There’s an old saying, “Actions speak louder than words.” However, both will need to be on display on the Common Application Activities List for college admission. A list that highlights your character with carefully chosen activities and words helps to convey to admissions officers who you are beyond academics and how you would contribute to college and campus life. Moreover, the activities list allows admissions officers to further distinguish you from the other applicants, many of whom have nearly identical grades and scores. In short, the activities list should be near the top of your priority list when it comes to your college applications. Read on for the basics and for advanced advice on how to assemble an awesome activities list.
Activities List Basics
Defining “Activity”
For the Common App, what is considered an activity is fairly broad with almost anything done outside of class—formal or informal, independent or in a group—qualifying. This includes activities such as clubs, teams, work, hobbies, or projects. So, your job scooping ice cream, hours working at the local animal shelter, years as a tennis or chess player, Sundays singing in a church choir, evenings caring for a family member, or even mornings gardening can all be listed. That said, just because you can list an activity, doesn’t mean you should. Big or small, success or failure, a good list will feature the activities that had a significant and meaningful impact on you.
Refining Your List
To narrow things down, focus on two factors: quality and quantity. For quality, aim to highlight activities that didn’t involve brief or superficial participation. Citing your membership in the French Honors Society may seem smart, but if all you did was sit in the back of a room during a few meetings, it’s not worth mentioning. Instead, feature activities that go deep in terms of how much time you devoted to them and how much you got out of them. If you started off as equipment manager for your school’s lacrosse team in freshman year and ultimately became captain of your championship winning team as a senior due to your dedication and leadership, then include it. Essentially, activities that demonstrate your leadership and commitment are winning items for any list, and so are activities that align with other aspects of your application. If you’re applying as an engineering major, noting your time in a robotics club would be a good idea, for instance.
Once you’ve chosen what activities to add to your list, quality and quantity have another important role to play, as you will need to note the quantity of the time you spent engaged in an activity and explain the quality of your involvement (e.g. a brief description of what you did that was meaningful).
Formatting Your List
In addition to recommendations for what activities belong on your list, there are also technical and formatting requirements.
- Required Information: Type of activity (e.g. community service, athletics), years of participation by grade level (e.g. 9, 11-12), time of participation (e.g. summer, hours per week, hours per year), interest in future participation (yes/no). Be as accurate as possible. Summer activities should be listed according to a student’s rising grade (e.g. lifeguard the summer after 11th grade should be listed as 12th grade) and time spent on an activity should include preparation and travel time (e.g. preparation for a debate, not just time spent debating). If there is uncertainty about exact timing, it’s okay to guess.
- Number of Characters: Position/Leadership description (50), Organization name (100), Activity description, including what your child accomplished and any recognition they received (150). Spaces will count as characters, and abbreviations that are commonly known (e.g. Model UN) are allowed.
- Number of Activities: You can include up to 10 activities.
In light of these limitations, you will have to make the most out of the little space you’re given. What follows is a step-by-step guide to writing a concise and compelling list.
Activities List Step-by-Step Guide
Track and Organize
Although it’s best to start tracking your high school activities starting the summer before freshman year, it’s never too late to record information about your activity participation to use later as you create your activities list. To track your activities, create a document or spreadsheet (digital or paper) with several columns for the required information (e.g. name of activity, role, hours per week) and your reflections (e.g. what you did, problems you solved, lessons you learned). You may also want to include the names and contact information of bosses or supervisors in case you will want to request recommendations from them someday. Revise this list frequently so it’s up to date. Tracking your activities while you’re doing them is ideal because the information will be fresh in your mind. However, if you neglected to track your activities you can always build a list based on what you recall.
Regardless of how and when you created your master list, you will want to spend some time organizing it as you prepare your application. To do so, you will need to put your activities in groups and in an order that highlights your strengths. For example, put all of your community service in a category and put activities (or groups of activities) you either did the most or relate most to your area of study closest to the top.
Draft and Finalize (with examples!)
One of the last steps you’ll complete is writing and revising the description of what you did for each activity. The best descriptions will use strong, specific verbs (e.g. helped = weak, designed = strong). Watch your verb tenses, too, with ongoing activities in the present tense. You can simplify by avoiding complete sentences as well.
Volunteer Librarian (10th-11th)
Smallville Public Library
Selected and read books for the children’s group I created, organized materials, and assisted visitors.
How A+ Can Help
On the surface, an activities list might seem simple—deceptively simple. In fact, rather than a straightforward accounting of your activities, your activities list requires an acute attention to detail, a concise use of language, and a compelling presentation of your personality so that those in admissions get a vivid portrait of a person they can envision thriving and contributing while attending their college. But don’t let the pressure to put together the perfect list get to you! Instead, follow the above advice or seek help. At A+ Test Prep and Tutoring, our College Admissions Coaches can not only help you choose what activities to participate in and how to keep track of them, but also how to present them best on your applications.
At A+ Test Prep and Tutoring, our practices are based on the latest developments in educational theory and research. We have an excellent team of tutors who can help you with standardized testing, executive functioning, or achievement in any other school subject. If you want to find out more about our services, contact us here.
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