When you’re applying to a job, your prospective employer will ask for a copy of your resume to check on what you’ve been up to over the last few years. In the context of college admission, your application readers are like employers, and the activities list, found in The Common Application, the MIT Application, and the UC Application, is like a resume. However, high school students aren’t expected to have had much professional work experience by the time they’re applying to college. So what goes into the activities list?

Anything from your standard after-school club or society to the research you’re conducting at a local university or the part-time job you do in your community counts as activities that may be put on your activities list. Since this section of your application will serve as an account of how you’ve spent your four years in high school, it is naturally quite crucial that you fill out the activities section strategically, with consideration to what admissions officers want to see. So, where do you begin?

Your Singular Hook Should Form the Foundation of the Activities List

As loyal readers of Ivy Coach’s admissions blog will happily tell you, the singular hook forms the foundation of any competitive college application. And what is a singular hook, you ask? A singular hook can take many forms, but it almost always amounts to a stated goal of changing the world in a highly specific, often small, and usually unusual way. Perhaps you’re a Classical linguist who has helped translate newfound artifacts. Or you may have piloted a small business renewal program in your town and are poised to share this solution with the world. Or you’re the student conducting computer science research at your local university, focusing on machine learning applications. The singular hook is how you’ve transformed your unique passion into deep engagement with your community, artistry, or cause.

The activities list serves as the primary platform to broadcast your singular hook to admissions officers. While not every activity must necessarily tie back to your hook, at least half should. So, in the case of The Common App., at least (and notice we say at least) five of your ten activities should serve as evidence that you’ve pursued your singular hook to the best of your ability. But just how you go about filling out the activities list can make or break your application. Let’s review some specifics to set you on your way to conveying your singular hook and securing elite college admission.

Why the Activities List Matters

While every aspect of your application requires special care and attention, the activities list is one of the most important, signaling to your application reader how you’ll get involved on your future college campus. To this point, students who portray themselves as having a well-rounded profile, in which they’ve dipped their hands into volunteering, sports, music, and the local science fair, for example, are bound to leave admissions officers with the impression that they are a jack of all trades and master of none. Who is to say whether the well-rounded student will take advantage of the cutting-edge research facility that recently opened on campus, or will check out the recently unveiled lecture series for specialists and experts in the field? 

Well-rounded students instill no such confidence that they will make the most out of their undergraduate years. Students with a strong singular hook, as demonstrated by an activities list with a shared throughline, will happily take these students’ place in the admitted class.

Should You Aim to Fill Every Slot on the Activities List?

Should you aim to fill every slot on the activities list? The short answer is yes. However, it’s important to remember that quantity does not always translate into quality. While you should of course aim to fill every box in the activities list, the first activities you list should be those related to your hook. A good rule of thumb is to list in order of relevance to the hook, and within activities with the same relevance, list the one that formed a greater commitment first.

However, if you’re struggling to furnish every single activity slot (10 slots for activities and five slots for honors in the case of Common App., and 20 slots for activities and honors combined in the case of the UC App.), you need not beat yourself up for including non-hook activities towards the end. Whatever you do, don’t leave any blank spaces!

What Constitutes an Appropriate Extracurricular for Your Activities List?

• School-based activities. Ideally, students have gotten involved in a few extracurricular activities at their school that closely align with their chosen hook.
• Research-based activities. It’s always good for students to conduct research at local universities outside their school, focusing on their chosen area of interest. If students can get published, great. If they can’t, the mere act of conducting the research is a big plus.
• Community-based volunteer activities. But not just any community-based activities — ones that align with a student’s passion. It could even be an opportunity to put their research into practice.
• State or regional-level volunteer activities. It’s crucial that students “think locally, act globally.” And students can still serve their broader communities at the state or regional levels.
• National-level volunteer activities. Doing so is less crucial than community and state or regional volunteering. Yet if the student’s work spreads like wildfire nationwide, more power to them.
• Work experience. Admissions officers root for students who have jobs. And the work experience does need to relate to the chosen hook. It can be at McDonald’s or lifeguarding. It conveys to admissions officers that students contribute their share to the household and are down-to-earth, not particularly privileged.
• Internships. It’s great to secure unpaid work experience so long as it relates to one’s passion area. But make sure it doesn’t seem like mom or dad landed a student an internship. Mom and dad’s professions and employers are listed on The Common Application. Admissions officers don’t appreciate students who follow in their parents’ footsteps.
• Social activist-based activities. But not just any social activism. It must relate to a student’s hook. If a student’s hook is environmental science, the activism should tie to the environment.
• Coursework beyond the school curriculum. Students can take online courses or courses at local or community colleges, particularly ones that align with the chosen hook. It’s an excellent opportunity to demonstrate intellectual curiosity. But these can also be listed in Common App.’s Additional Information section as opposed to the Activities section.
• Create an online presence related to the chosen hook. We’re not discussing making a LinkedIn profile or drafting other self-serving content. We’re talking about creating a conversation through a blog, TikTok, YouTube, etc., sparking debate and moving the needle of the zeitgeist.

Activity List Fields on The Common Application

Students get three fields per activity to provide admissions officers with as much detail as possible. 50 characters are allotted for the position/leadership description. 100 characters are allotted for organization names. And 150 characters are allotted to describe the activity, including what the student accomplished and any recognition they received. There are also boxes for detailing the year(s) in which the activity was completed, as well as the hours per week and weeks per year.

For honors and awards, students are given 100 characters to name the honor, and they must specify the level of recognition (local, national, international).

Activity List Fields on the UC Application

The UC Application does things a little bit differently. The UC App. has 6 categories you can designate a given activity as, and unlike The Common App, there are 20 slots to fill. For each one, you have 60 characters to name the organization/program/activity/role at the top, as the case may be.

• Award or Honor buys you 250 characters for the eligibility requirements and 350 characters for describing how you achieved the award (two separate boxes). You also designate the level of participation (local, regional, statewide, etc.), the grade in which it was received, and whether it’s an academic or nonacademic honor.
• Educational Preparation Program buys you 350 characters for description.
• Extracurricular Activity buys you 350 characters for description.
• Other coursework buys you 350 characters for description.
• Volunteer/community service gets you 250 characters to describe the organization/school/program and 350 characters to describe your role (two separate boxes)
• Work experience gets you 250 characters to describe the organization/school/program and 350 characters to describe your role (two separate boxes), as well as an extra box for job title (60 cc)

There is Only One Answer as to Whether You Intend to Participate in a Similar Activity in College

The answer should always be yes! Colleges want to admit enthusiastic applicants who will hit the ground running on campus and immediately immerse themselves in their hooks. So, unless there is a particular reason why you wouldn’t continue with a specific activity, you should always indicate yes to this question!

Ivy Coach’s Assistance With Crafting a Competitive Activity List

Here at Ivy Coach, we don’t simply help our students decide what to list on their applications and where. We don’t just proofread descriptions or suggest filler activities. We set our students up with a comprehensive game plan for securing the most competitive hook-related activities possible. Does that mean we help students reach out to local professors to secure research assistantships, aid with internship applications, recommend hook-related part-time work, and brainstorm ways to expand reach for existing activities? You bet.

To enlist the help of our team of former elite college admission officers to help your child brainstorm a strategic list of activities that will optimize their odds of admission to the school of their dreams, fill out our complimentary consultation form, and we’ll be in touch.