It’s going to be a little tricky to have established experience and demonstrated interest in some of the topics you might be hoping to study in college. That’s perfectly natural. Some things will require PhDs to do the work to contribute in the way you want. Business is not one of those things. While other fields may require larger scale organization and access to facilities to provide enriching activities, business in many ways can be more accessible in terms of approaches. 

We’re going to look at some different activities for business offered at different levels of complexity and competition. The things you should be looking at are growth, finances, marketing, resource management, logistics, performance, and other variables that can be used to demonstrate the progress of your personal or club projects. On top of this, building a student website like we described in an earlier post will be the perfect launchpad to exhibit everything in a streamlined format.

Local level

All of these are activities that can be done by an individual student or as a club. There are always pros and cons to each, but, the nice thing is that both individual and club activities are equally good on applications. Compared to highly structured events, doing your own thing has the advantage of being flexible in time management and scheduling. Something to keep in mind about a strong local project is that there are many ways to expand it so it becomes regional, national, or even global.

• Toy/food/clothing/?? drive

  While this is going to show your commitment to community, how you promote the event, organize the collection and drop-off, and catalog the work done show leadership, time-management, marketing skills, and the ability to execute a plan. It helps people, shows initiative, and also involves community. This can be done several times over the year for different items when they are needed most.  

• Fundraise

  Being able to pull funds together for a cause is a good business skill to have on any business-oriented application. Many students don’t realize that selling baked goods for a charity or selling handmade crafts to save whales still counts as a business activity, especially if you’ve used social media to promote your activities. This even means a high school drama club could put on a school play and donate all of the proceeds to their favorite charity. Catalog everything and put it on your blog to keep everything fresh for when you write your essays.
  

• Make money

  This is the glaringly obvious option. The easiest way to show that you know how to do business is by doing business. The rest of the journey is not going to be easy, but it’s important to know how big this is. Whether you walk dogs, mow lawns, do online tutoring, create a 501c to end elderly clothing disrepair, it doesn’t matter – the activity you choose will carry a lot of weight in conveying your personality. The way you run it and the results you can achieve on a very tight schedule will give you unique insights that you can write about in your essay later. Do something that’s fun for you, set up a plan, look at how much money it is going to cost, and be realistic. 

National level

Competing with teams from across the country who are preparing with intensity is an exciting experience to have in high school. Big national events will often ask students for their “best” submission to answer a question or solve a problem in a format that pits them against other teams. If you’re looking at business-oriented fields, these will be useful in that they will allow you to have exposure to business topics at a level that is much more in-depth and hands-on than traditional learning.  

• Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA)

  Having time spent in the FLBA is very common on competitive packages because of the subject material and time required of students. These are the kinds of activities that require serious commitment to result in recognition appropriate for the most competitive schools, but the participation alone will give students exposure to a broad spectrum of business topics in highly specific situations. 

  • Link: https://www.fbla-pbl.org/ 

• DECA

  With almost a quarter million high school members, DECA is, like FBLA, something that nearly all high school students do when aiming for very competitive business programs. Like FBLA, there is an organized structure that is nationally recognized and offers highly competitive opportunities for the DECA Glass. These opportunities allow students to demonstrate business acumen from a variety of perspectives in many different business applications. Students will need faculty support for this, but chances are your school will already have a chapter. If not, starting one is a pretty strong way to show leadership.

  • Link: https://www.deca.org/ 

• Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE) 

  In the SAGE USA Competition, students will virtually submit videos explaining their actual business and prepare electronic annual reports that are reviewed by a panel of judges. Events are held at state, regional, and national tiers; much like many other national events, you should expect some work intensity. SAGE USA is part of SAGE programs in several different countries with the top two teams from each participating country competing at the SAGE World Cup.  

  • Link: https://www.sageglobal.org/usacompetition

  • Open: May 1, 2023

• The Paradigm Challenge

  It’s difficult to place the Paradigm Challenge in a category because there are so many integrated disciplines. This is a national challenge open to 4- to 18-year-olds, divided into four age-range groups, that asks students to use compassion, science, and business to solve real world problems. The contest is free to enter and offers step-by-step assistance to get teams from start to submission. This one also has categories for young students to submit projects, making it one of the most accessible national events.

  • Link: https://www.projectparadigm.org/

  • Deadline: May 1, 2023.

Global level

These activities and events go far beyond the confines of a school building or even country. Recognition here means winning in a competition or series of competitive events against teams from all over the world. These events have a more nuanced approach than purely national events in that there will be an opportunity to see how teams from different cultures approach issues that often have significant global impact. 

• Wharton Global High School Investment Competition

  Open to teams from all over the world, this is an investment strategy activity that asks teams of students to look at a case study for a potential client and create a strategy to meet the client’s needs. Teams are given $100,000 in simulated funding, and the winners are chosen based on the quality of their strategy and the effectiveness of their delivery. There are many investment competitions, but this is held at one of the top business schools on the planet and is free.

  • Link: https://globalyouth.wharton.upenn.edu/

  • 2023 season: Opens in spring
    

• Conrad Spirit of Innovation 

  This competition looks to see teams put together an entire project from concept to market. The entrance fee is $499, creating an immediate barrier that can, however, be overcome by fundraising through your club at school. You need to have at least two people on a team and a mentor, but this project is sponsored by some big names, such as NASA, Dell, and others. High school students around the world are presented with categories and tasked with providing a solution to a problem that they  articulate. Winners are chosen based on novelty, feasibility, and quality. For future business students, even just fundraising the entry fee through a school event is a solid supplemental essay by itself. 

  • Link: https://www.conradchallenge.org/conrad-challenge

  • 2023-2024: TBA (finals are in April, new challenge will open shortly after)
    

• Kickstarter 

  A successfully funded Kickstarter would be a pretty strong addition to any high school student’s application package to a top business school. Everything depends on the scale and what you did with the project, but the point here is that this is a demonstration of taking a concept through all of the design and testing phases and bringing an idea to realization. Whether it’s an actual patent from a 3D printed design you created, a new service, or help launching community outreach, Kickstarter has helped students on numerous projects that weren’t traditional businesses. If you’re shooting for a top business program and are looking for something big, a solid Kickstarter would be one of them.