What they don’t want to see is someone who doesn’t do anything except assigned schoolwork, and then things like XBox and hanging out at the mall with your friends. They aren’t particularly impressed by a laundry list of extracurricular activities that you probably don’t enjoy.

So the real question is: what do you enjoy most? Do that. The most impressive things will be the ones that you enjoy most, because they will show that you have pinpointed a passion in life, in which you are likely to be highly successful. If you don’t really know what you like, then try a few things, and see which ones you want to stick with.

Your high school will probably have a variety of clubs, plus musical activities, a drama club, academic competition teams, and school publications. You could also get involved in community service activities. Any of these will be impressive if you get seriously involved in it.

Sports gets a lot of press but it is actually a small fraction of what goes on at a university. Of course the best club to join is the straight A club.