanities students college application-ready things to do that are also fun. We recommend that humanities students look into academic summer programs with a few caveats that are important to lay out.
Academic summer programs at colleges and universities are great for students who want to have a small taste of college, but they aren’t really effective tools for improving your chances of getting into college unless you do two things:
Pick academic programs at colleges you are interested in attending, and build relationships with your professors.
Pair the summer programs with activities during the year that reinforce your interests.
If you think that only doing academic programs each summer is going to cut it, you’re incorrect for the same reason why volunteering for a week in Africa is less impressive than volunteering once a week for a year at your local food bank. Colleges want to see long-term commitment. Parents can cajole a kid into going to a two-week academic program on a college campus, but three years of yearbook ending with a stint as Editor-in-Chief shows true commitment, focus, and perseverance.
Doing Your Own Thing
The final piece of the puzzle is what you do outside of academia. These are the things you do outside of school, and that aren’t formal programs. They don’t need to take up a ton of your time, but can be very helpful when paired with other more structured activities. For example, you can submit your writing or research to competitions and student academic journals, you could get an internship, or even a job.
The most important thing, though, is to have outstanding grades, and not just in your humanities courses. So, if your pursuit of an amazing activities list starts to get in the way of your grades, you need to go back to basics. Get your report card in order, and then continue your benevolent takeover of the quiz bowl team.
Applying to college is complicated, so send us an email. We work with students to craft applications that stand out.