Almost every family with a rising junior that I chat with has their kid doing eight things in the name of being well-rounded and active. But, are they doing enough? Too much? How many extracurricular activities does a kid actually need to get into college? 

Every kid I've helped get into their first choice college has taught me the same thing: the number of activities matters much less than what each one is actually doing for your student.

Most rising juniors have an activity or two that needs to be dropped, and it's typically the activity nobody wants to question: theater, orchestra, debate, travel sports, something the student has done for years, but is a total time suck that doesn’t add to their STORY.

I'm working with a rising junior right now who wants to go into science research. Smart kid, strong grades, genuinely motivated. He's scheduled to the max, and one of those activities is theater. It eats a serious chunk of his week and doesn't move him any closer to becoming a researcher. I told him to drop it. It was a tough call and he wasn't thrilled, but he gets it. He likes theater, but doesn’t love it. There's only so many hours in the week.

I'm not in the business of stripping out everything a student cares about in the name of admissions strategy. But here's what I keep coming back to: more is not always better. For a student who wants to go to a selective school, time is very limited between studying for the ACT/SAT, APs, having a social life, and pursuing sports and extracurriculars.

Junior year is when you have to start asking whether that time is better spent somewhere else. I look for two things: is the student actually taking on responsibility, running something, not just showing up for it, and does the activity connect to what they might pursue further, like an internship or research. If it does neither (but is a huge time investment), it's probably not earning its spot anymore. 

Admissions readers aren't scoring a checklist. They're looking for a throughline, one interest that led to the next on purpose, in other words, a STORY. A long list of activities that don't connect to anything is just a list. The student who spent three years going deep on one thing, and can point to how it grew, is more interesting than the student who spent three years spread thin across ten.

This summer, the useful work might be subtraction. Not what to add, but what still deserves another year. 

Every issue, we'll point you toward specific NYC programs, deadlines, and events that help your student explore what they're actually curious about and build the kind of depth colleges are looking for. Here's what's worth your attention this week:

Deadline: 2026 to 2027 academic year applications due August 23, 2026

The New York Historical puts high schoolers to work as real interns, using the museum and library collections to run their own research and produce public digital humanities projects that anyone can use. The academic year cohort meets Wednesday afternoons from late October through June, in person at the museum on Central Park West, and interns receive a $1200 stipend on completion. It is open to students entering grades 10, 11, or 12 who live and attend school in the NYC metro area. This is exactly the kind of commitment that earns its place, months of sustained work with a finished product to point to, not a once a week drop in. A student who spent a year producing published historical scholarship has a throughline, not a checkbox.

Deadline: Rolling applications, open now; free, with a stipend

Brooklyn Public Library hands its Branch Council teens the keys. They plan and produce the library's after hours Teen Takeover events, from the first idea to the night itself, meeting regularly at their local branch and earning a stipend plus community service hours along the way. It is open to high schoolers ages 16 to 19 through participating branches. When admissions readers look for a student who runs something rather than just shows up, this is what they mean. Planning and delivering real public events builds the kind of ownership and follow through that reads as leadership, and it is the opposite of spreading thin across ten activities.

Deadline: Open now, submissions due 12:00 PM ET October 26, 2026

The Congressional App Challenge asks students to design and build their own working app, then submit it to their local member of Congress for the district competition. Students can enter on their own or in a team of up to four, and winning apps are recognized by their representative and displayed in the U.S. Capitol. It is free, runs through the fall, and district participation varies, so it is worth checking your representative first. A self directed build like this is a throughline in one project, the student picks a problem, learns what they need, and ships something real that connects straight to an interest in tech or computer science. It rewards going deep on one thing instead of collecting another membership.

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