How To Fill Out the Common App Activities Section (the RIGHT Way) transcript

every admission cycle students ask us how exactly they should fill out the activities list section of the Common App and honestly it's a really great question and that's why today I will be sharing our top eight tips to help you knock this activities list section out of the park before we begin allow me to introduce myself I'm Kevin Zen Yale grad and co-founder of the elevated school where we focus on critical thinking and storytelling here at Elevate Ed we teach middle schoolers creative writing analytical writing for high schoolers college essays You Name It We also help with transfer applications interview workshops resumes applying to procedures boarding schools or summer programs if you need help in any of those categories at all visit our website shoot us a message I personally respond to every single request returning to the activities section let's begin by reviewing everything that the common app asks for here so first off we have activity type and then position slash leadership description Max 50 characters organization name Max 100 characters accomplishments recognition and a description of the activity 150 characters participation grade levels timing of participation hours spent per week week spent per year and finally last but not least a yes no button that says I intend to participate in a similar activity in college this brings me directly to our first tip which is in relation to that yes no checkbox tip number one be consistent if in your essays you mentioned that you want to study biology and go to med school after graduating then it's going to be a good idea to check yes for all the activities related to Medicine even the slightly tangential ones related to research or volunteering should have that yes I intended do something similar in college check sounds a little bit obvious but it could be a red flag if you skip this now returning to all those different entries from the activity section the three most important ones that we are going to focus on are the three longest ones position slash leadership description organization name and accomplishments recognition description of the activity the next tip that I'm going to mention is probably the most important one tip number two make every single character count what does this actually look like well here's an example most students leave way too much empty space for that first 50 character response in that position slash leadership description sometimes students just write one word for their current position like president or head no no no no no no no no no no don't forget to say all the other leadership positions both informal and formal that you held as part of this organization so rather than just jotting down that one word president you could write senior class president 12 which means grade 12 and elections committee hit 11 for grade 11. this helps showcase more of your trajectory within the organization which is pretty much always a good thing it also highlights the fact that you've worn multiple hats and made different contributions all while being part of the same organization now if you didn't hold any other leadership positions don't worry that's totally fine another approach that you can take is to get really hyper-specific detail what exactly your contributions and responsibilities were so instead of just writing intern you could write social media marketing intern SEO optimization or instead of simply saying researcher you could say genetic basis identification researcher why is this so important because this will give you more space to write about your accomplishments and recognitions in the next section which again you're going to want to use all 150 characters for moving on to organization name same principle here my friends don't just State the title or name of your organization try to include a brief description if you can compare these two organization names one student council two student council oldest with standing club and currently largest school organization with 300 plus active members here's another example one UVA CC lab and two University of Virginia clinical core lab hematology and immunochemistry Analysis this leads us to tip number three a small but important one that's been cited by many ivy league admissions officers when in doubt spell out your acronyms don't assume that the admissions reader knows what they are this is especially relevant for international applicants the fact is that American admissions officers just aren't as familiar with your honors Awards and school system as they are with American honors Awards and the American education system so trust me when I say you're really going to want to spell it out for them literally okay next we're going to move on to the most important part of the activity section but first let's enjoy a quick break [Music] nice I hope you guys enjoyed that clip when I'm not helping kids get into their dream school or making YouTube videos you could usually find me spitting on my head okay so before we continue a lot of students often ask how should I order my activities phenomenal question simply consider the total number of hours that you've put into this extracurricular that's hours per week times weeks per year times total years participated also don't forget to consider the impact you've had on others how many people in total have you helped and how exactly did you help them yes yeah sure there are other factors to consider like whether you'll continue doing this activity in college as well as the honors and awards associated with this particular extracurricular activity however doing a raw hour counts and just quantifying the impact tends to be the easiest most straightforward most objective way to figure out a ranking now on to the most important parts that 150 character description this is where your are going to detail your accomplishments achievements and more I do have quite a few thoughts and pieces of advice here but I figured I would start with verbs use strong verbs and when you can try using fewer verbs instead of writing something like I am responsible for running swim practices planning fundraising events and assisting in the recruiting process for new swimmers which was a little bit repetitive let's try something like this led 5am practices three times a week organize 12 fundraisers total over 2K recruited 18 new swimmers in six weeks through Word of Mouth referral campaign oh my goodness what a difference right now I'll keep this example up because another thing I want you guys to notice are the numbers numbers are your friend numbers communicate big impact in very few characters which is why we should try to utilize them whenever we can naturally this does pose another question which is you know what if I don't have much to say about a one-time event or activity let's pretend that you are writing about a tutoring initiative project that you are a part of back in the day when you were a freshman in grade nine you can still get really really specific and improve your chances of getting into whichever school you want to get into by adding color personality flavor and humor instead of writing tutored fourth graders in math you can actually go for something more like I taught fourth graders how to multiply fractions they taught me how to play Roblox on an iPad now don't get me wrong this is definitely more of a high risk High reward play but when done properly it can make a huge difference it's an especially helpful tactic for those lower ranked activities like 7 through 10. so tip number six in other words is don't be afraid to add color and personality to your activity descriptions just make sure that you you know run it by an adult or friend or counselor before you actually hit that submit button moving on to tip number seven which is something I really haven't heard other counselors talk about it's more of a hack than a tip really but it's most of the seniors that I work with aren't aware that you can actually put all of the honors and awards that are related to a certain activity in the additional information section of the Common App in fact most kids leave this additional information section blank which is kind of a mistake in my professional opinion here's the thing sometimes I find myself really lucky and privileged and I'm working with these amazing high schoolers who just have a bunch of awards and accolades that are related to one specific activity if you find yourself in a similar boat I actually wouldn't just flood the activity description section with all of your awards no I'd put maybe your most impressive award and then just put the rest in the additional information section admission officers want to see more tangible impact and leadership in the activity description not just a bunch of fancy sounding Awards although you know to be honest fancy sounding awards are never really a bad thing finally tip number eight the most important one do not do this never ever exaggerate in your activities list especially in the hours per week weeks per year apart trust me your admissions reader will do the math and if the numbers are sus if they don't add up if you have too many hours for too many activities we that is the sound of an alarm going off in some extreme cases this could be the difference between admission and rejection ending on a serious note do not give them a reason to doubt your authenticity or character alrighty folks that is it for today I hope you found today's video helpful you enjoyed it we make this content for you and yeah don't forget to like And subscribe again I'm Kevin Zen co-founder of the elevated school I will catch you at the next one alright stay out of trouble take it easy peace