At this point in the year, you’re probably looking for ways to make your life easier… and college applications are no exception! With so many decisions on your plate, the future can feel overwhelming. Today, we’ll focus on tackling the Common Application and how to improve your activities list for this platform. Solutions, coming right up.
First, we’ll give you a primer on what the Common App activities section looks like, and what it’s asking you to write. Then, we’ll review a list of potential topics, and quickly run down what makes some extracurricular activities more persuasive than others. Finally, we’ll jumpstart your brainstorming session by providing 100 of the best Common App activities examples we’ve seen. Let’s get writing.
The extracurricular activities section of your Common Application is essentially your chance to share your high school resume. To complete this section, you’ll need the following information about each of your ten (10) most relevant or important activities outside of school:
In other words, what activities have you participated in, which demonstrate your best qualities as a student? When it comes to selecting which activities to write about, prioritize those that align with your core application themes. However, you don’t need to worry about continuing everything in college; admissions officers aren’t expecting you to.
Ready to start reviewing examples? Pretty much anything that you spend time on outside of school could be viewed as an extracurricular activity! While these activities listed below might not apply directly to your experiences, you can use them as examples of the kinds of extracurriculars that students may choose in this section.
Most of all, pursue your interests and curiosity. These hobbies are great because they provide students the best of all worlds: the opportunity to have rich, meaningful, and enjoyable experiences that also work well on college applications.
Culinary arts
Fine arts
Performing arts
Individual sports
Locational sports
Team sports
In-school groups
Community-based groups
When you’re ready to start filling out your Common Application, you’ll see the following fields available for each activity you enter:
These written sections are where you have the most control to cast your activities in a great light. Think of each entry like a point on your resume; curated and meaningful.
What makes these descriptions successful? In addition to curating a wide, varied selection of your interests, the activities listed here all have purpose. You’ll notice that each example activity is quite succinct, while your personal description will use action verbs and tangible details. Be sure to mention the impact on yourself and/or your community. Following this pattern will improve and strengthen your activities list, no matter what activities you include!
If you enjoyed this list, or are looking for more information on the college application process, Empowerly can help. Empowerly is a community of dedicated, passionate educators who want to help students become the best version of themselves. Working with a counselor is a great way to alleviate stress and provide 11x better odds of admission for your teen. To learn more about our program and the kind of support we can give students, give us a call today.
