· You have 10 activity spots where they ask you: the type, position/leadership, grade levels participated, timing, hours, and details. The details section (this is where you list awards and honors) has a cap of around characters. if you do group the music, Put your activities in the ORDER OF IMPORTANCE TO YOU; though make sure you list current activities before things you did freshman/sophomore year; Include: Academic clubs/involvement, sports, club sports, volunteer work, jobs, youth groups, religious involvement, summer programs, research, and so · We get a fair amount of questions about the activities section of the common app. Our first piece of advice is to start a running log (on a google document and a saved word file) of all of your extracurricular activities starting freshman year. If you’re reading this as a junior and missed the boat
How to Fill Out the Common App Activities Section
College Admissions. One of the trickiest parts of the Common App is understanding how to make the most of the extracurricular activity section. You might have a ton of activities - or not very many - and be wondering how you should write about your activities to impress college admissions readers. Colleges love to see that students are active, contributing members of their communities.
Even more importantly, activity section common app, they love to see students who are developing their talents and passions. When a student is actively involved in the community and other activity section common app in high school, there is a activity section common app chance that they will be doing something similar in college.
Because of this, the activities section of the Common App is very important. Remember that almost anything that you are actively and productively involved in can activity section common app considered an extracurricular activity. This includes things like having a job or taking care of family members. For the Common App, you'll need to reflect on what you have learned from your activities and how they have helped you develop.
Admissions officers are going to be particularly interested in seeing how you have been involved in leadership positions and that you have dedicated a significant amount of time and energy to your activities. You know why you need extracurriculars and what the admissions officers most want to see. But do you know how many of them you need for your application?
We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get activity section common app their top choice schoolsfrom state colleges to the Ivy League.
We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. In fact, college admissions advisors would prefer to see a few activities that you've made a significant dedication to than several activities that you've had lesser involvement in, activity section common app. It would be much better to show significant involvement, leadership, and personal development in two or three activities than it would be to write about ten activities that you were hardly involved in because you spread yourself too thin.
A great looking application could have between one and three activities showing significant involvement depending on the number of hours dedicated to eachand a few other activities with a lower level of involvement. These would likely either be from your earlier years in high school before you figured out what you were really passionate about, or a lesser interest that you have dedicated a couple hours a week to. Admissions officers only want to see the activities that you have been engaged in significantly.
But if you have volunteered at the hospital for 10 hours a week every week for four years, that definitely counts as significant involvement. In other words, you need to be looking for quality over quantity. Instead of aiming to fill each activity section common app with something inconsequential just to have it filled, make sure that activity section common app you include reflects a significant time investment and an experience that you learned from. You can often combine multiple activities under one heading if none of them is individually significant enough, or if you need to save space.
You've been on the JV team at school for four years, you play club volleyball in the off-season, and every summer you both do volleyball camps and help coach camps for younger players. If you are running out of room, feel free to lump all of those together on the application as one activity.
Finally, make sure you're not confusing academic awards with extracurricular activities. For example, many good students are accepted into the National Honors Society every year. On the other hand, if you've been accepted, activity section common app, got elected as the president of your school chapter, organized weekly meetings, and planned several volunteer activities throughout the year, list it as an activity.
What if you legitimately have more than ten activities you have been significantly involved in, and you feel your application would be incomplete without them? Never fear! Just make sure they really are important! Still not quite sure how you should choose from among your many activities? Read on for a step-by-step explanation of how to pick what activities you should write about, and how you should list them on your application. This part of the application is difficult because you have to convey a lot of information in a relatively small space.
On a piece of paper, write down a list of your activities. These can be almost anything that you have done in high schoolfrom sports, to organized clubs, to outside hobbies and interests, to work or community service. Base this off the amount of time you dedicated to the project, your leadership in the activity, and how important the activity has been for developing a passion or pursuing a future goal. Important note: Make sure that the order you put them in is the order of importance they have for you according to your passions and interests.
Why is this important? This is going to the be order that you list your activities on the application. Maybe that three hours a week you spent as a peer counselor slipped your mind. Always get someone to check it over and ask for anything they can contribute. Maybe you're used to certain acronyms or assume that everyone knows what the Quill and Scroll Club does!
Do you think that the activities, as you have listed and described them, tell a story about who you are as a person? Is it a good representation of how you've spent the past four years outside of the classroom? And does it show what kind of contribution you activity section common app be making to a college community?
You may have heard that admissions officers are looking to create a well-rounded student body. For example, imagine all your extracurricular activities are related to biology, activity section common app. But realistically, most applicants aren't going to have such massive achievements in just one area. Well-rounded students also help make up a well-rounded student body, so try to think about how your diverse activities tell your story.
You've probably learned different but valuable things from each experience, and having a diverse range of interests shows that you're not afraid to try new things — another thing that will be viewed positively by admissions officers. Also keep in mind that unusual activities often will stand out.
Many students are involved in quite generic activities. Choose whatever best describes the 1 activity from the list you made previously, activity section common app. The main rule for this is to be as detailed as you can within the character limit. This is because you want to save as much room activity section common app possible in the next section, where you activity section common app to describe the activity.
If you do this, you're making the most of your first 50 characters, and you can then use the Activity Description to elaborate on the points you have already raised in the Activity Name, activity section common app.
While that may have been a challenge for older generations, it should be a breeze for anyone who is familiar with using Twitter! Look at your activity list that you wrote earlier.
Choose the most important things for each activity — leadership positions, initiatives activity section common app ran, important contributions you made.
What you should not write in this space is a general description of what the club or group does. Make this all about you and your role in the activity. Use action words and small phrases to describe what you've done. in order to save room. Be specific! Emphasize the numbers of what you did. How many people did you lead?
How many people joined the club because of you? Exactly how much money did you raise for that cause? The more specific you are, the better picture you are painting for the admissions officer activity section common app what you actually achieved. This is your time to shine and be proud of what you've accomplished. Almost everyone will feel like they could write more, but try to refrain from doing so unless you really feel that something very important cannot be described well enough in the space given.
If you do choose to use this space, make it clear that you are referring back to the Activity section. Continue to be brief and highlight the important things that you feel cannot be left out. Back on the Activities page, check the boxes for the years that you have participated in your activity, and also select if you participated in the activity during the school year, activity section common app, during breaks, or all year long, activity section common app.
Finally, check if you would like to do something similar in college. Read through it to make sure that you have no mistakes, that it makes sense, and that it says everything you want it to say. You have now completed one of the most difficult sections of the Common App! Trying to get activity section common app Check out our guide with four amazing extracurricular examples. These will be sure to help you stand out from the crowd! Looking for more extracurriculars to participate in?
Here's a list of hundreds of extracurricular activities you can choose from. Now that you know more about how to write about extracurriculars, check out the number one thing colleges wish students knew. Want to improve your SAT score by points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:.
Mary Ann holds a BA in Classics and Russian from the University of Notre Dame, activity section common app, and an MA from University College London. She has years of tutoring experience and activity section common app also passionate about travel and learning languages, activity section common app.
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Common App Activities Section: Everything You Need to Know! Real Examples! College Applications 101!
, time: 13:55Common App How-To - College By Design — College By Design | Independent Educational Consulting
· We get a fair amount of questions about the activities section of the common app. Our first piece of advice is to start a running log (on a google document and a saved word file) of all of your extracurricular activities starting freshman year. If you’re reading this as a junior and missed the boat Put your activities in the ORDER OF IMPORTANCE TO YOU; though make sure you list current activities before things you did freshman/sophomore year; Include: Academic clubs/involvement, sports, club sports, volunteer work, jobs, youth groups, religious involvement, summer programs, research, and so · The activities section of the Common Application is your chance to show colleges what you’re involved in outside of the classroom. You’ll be required to list and describe the extracurricular activities you’ve participated in during your high school years
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