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The Common Application can feel like a marathon of forms, essays, and deadlines. While the personal essay often gets the spotlight, the Activities List is a critically important section that paints a picture of who you are beyond your grades and test scores. A well-structured list can transform your application from good to great. But how do you strategically organize your extracurriculars to make the best impression?
This guide will walk you through the best way to structure your Activities List on the Common App, helping you showcase your passions, commitment, and impact in a way that resonates with admissions officers.
Understanding the Goal of the Activities Section
Before you start listing your activities, it’s crucial to understand what admissions officers are looking for. This section is not just a resume; it’s a narrative of your life outside the classroom. They want to see evidence of:
- Commitment: Have you stuck with activities over a long period?
- Leadership: Did you take on responsibility and guide others?
- Impact: What did you accomplish? Did you make a difference?
- Initiative: Did you start something new or improve an existing project?
- Passion and Curiosity: What genuinely interests you and what have you done to explore it?
Remember the constraints: you have only 10 slots to work with. Each entry allows for a Position/Leadership description (50 characters), Organization Name (100 characters), and a brief description of your accomplishments (150 characters). Every character counts.
The Golden Rule: Order by Importance
The single most effective strategy for structuring your list is to order your activities by their importance to you and their potential impact on your application. The first activity an admissions officer sees should be your most significant one. Think of your list as a “Top 10” countdown, with number one being the most impressive.
But what does “importance” mean in this context? It’s a combination of the time you’ve dedicated, the leadership you’ve shown, and the achievements you’ve earned. Your most important activity is likely one where you can demonstrate significant growth and impact.
How to Rank Your Activities
Categorize your activities into tiers to help you rank them:
- Tier 1 (Slots 1-3): These are your headliners. Activities where you held a significant leadership role (e.g., President, Captain, Editor-in-Chief), achieved state or national recognition, or demonstrated a profound, multi-year commitment. A significant job or a research position could also fall here.
- Tier 2 (Slots 4-7): These are activities showing consistent participation and meaningful involvement. You were a dedicated member, took on some responsibility, and contributed to the group’s success. This could include being a key member of a sports team, a consistent volunteer, or participation in a competitive club.
- Tier 3 (Slots 8-10): This is the place for hobbies, shorter-term commitments, or activities that showcase a different side of your personality. This could be a personal project, a summer program, or a creative pursuit that highlights your unique interests.
Crafting Powerful Descriptions with Action Verbs
With only 150 characters, your descriptions need to be concise and powerful. The key is to use strong action verbs and quantify your achievements whenever possible. Avoid passive language like “was a member of” or “was responsible for.”
Instead of: “I was a member of the fundraising committee and helped with events.”
Try: “Organized 3 school-wide charity events, raising over $5,000 for local shelters by coordinating 20+ student volunteers.”
This revised version is specific, uses action verbs (Organized, raising, coordinating), and quantifies the impact ($5,000, 20+ volunteers). It tells a much more compelling story.
Examples of Strong Action Verbs:
- Analyzed
- Coordinated
- Created
- Designed
- Directed
- Established
- Implemented
- Led
- Managed
- Mentored
- Organized
- Pioneered
- Published
- Researched
- Trained
A Step-by-Step Guide to Building Your List
Feeling overwhelmed? Follow these simple steps to build your list from the ground up.
- Brainstorm Everything: Get a piece of paper or open a document and list every single activity you’ve been involved in since the 9th grade. This includes clubs, sports, jobs, family responsibilities, volunteering, hobbies, and personal projects. Don’t filter yourself yet.
- Group and Consolidate: Look for patterns. If you did several similar, one-off volunteer projects, you could group them under a single entry like “Community Service Volunteer” and use the description to highlight the different projects. This saves space and shows a consistent theme.
- Rank Your List: Using the tier system described above, rank all your brainstormed activities. Be honest with yourself about where you made the most impact. Which activities best define who you are? Select your top 10.
- Write and Refine Descriptions: Draft the 150-character descriptions for your top 10 activities. Start with a strong action verb and focus on results. Edit ruthlessly to stay within the character limit. Use common abbreviations (e.g., hr, wk, yr) if needed.
- Review and Proofread: Double-check everything for accuracy, especially your hours per week and weeks per year. A typo here can undermine your credibility. Have a teacher, counselor, or parent read it over for clarity.
Conclusion: Telling Your Unique Story
Your Common App Activities List is more than just a requirement; it’s a powerful opportunity to tell your story. It’s your chance to show colleges the person behind the transcript—the leader, the innovator, the dedicated team player, and the passionate individual. By strategically ordering your activities by importance, crafting compelling, action-oriented descriptions, and focusing on quantifiable impact, you can create a list that stands out.
Take the time to reflect on your experiences and present them in a way that is authentic to you. A well-structured list demonstrates not only what you’ve done, but also your potential to contribute to a vibrant campus community. Let your commitment and passion shine through, and you’ll be one step closer to your dream school.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Should I include a part-time job on my activities list?
Absolutely. A job is a highly valuable activity to include. It demonstrates responsibility, time management, reliability, and real-world skills. Admissions officers understand the commitment a job requires, and it can be a very impressive entry, especially if you can describe how you took on more responsibility over time. Place it high on your list, especially if it was a long-term commitment.
2. What if I don’t have 10 activities to fill all the slots?
Quality is always better than quantity. It is far more effective to list 7 or 8 meaningful activities with detailed, impactful descriptions than to list 10 weak ones. Do not invent activities or include minor things just to fill space. A shorter list that showcases deep commitment in a few areas is much stronger than a long list of superficial involvement.
3. How should I describe family responsibilities or unique hobbies?
Frame them in terms of skills and commitment. Family responsibilities, such as caring for a younger sibling or managing household duties, are significant commitments that build character and skills. For the description, focus on what you did and learned. For example: “Managed daily schedule, meal preparation, and homework help for two younger siblings, developing key time management and mentoring skills.” For a hobby like “Digital Art,” you could write: “Mastered Adobe Photoshop and Procreate to create 50+ commissioned character portraits for online clients, managing deadlines and communication.”
