An increasing number of students we work with are even interested in majoring in business in college. It’s been a steep enough uptick that it’s impossible to ignore. Once upon a time, students interested in STEM wanted to go on to get a secure job at a big company. These days, that’s simply not the goal. Young people would rather work harder days and longer hours — but for themselves. And to give themselves the best chance of succeeding they know they need to understand the mechanics, economics, and even the psychology, of business.
But ‘business’ is broad, and it encompasses literally everything. From grocery stores to tech start-ups, and from influencing to medical device design, all of it falls into business. To help our students narrow down their interests, we encourage them to get their hands dirty before they go to college to learn the nitty-gritty. Building your business-minded resume through strategically chosen extracurriculars won’t just help you focus, though, but will show the application readers that this isn’t a random major you’ve picked off a list — it’s something you are actively engaged in and working towards a career in.
Below are the four extracurricular activities you must be doing as a high school student if you are planning on studying business in college.
If you know where you want to be after college, but aren’t sure how to get there send us an email. We help students find and get into their dream schools.
Investment or Entrepreneurship Club (or Both)
First, you immediately need to join the investment or entrepreneurship club at your school — ideally, both. And if your school doesn’t have either, you need to start one. You’re not going to learn how to build the next billion-dollar business through a high school club, but you will meet fellow finance and business-minded students, and explore new ideas and current events. Most importantly, you will put something on your activities list that is directly tied to your prospective major. Ideally, it will also be fun.
Business Internship
Once you’re rolling on the club front, it’s time to find an internship. The first thing to look for in an internship is that the business you intern with is in a field you are at least remotely interested in. The second most important thing, though, is a bit counter-intuitive for people. We encourage high school students to find internships with small, locally-owned businesses. Instead of shooting for the proverbial stars and looking for an internship with a nationally-known business, we believe in prioritizing what you can learn over how well-known a business is (also, it “looks better for college”). At a small, locally-owned business you’ll be in the mix and have a better chance of being in the room when decisions are being made, whereas at a larger company, it’s more likely you’ll only be fetching coffee.
Summer Job for a Locally-Owned Small Business
The ultimate goal for prospective business majors should be a summer job, or summer-long internship, with a business that is related to what you think you want to eventually do in life. Perhaps, this long-term internship or summer job may even be with a company you’ve already had a short-term internship with. In fact, this would be really ideal because you’ll really get to know the business and have more stories to tell in your college application supplements or essay. Like with your initial internship, we encourage students to work with small businesses so that they have more opportunities to be involved in decision-making, part of important conversations, and access to learning opportunities.
School Newspaper Section or Column
Last, but certainly not least, you should start writing for your school newspaper. This should be obvious, but you should plan to write about business and business-adjacent topics. You could write about local business news, or interview local businessowners. Through doing this, you’ll learn the vocabulary of business — and have the opportunity to share it with your peers. Writing for your school newspaper will also develop your writing skills, which will help with your college application writing and build a writing resume that will help you get that internship or summer job.
If you want to major in business in college, you probably don’t have many (if any) classes that you can take to emphasize your interest in business through your transcript. This means that your extracurricular activities are extremely important, so think carefully about how you spend your time outside of the classroom and look for opportunities to build your business experience while also pursuing your passions.
If you’re not sure where to start with your college applications, send us an email. We’re pros at this, and our students go on to the top universities in the country.