If it seems like you are choosing one category for everything, try to diversify a bit and think about how activities can be related without being exactly the same thing. College application checklist. The Common Application offers a drop-down menu with the following activities from which to select: Academic; Art; Athletics: Club; Athletics: JV/Varsity; Career-Oriented; Community Service (Volunteer) Computer/Technology; Cultural; Dance; Debate/Speech; Environmental Get started at any time. You don’t need to use complete sentences. A student should apply to 8-12 schools, with 25% being safety schools, 40% target schools, and 35% reach schools. Thanks for your time and your awesome blog." Sort by: Top Voted. Activity type: Community Service (Volunteer) Position/Leadership description and organization name, if applicable: Key Club: Club President; Kiwanis Coordinator (1) Details, honors won, and accomplishments: High school community service organization which I helped coordinate as Club President. What are family responsibilities in the activities section, and why are they important? These are examples of activities that can give you that “hook”. Reporting Honors and Awards in the Common App, The Common App, Analyzed: 5 Successful Activity Entries Explained, Your Comprehensive Guide to Extracurriculars, The 6 Things You Should Do the Summer Before Senior Year. Use active verbs and limit the use of adjectives and adverbs. PDF. Try not to be redundant, especially considering the limited space. The Common Application used to require a short answer response of 150 words or fewer, and today many schools have retained the short answer in the supplemental essay section. Calculate your chances to see how strong your extracurriculars are. When you estimate the amount of time you spent on a particular activity, it doesn’t need to be exact. “Junior R.O.T.C.”, for example, refers to Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, a Federal Program sponsored by the U.S. Armed Forces. Our chancing engine factors in extracurricular activities, demographic, and other holistic details. Applying to the right number of colleges. It’s also okay to have one or two that don’t completely correlate to the theme, such as Model UN, but you might connect it by describing what you learned from the experience and how it informed your writing. Mistake #1: Leaving out significant activities. 2.Create an account. Sample common application activities section. For comparison, MIT, one of the most selective institutions in the country, has just 4 slots on their own application for extracurriculars! If your activity was volunteer work, for example, you might describe the type of service provided; or if it was a job, describe the type of work you typically performed. College Counseling & Essays 9th - 11th Graders Graduate School Students. After you choose the activity type, the application will ask you to describe the position you held (or hold) and the organization name. If you’re uncertain, we’ve got your answers. The Common App gives you ten slots for activities, but that doesn’t mean you’re required to use every one. Learn more; This article will be updated soon to reflect the latest terminology. What is Cumulative GPA? Our chancing engine takes into consideration extracurricular activities, GPA, and more to give you an accurate idea of your admissions chances. Learn more ; Some terminology in Microsoft Dataverse has been updated. Here is Pt. There may be some activities that are naturally limited to a set time period or commitment, such as a summer academic program or sports camp. You will also have the chance to share any academic honors or achievements from high school. This goes for your entire application. Information. Click yes. For some students, the 10 spaces for Common App activities are just not enough. In this case, unless the position and organization names are fairly self-explanatory or very recognizable, you will need to be a bit more specific in your description. We support a centralized or "common" online application system for more than 800 colleges and universities worldwide that enables more than 1 million students - a third of whom are first generation - to apply to college. While college is certainly a place to explore new interests, admissions committees want to see that you have an idea of the kinds of activities about which you are curious and at which might excel, so that college will nurture these talents and push you to succeed further. Learn what types of honors you can include, what order to place them in, whether abbreviations are allowed, and how to use your 100 characters for description. You can also search for schools based on preferences like location, major, cost, and more. How Do You Calculate it? Try to highlight your ability to interact, help and/or communicate with others. You will have the opportunity to expand in the description if you need to do so. On the Common App, you have ten available activity slots to fill, but this does not mean you have to use all of them. Sample resume templates from our resume builder - create your resume here . Every student who applies must submit biographical information, a family background, and an educational history. If you claim to spend ten hours per week on all ten activities, colleges will know you’re exaggerating, to say the least. Creating a first year Common App account is easy and should only take a few minutes. These examples should help you write a great Common App activities list: DECA Executive Vice President. For each activity, the form will ask you in which grade levels you participated in the extracurricular activity, the timing of your participation (school year vs. school break), and how many hours you spent on it per week and weeks per year. 2 of my WHAT I PUT ON MY COMMON APP video, and I focus on the top 10 activities that Common App makes you list on your application. Your activities should give you a cohesive narrative and paint a picture of what kind of person you are and your goals in life. If you’re a future software developer, you might have a portfolio of independent (or even paid) projects you’ve worked on, a coding bootcamp under your belt, and participation in Math League to show for yourself. The last question for each activity asks you whether or not you plan to continue a similar extracurricular activity in college. One section of the Common Application that confuses many students is the activities section. The application asks this because colleges want to know what kind of student you will be when you arrive. All Rights Reserved. If you hold a leadership position, emphasize that role in your description. You will also have the chance to share any academic honors or achievements from high school. But if it is something you don’t really care about, you may want to reevaluate whether or not it is a good idea to include it in your application. Instead, try to build a theme. If the activity fits into two equally specific categories, choose the more relevant one. In fact, it is often one of the places students miss an opportunity to present themselves in the best light. Unique activities that demonstrate your potential and the interesting aspects of your personality and talents will help you stand out and give you a “hook” — an edge in the admissions process. What even qualifies as an activity? Here are examples from top high school students. Use the different features of the application to highlight what makes you unique. Laura Berlinsky-Schine is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, where she majored in Creative Writing and minored in History. Remember, they are looking for a diverse student body filled with future leaders in respective their fields. Here's a sample Common App activities list. Up Next. It’s understandable that you spend more time on some activities than others. You can also simply edit the activity to reflect a different one. Here's a sample Common App activities list. Test Information. Be as specific as you can be in the space available. The Activities section looks simple, and it is -- if you remember to avoid these 15 mistakes! Common App Activities Section Examples. Common application activities section. This is a chance to concisely and concretely set yourself apart from your … The key is as follows: If you participated in an activity over the summer between grade levels, choose the rising or later grade level (e.g., the summer between 10th and 11th grades should be listed as “11th grade”). Activity type: Community Service (Volunteer) Position/Leadership description and organization name, if applicable: Key Club: Club President; Kiwanis Coordinator (1) Details, honors won, and accomplishments: High school community service organization which I helped coordinate as Club President. To some degree, they also want to see that you are doing the activity because you are truly passionate about it, not just because you want to impress colleges. If you truly do spend 15 hours per week tutoring disadvantaged youth, say so. Are you a leader? To delete an activity, move it to the bottom of the list and click delete icon. The Common App activities list and honors section have a character allowance lower than that of a Tweet! What is the Common App Honors Section? 4. Students should spend time filling out this important part of the application. Indeed just because the description section on the activity chapter of the common app is short does not mean that it isn t important. According to the Common Application “your activities may include arts, athletics, clubs, employment, personal commitments, and other pursuits.” While traditional extracurriculars like orchestra, debate, sports, and clubs are all appropriate to list on the Common Application, these are not the only options. If you are having trouble estimating your time commitment, try keeping a time log for a couple weeks and provide an average. It’s your chance to show the admissions officers how you will become an actively contributing member of their school community. What qualifies as a significant activity? The Common Application specifies that the awards you list should be “related to your academic achievements.” This means that if you received non-academic awards, they should be included in your activities section instead. Study these extracurricular activities examples and samples that you can learn from when writing your activities list for the common application. However, you should only do so if these activities are truly essential to the admissions committee’s understanding of your extracurricular life. If the activity is typically referred to by an acronym, be sure to list the full name, as you never want to assume that admissions committees will be familiar with the activity to which you are referring. Does Harvard Offer Double Majors or Minors? Watching the news with my parents one night, I heard a story about Japan, which included an interview with a man speaking Japanese. Trained 7 state qualifiers; developed fundraising, recruitment campaigns to raise $1200 in 1 year, increase membership from 6 to 40 members in 2 years – 4. For the Common App Activities section in particular, check for: Consistency of language and style; Repetitive words and phrasing; Extraneous words; Layout (Is everything in order of importance? Ask yourself: how do these interests add value to my application? Example:Founder and president, Community Service SocietyRecruited 30+ members, developed partnerships with seven organizations, and facilitated 20 projects with at least 10 participants each in one year. Except for specific supplements, the core application is the same. Get access to our expert guides and courses when you create your free CollegeVine account. Read our guide on How to Write the Common App Essays. College applicants are infamously known to stress about their essays. These might include interning at a local magazine, tutoring other students in reading and writing, and attending an academic summer program like CTY. Both categories indicate that you are a driven leader, but they present different facets of your personality. The Activities section isn't the only place to show your passion and where you excel! Topic Title: Volunteer Tutor, NYC Cares. Common App Activity Entries: The Analysis . Position/Leadership description and organization name, if applicable: Editor, The Daily (school newspaper). Don’t worry that colleges will see the brevity of your involvement as a negative factor if this is the case; they understand that some activities simply have an imposed beginning and ending that are not within your control. In short, they are very important, and it’s helpful to understand exactly how they’ll be used in the admissions process. We get a fair amount of questions about the activities section of the common app. In the Common App “Activities” section, you’re asked to “Please describe this activity, including what you accomplished and any recognition you received, etc.,” and each description is limited to 150 characters including spaces. (In the current Common Application, the Education section also includes Grades, Courses, and Honors. College application checklist. Below are a number of links that provide examples of Common App essays. 1. Basically, it’s an opportunity to (briefly) highlight what you have participated in outside of the classroom and how you have made an impact through your involvement. Girl until her Cs became as and accomplishment sample common app activities section extracurricular activities your free CollegeVine.... Relevant, and other college applications, provides room for students who potential... Apply: Early vs regular decision soccer team, put that achievement the! 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