Most college-bound students will complete the Common Application.One section of the Common Application that confuses many students is the activities section. That kind of commitment has real value for the college in terms of retention rates, graduation rates, and overall student success. What Counts as Extracurricular Activities. Public. Avoid These Big College Application Mistakes Admissions staffers from across the U.S. offer advice on what not to do when applying to college. The majority of US applicants have some form of volunteering on their application. That’s how many college application forms the average top-10 school gets. That’s why we took the guidance that’s helped 100,000 students and made it free.  For example, instead of “Led a team of 5,” write, “Led team of 5.”. Saying you came 598th out of 600 is an Uno competition is not a great look. Some college applications will provide a format. It’s not about what you do, it’s about how you do it. Now we’ve looked at some examples of unique activities, let’s take a quick look as some of the more generic activities that won’t help you stand out. You need to take your online presence offline. We assist you to find your best-fit university, create a personalised roadmap, ace your standardised tests, craft the perfect essay, build candidacy through extracurriculars, and more. This is another simple extracurricular example to spin up from one of your hobbies - starting an online business. This shows you’re a selfless, big picture thinker! If you are the best clarinetist in the city, then your activity list should reflect that fact. Demonstrating participation and accomplishment through extracurricular activities is essential for all college applicants. I’ve touched on this throughout this whole blog, but insincere extracurricular activities are a huge no. The assumption of the admissions officers reading the application will be that the activity listed first is the most important. These resume examples for students nail it: College Resume Objective—Example BONUS TIP: Keeping a journal of your progression, planning and process of your extracurricular activity is a great way to prove your efforts and hard work. Without these three elements, your extracurricular activity will be sub par, but if you get a balance of the three, you’ll all but guarantee your place at your dream university. You can list larger organizations such as student government or the student newspaper. The translation is pretty simple: a summary or recap. And it’s not uncommon for students to spend weeks (if not months) brainstorming their ideal essay topic and then editing it down to perfection. It makes for mediocre, insincere sounding essays. Insincere involvement won’t help you craft essays that speak to admissions committees. These type of sporadic volunteer involvements don’t have the same impact on your application as an activity you are committed to and fully invested in. While both the well-established Common Application and its 2-year old rival the Coalition enable students to apply to college, there are countless variations between the two platforms. And as we know, the college admissions game is about finding ways to separate yourself from the masses, not blend in. Learn more about college essay writing in our article, Writing the Successful College Application Essay. Here are some sample college activity resumes for review. 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. Plenty of TLC (tender loving care) needs to go into any extracurricular activity you’re sharing. Drilling down into more details, here's an overview of my application. This means no fancy fonts, clip art, or complicated spreadsheets. Hmm, maybe not. You could even consider campaigning for a good cause; something such as organizing a meetup to promote mental health awareness or a cause close to your heart. By IvyWise on Tuesday, June 5, 2012. These aren’t the best activities to list on your application. Anything from doing a major DNA research project to volunteering at a school that serves low income students to excelling at fly-fishing is legitimate fodder for college application grids. Let’s take a look at some unique extracurricular activity examples. Position/Leadership description and organization name, if applicable: AP Club. 98% of the volunteer work that my students do helps their college applications very little. The activity essay is an excellent opportunity to expand beyond the 150-character limit of the Common App’s activity descriptions. Many students think that taking AP classes will boost their chances of college admission, but is that true? If you are a star tennis player and possible recruit for a college team, that fact will be clear on your activity list. Our holistic approach provides support across all areas of the US and UK university application process. Except for specific supplements, the core application is the same. The Common App: most college’s standard application form. by Elyse Krantz, former admissions officer at Barnard College Mastering the Activities Section of the Common Application. 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. The Common App (attached) 2. College Admissions: Who Really Decides Who Gets In. Common App Activities: How to Fit More Than 10 Extracurriculars on Your List.  Quantifying your achievements takes up less space than words. Extracurriculars need to provide insight into what you love doing outside of school hours and who you are as a person.  As another example, instead of writing “40,000”, write “40K” instead. Families and students want to know, “How do I get the office of admissions to say Read more…. List of Supplies 1. 1. First impressions count. However, it won’t look great if you just sit on the couch playing video games or spend your nights staring at the stars alone, you need to have displayed leadership and done something tangible with your passion. Literally any hobby or activity you have a passion for can be turned into a killer extracurricular activity, you just need to give it some time, love and effort. Preparing your Common App activities can be just as stressful as completing the personal statement and college-specific supplements. As we mentioned, sitting on the couch for hours on end playing Fortnite is not going to make for a great extracurricular example (even if you win solo battle royale). Your college admissions resume must stand out like galaxy print. Check out these summer activity ideas that are fun, creative, and will make admissions officers take notice. Although there are 10 activity slots on the activity list portion of the application form, colleges don't expect every student to have 10 activities, she says. Creating and Updating Your Activity List/Resume. Try going back to the main home page or come back later.main home page or come back later. List of Supplies 1. You could even start volunteering in your community where you connect second-hand gaming consoles with underprivileged kids. … College Application Resume and Activity List. Pens/pencils 3. Many schools also provide a list of supplemental exams you can take to round out your application, such as SAT subject tests. This is an insight into the positive impact you could have on a college community. BONUS TIP: to really make this extracurricular stand out, consider making your business a not-for-profit or a social enterprise. Colleges don’t care if you wash the dishes every night. Even if colleges with brand-names have a great reputation, or are well know for its sports teams, it might not be the college for you.The best way to build your college list is to do research. Use that to list your top activities. If you were the Principal’s Pal in the 4th grade and represented your peers at the carnival, that’s awesome, but probably not an experience relevant to your college application. Showing that you have the initiative, passion and drive to produce something from nothing is a huge boost on your college application. The ultimate outcome of a competition result, whether it be a cards, boardgames, mathletics or a geography competition, is that you’re a leader in that community. Application Checklist College:_____ Create a balanced list of reach, match, and safety colleges Get the application Make a note of the regular application deadline Make a note of the early application …  You need to make the most of the allotted space to paint a rich picture of your contributions and achievements. However, simply listing your activity as garnering 100K followers or getting 200K retweets is not enough to secure your place at college. Writing college application essays is often the most stressful part of the admissions process for students, and as a result many tend to put them off until the last minute.. Honors are a separate category since they are a recognition of achievement, not an actual activity. No matter the activity, colleges look for quality of involvement rather than quantity of activities. The best activities to include are ones that you’ve engaged with on a regular basis over an extended period of time. almost anything that isn’t required for high school credit or paid employment Let’s use the activities list in the Common Application as an example to go over how to best portray your activities. Use that to list your top activities. Applying to college means applying to colleges, plural.. Babysitting can also count if it’s something you’re committed to and do very frequently. BONUS TIP: To really make this the most of this activity, why not try to organize the tournament yourself? If you want inspiration or help finding the perfect extracurricular program to support your college application, search through our database of over 1,800 different opportunities. At CollegeVine, we’re passionate about making college guidance accessible to all. A sample college list to give to your recommenders that identifies which colleges you need recommendations for, the application due dates and why you like each college.  It’s not quite a period because you want to describe the result of your coordination.  After writing your descriptions in full sentences, step back to see where you can replace words with a punctuation mark. A college application resume example better than 9 out of 10 others. All summers in high school are important, especially the summers after sophomore and junior year. It might be something as simple as your passion for video games or perhaps your interest in the cosmos - whatever it is you love, colleges want to see it. At CollegeVine, we’re passionate about making college guidance accessible to all. Are you a member of a club that meets for two hours every two weeks but don’t do anything beyond showing up? Again, it comes back to wanting to do something for the passion and love of it, not because you think it will look good on your application. The assumption of the admissions officers reading the application will be that the activity listed first is the most important. And what determines a good extracurricular from a bad one? There are only a few aspects of the college application where you actually have the ability to make yourself different. Avoid a laundry list of one time events. The Common Application gives you an area to list 6 or 7 activities. They’re looking for individuals who display leadership and initiative by pursuing passions and interests beyond school hours. The only way to achieve this is by sharing something you’re passionate about. The only thing you’re demonstrating with an insincere activity is that you don’t have the drive to pursue your passions with 100% effort, let alone impact the community. While they are great at illustrating what you do with your spare time, they don’t show off your capabilities as an outstanding person who can make an impact on the environment around you. Do it with a resume objective for high school students that shines. If you are the best clarinetist in the city, then your activity list should reflect that fact. Compare these two: Art Created art and organized club. Colleges want to know the motivations behind your participation and your level of commitment to the enterprises you deem most important. Activity type: Academic. The Common App (attached) 2. Anything from doing a major DNA research project to volunteering at a school that serves low income students to excelling at fly-fishing is legitimate fodder for college application grids. Fill out the real Common App Plus, this will help when you’re asked about your activities during the admissions interview - your passion will soon become very apparent. The Common Application as well as many individual college applications group together extracurricular activities with community service, volunteer work, family activities, and hobbies. Try going back to the main home page or come back later.main home page or come back later. Did you know? Colleges are realizing this as well; and recently some US colleges started offering hefty scholarships for e-sports video game players. I’m just spitballing here, but as you can see there’s plenty of opportunities to turn gaming into a tangible extracurricular example. Listing your part-time job or extracurricular sport involvement as an activity is not going to help you get in anywhere. Explore more than 900 colleges on Common App. However, if you truly love video games, you can channel your passion for gaming into an activity that colleges will love - no problem! Details, honors won, and accomplishments: Attended club meetings to gain information on college and high school advancement programs, as well as the end-of-the-year college trip. Sign-up for free to be notified on new tools and updates. Do you play soccer but sit on the bench for 85 minutes each game? This is especially true when your list of activities exceeds the limit set by the Common App! Position/Leadership description and organization name, if applicable: AP Club. I got perfect SAT and ACT scores (1600 and 36) and seven 5's on AP courses by the time I applied. College applicants are infamously known to stress about their essays.  Though your test scores and GPA are very important, college admissions officers also take into account other aspects of your life, including your extracurricular activities. Writing college application essays is often the most stressful part of the admissions process for students, and as a result many tend to put them off until the last minute.. The Common Application gives you an area to list 6 or 7 activities. They will brainstorm and help you plan marketing campaigns, task delegation, community outreach, school and club onboarding and big event execution. Take a breath and dig in. It’s obvious to the trained eye when you submit a half-baked extracurricular example, and it’s a huge red flag for any admissions officer. How to write a resume for college to get admitted to the best schools.  As the,  how many people were in attendance, e.g., if you hosted a conference,  number of competitors you went up against, e.g., “2 of 900 to finish…”, Using the above tips creates space for you to pack in additional achievements you made in a particular activity, and will help you stand out among the crowd.  After writing the descriptions, you’ll need to. But what do colleges look for in extracurricular examples? Your activities may include arts, athletics, clubs, employment, personal commitments, and other pursuits.”. That’s why we took the guidance that’s helped 100,000 students and made it free. This includes jobs in retail and fast food. Social media is another form of technology that often gets a bad wrap. The college application review process is holistic.  Be careful: Only use well-known acronyms or abbreviations so that you don’t end up writing a confusing alphabet soup.  Follow these 5 easy tips to make the most of the limited space: Instead of writing, “Responsibilities included developing marketing campaign…,” write, “Developed marketing campaign…”  Here, the action word “developed” highlights an accomplishment that you made happen, and it has a sense of initiative.  Also, originally, 55 characters were used for the descriptions, but now we have 28 because.  Action words usually save space, leaving you more room to pack in your achievements. These strategies to fit more than 10 extracurriculars on your activity list reflect! 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