Pre-Professional Clubs: Do They Prepare You For Undergrad?
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During high school, it’s important to participate in clubs of interest, but you should also try to join pre-professional clubs to further boost your applications to colleges and universities. Pre-professional clubs include common honors societies, national service organizations, and career-specific clubs. Below is a list of some common pre-professional clubs that you could consider joining (or even starting) at your high school.
Honors Societies
- National Honor Society (NHS)
- The purpose of NHS is to recognize high achieving high school students, where acceptance is based on four criteria: scholarship, leadership, service, and character
- Inducted students must maintain their membership by participating in service and leadership-based activities
- Mu Alpha Theta
- Mu Alpha Theta is a national math honor society for high school students
- Participation is usually based on attending math competitions or other events hosted by the high school
- National Honor Societies for Foreign Languages
- Most foreign languages taught in high schools have separate honor societies dedicated to the celebration and participation of that language
- National Spanish Honor Society and National French Honor Society are two common examples
- Other subject-specific societies include Science National Honor Society and National English Honor Society
Career-Based Organizations
- SkillsUSA
- SkillsUSA is a career and technical organization for middle school through college students to take part in activities and competitions that improve their exposure to and skillset in various career fields
- The national competition is held annually in Kentucky, and winners of the national SkillsUSA competition go on to represent USA in the WorldSkills competition
- Topics include Health Knowledge Bowl, Engineering Technology, Entrepreneurship, Customer Service, and Medical Terminology among others
- Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA)
- FBLA is a business-based career organization that caters to middle school, high school, and university students and offers various competitive events
- Competitions are split into 70 different topics, and can be participated as Individual, Team, or Chapter based events
- Helpful for future business majors
- Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA)
- DECA events are geared toward preparing students interested in entrepreneurship, marketing, finance, hospitality, and management programs of study
- Much like FBLA, DECA includes various challenges and competitions at the high school and regional, and state levels
- Helpful for business majors
- Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA)
- HOSA is a national organization dedicated to serving students interested in health-related careers, and is endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education
- HOSA offers a variety of topics to compete in, as well as scholarships students can apply to
- Ideal of pre-health students
- Technology Students Association (TSA)
- TSA is a national career organization that strives to develop students’ skills in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and business education
- TSA boasts a wide variety of different competitions for students to participate in, all directly related to careers in technology
- Great organization to join for pre-engineering or STEM students
Volunteer Organizations
- Key Club International
- Key Club is an international service organization for high school students dedicated to engaging high school students in volunteer services in their communities in order to promote service and leadership
- great club to join in order to get more involved in your community and build service hours
- Community service is a component of most other honors societies such as NHS, so joining such honor societies would also help you expose to community service opportunities
Sean Fowler
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