Completing the Extracurricular Activities Section
The extracurricular activities section of the application is where you want to brag about everything you've done during high school outside of academics, and make colleges want to accept you before someone else does. It's a tight space to navigate with strict character limits so take the time to complete it well. You want to show them you can lead, be a team player, add to their campus with your special talents, but yet you also don't want to be obnoxious about it. Here's what I share with my students.
The format of the activities section:
Activity Type: This is a drop down, select the option that best fits the activity, there are about 30 to choose from, including "other" if you can't find one that fits.
Position/Leadership Description: Enter the final position you achieved, if you began in 10th grade as a stage hand and in 12th grade you will be the Stage Director for the theatre group enter Stage Director (50 characters max).
Organization Name: Enter the name, if you have the space add the acronym so you can then use that in the description. If you are on the Wilson High School Dance Team you can write "Wilson High School Dance Team (WHSDT) and then use WHSDT in the description field to save characters (100 characters max).
Please describe this activity, including what you accomplished and any recognition you received, etc.: This is where you get to briefly shine in 150 characters. You do NOT have to write in full sentences nor do you need to use "I" as in "I led..." Be as quantitative as possible. For example:
Not so good: I made films for my high school film club and entered them in the All American High School Film Festival.
Much Better: Produced a 20-minute film on peer pressure and drugs, accepted as 1 of 100 films submitted out of 2,000 entered to the All American HS Film Festival.
What to include: Schools want to learn what you do when you aren’t in school, what matters to you, what takes up your time outside of academics, this section allows you to tell them this.
Only activities from high school, including summers.
Jobs? YES!! Schools love jobs, they show commitment, ability to do things that might not be so "glamorous," working with others, responding to the needs of various constituents, and other real life skills.
Acting in plays, Model UN, Mock Trial, Honors clubs, teaching roles (including assistant teaching during school), learning an instrument, and other similar activities.
You can include babysitting (but describe what you did and if possible how you benefited the child and/or the parents). For example: taught the child to swim, picked up child from preschool allowing parents to cook dinner or work late, or zoomed with student to help them with math.
If you help care for a family member, in a meaningful manner include this as an activity.
A few tips: Because the description field is only 150 characters, write in “resume” format.
Use short phrases and start description sentences with active words and leave off "I" as it is understood it is you.
Only use very well recognized abbreviations such as MVP (Most Valuable Player). Reality check... if your friend has to google the abbreviation don't use it.
If you know you will participate in 12th grade, and you know your role (ie Team Captain, Stage Manager) you can use this as the greatest leadership position and indicate you will participate in 12th grade.
Put your proudest, most meaningful achievements first, and combine activities for the same organization if it makes sense.
You can list up to 10 activities but don't feel as though you have to stretch to get to 10. If you have eight great activities write them well and don't feel you need to add "fluff" to get to 10. Some great applicants have had "only" six stellar activities.
Always quantify your achievements even if they don't seem major to you.
Not so good: Collected money for the local food bank.
Much Better: Led my Girl Scout troop to collect $1,000 and 50 bags of food donations for the local food bank for homeless veterans.
Not so good: Brass Section Lead senior year.
Much Better: Selected by band leader from 6 senior brass instrumentalists to lead brass section, comprised of 10 students playing three different instruments.
Note: The University of California application's activity section allows for 20 activities/awards and 350 characters to describe each activity.
Honors and Awards are listed in the Education section. If you won an award, such as scholastic, you do not need to use an activity slot for that participation, you can indicate your award in this section instead.
You do not need to indicate that you will participate in college, this is for their information, it will not effect your acceptance.
Always write your activities in a google doc so you can spell check and carefully edit your writing, then copy the final text into your application. Ask someone who is familiar with resumes to edit your descriptions, due to strict character limits, this section is most successful if written in resume format.
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