How to Stand Out on the Common App Activities Section
Common App Activities section overview
In addition to the dreaded 650-word Common App Essay and the numerous college-specific supplemental essays your child will have to write, they’ll also need to complete the Common App Activities section when applying to college.
Whereas the Common App Essay will show college admissions committees who your child is, the Common App Activities section will allow colleges to understand what your child has done and is doing outside of the classroom, offering one of the best opportunities to stand out among other applicants.
Without college essays and extracurricular activities lists, colleges would be limited to grades, class rank, and ACT and SAT scores to make their admissions decisions. Given that so many students with strong numbers apply to college each year, it’s important for your child to use the Activities section to develop an application theme—that is, to highlight their “it factor” and specialties.
Before we get into writing tips and sample extracurricular descriptions, let’s go over a few Activities section basics:
What qualifies as an activity?
According to Common App, “activities may include arts, athletics, clubs, employment, personal commitments, and other pursuits.” In other words, pretty much anything pursued outside the classroom qualifies as an activity.
Since nearly anything counts as an activity, can my child include activities done on an informal basis?
Yes. Your child can include activities that were organized formally as well as those activities that may have only involved your child. Examples of the former might be sports teams and school clubs whereas examples of the latter include activities and hobbies your child may also participate in independently, such as reading or scrapbooking. Additionally, your child may perform community service as part of a team or alone. Either way, it could count as an impactful activity for the Common App.
How many activities can be listed?
Your child may list up to 10 activities.
What are the word or character limits for each activity?
Common App sets the following limits for each activity:
Position/Leadership description: 50 characters
Organization name: 100 characters
Activity description, including what your child accomplished and any recognition they received: 150 characters
As you can see, there is very limited space offered for each activity, so we’ll be discussing how to maximize the impact of each entry below.
What other information does Common App collect for each activity?
Common App requests the following information for each activity:
Activity type (e.g., art, athletics, community service, debate/speech, foreign language, research, social justice, work)
Participation grade levels (9, 10, 11, 12, post-graduate)
Timing of participation (during school year, during school break, all year)
Hours spent per week
Weeks spent per year
Whether or not your child intends to participate in a similar activity in college (yes/no)
(Note: It is acceptable for your child to indicate their intention to participate in certain similar activities in college, but not others.)
Writing strategies
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s discuss some proven approaches to completing a strong Activities section:
1. Include role and organization name in their respective boxes.
The first four fields for each activity on Common App look like this:
After selecting an activity type from the drop-down menu, your child should input both their position and the organization name in the corresponding boxes. That way, your child can use the full 150-character limit for the activity description box.
For example, your child should write “President” followed by “Student Council.”
2. Do not repeat words from the position description box in the activity description box.
Continuing with the student council president example: Instead of writing, “As president of the student body, I was responsible for…”, your child should write, “Implemented school initiatives such as free textbooks for low-income families, liaised with administration, and curated meeting agendas.”
3. Focus on quantifiable and significant impact.
Many applicants undersell their achievements because they don’t get specific enough about their contributions. For example, rather than writing something like, “Organized food can drive for local families,” your child should write, “Collected over 10,000 cans and provided Thanksgiving meals for 500 families in greater Cleveland.” With details like that, your child’s impact will be unquestionable to admissions committees.
Numbers also have a way of jumping out to a reader and demanding attention, and they can help break up long strings of text that a reader might have otherwise been inclined to skim over.
4. List tasks and avoid complete sentences to make room for more detail.
Colleges understand that your child does not have enough space to provide in-depth descriptions of each activity. Therefore, rather than write, for example, “At the hospital, I transported patients with physical disabilities on wheelchairs…”, your child should write, “Transported patients on wheelchairs, provided meals and blankets, assembled gift baskets, and attended grand rounds.”
Think of these descriptions more as bullet points on a resumé. It’s a good idea to begin each description with a strong descriptive verb — words like implemented, led, founded, tutored, established, managed, launched, etc. catch the reader’s attention and help them envision your child actively engaging in the activity.
Stick to direct pieces of information and cut out any “fluff” or filler information. While using proper grammar is still important, it’s also acceptable to eliminate things that would typically pad your child’s writing, such as prepositions, articles, and pronouns. You may be surprised at just how many characters your child can save by eliminating them!
5. Describe current activities using present tense.
For instance, rather than, “I tutored seventh graders in science,” your child should write, “Tutor 7th graders to help them master challenging science concepts.”
Advanced strategies
What is the best order to list activities on the Common App?
With so many possible ways your child can list activities on the Common App, they may wonder if the order even matters. In a word: yes!
Keep in mind that the Common App specifically instructs applicants to list their activities in order of their importance (to the applicant.) It would also be wise for your child to consider placing at few of their most objectively impressive activities and the activities most closely related to their intended college major close to the top of the list. Moreover, capturing admissions committees’ positive attention early on will compel them to review the rest of your child’s activities list more favorably.
Your child should list activities that best illustrate who they are as a person and how they prefer to spend their time. Activities that don’t tell anything about their interests or possible future career endeavors don’t need to be included. Remember, the experiences listed in this section should be noteworthy and indicative of who your child is, so choose wisely and order them accordingly.
1. Make activities sound as impressive as possible.
Dr. Cal Newport first popularized the concept of the failed simulation effect, defined as follows: “Accomplishments that are hard to explain can be much more impressive than accomplishments that are simply hard to do.” Therefore, within each activity’s description, your child should describe accomplishments that are hardest to explain. For example, if your child blogs about mental health and had an opportunity to meet with a local city councilperson to develop a mental health awareness initiative in your county, they should mention that. It’s important to note, however, that your child should never fabricate or exaggerate achievements and extracurricular activities for the sake of impressiveness.
Common App Activities section example
Below is an example of how a single student might format, describe, and order their activities.
Intern
Google Virtual Reality (VR)
Coded VR environments for various software prototypes, some of which were featured at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show.
Founder and President
Code for Community
Organize coding camps for middle and high schoolers from inner-city Chicago whose schools do not offer computer science classes.
President
Coding Club
Major projects include developing software for school to track student grades, assignments, and parent communications.
Assistant Instructor
Tae Kwon Do
Train 5- to 6-year-old martial arts students to develop proper technique and instill confidence.
Tae Kwon Do
Achieved black belt at age 16 and currently training for state tournament.
Writing Peer Counselor
The Hamilton School
Supported high school students with all forms of writing, including in-class assignments, AP exam essays, and school newspaper articles.
Math Tutor
The Hamilton School
Support struggling middle and high school students with Algebra 1 and 2, Geometry, Precalculus, and Calculus.
President
Cru Club
Host monthly speaking events with athletes, principals, etc. for 80 students from all over Chicago to help them discover aspects of their purpose.
Customer Service Representative
Elegant Cleaners
Greeted customers, processed orders and payments, and returned clothing items.
Waitress
Blue Ribbon Diner
Took customer orders, served food and drinks, and processed payments.
In the above example, the student does a fantastic job ordering their activities in a hierarchical manner so that the most impressive activities are at the top. Remember that colleges receive tons of applications, so you need to stand out early.
In addition, their descriptions read like a resumé, avoiding complete sentences and being stripped of unnecessary phrases. This student also does a good job showcasing a commitment to their community through their activities.
Also, notice that similar activities are grouped together. This gives colleges a good idea of an applicant’s interests and what they might contribute to the campus community.
