How To Fill Out the Common App Activities Section in 2024 (the RIGHT Way)
Summary
TLDRKevin Zen, a Yale graduate and co-founder of the Elevated School, offers top tips for filling out the Common App's activities list. He emphasizes consistency with future academic interests, making every character count in descriptions, and providing detailed leadership roles. Zen also advises on the importance of spelling out acronyms, ordering activities based on time commitment and impact, using strong verbs and numbers, adding personality to descriptions, and including related honors in the additional information section. Above all, he warns against exaggerating activities to maintain authenticity.
Takeaways
- 😀 Be consistent with your intended college activities: If your essays align with certain interests, ensure your activities list reflects this.
- 🔍 Make every character count: Utilize the full character limit to showcase your trajectory and contributions within an organization.
- 🏆 Highlight multiple roles: If you've held various positions, list them to demonstrate your diverse involvement and leadership.
- 📝 Be specific with descriptions: Instead of generic titles, provide detailed descriptions of your roles and responsibilities.
- 📊 Include brief descriptions in organization names: Add context to help admissions officers understand the scale and nature of the organization.
- 🤝 Spell out acronyms: Ensure clarity by spelling out acronyms to avoid confusion, especially for international applicants.
- 📉 Order activities based on time commitment and impact: Consider the number of hours and the impact you've had on others when ranking activities.
- 💪 Use strong verbs and quantify achievements: Describe your accomplishments with action verbs and include numbers to convey impact.
- 🎨 Add personality to descriptions: For less significant activities, use color, humor, and personality to make them stand out.
- 🏅 List additional honors and awards in the 'Additional Information' section: Use this space to highlight accolades that don't fit in the activity description.
- ⚠️ Avoid exaggeration: Be truthful about the time spent and roles held to maintain authenticity and avoid raising suspicion.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video script?
-The main topic of the video script is providing tips on how to fill out the activities list section of the Common App effectively.
Who is the speaker in the video script?
-The speaker in the video script is Kevin Zen, a Yale graduate and co-founder of the elevated school.
What is the purpose of the elevated school mentioned in the script?
-The elevated school focuses on critical thinking and storytelling, and offers assistance in areas such as creative writing, analytical writing, college essays, transfer applications, interview workshops, resumes, and applications to boarding schools or summer programs.
What is the first tip provided by Kevin Zen for filling out the activities list?
-The first tip is to be consistent with the 'yes/no' checkbox that asks if the student intends to participate in a similar activity in college, aligning it with their stated interests in their essays.
Why is it important to make every character count in the activities list?
-Making every character count allows students to showcase more of their trajectory within an organization, highlight multiple contributions, and provide more space to write about accomplishments and recognitions.
What is the significance of being specific in the position/leadership description?
-Being specific in the position/leadership description helps to convey a student's exact contributions and responsibilities, which can make their application stand out.
Why should acronyms be spelled out in the activities list?
-Acronyms should be spelled out to ensure that the admissions officers, who may not be familiar with them, especially international applicants, can understand the organization or award being referenced.
How does the order of activities on the Common App reflect a student's commitment?
-The order of activities should reflect the total number of hours invested, the impact made on others, and the potential continuation of the activity in college, which demonstrates a student's commitment and passion.
What is the advice given for describing accomplishments and achievements in the activity description?
-The advice is to use strong verbs, include numbers to communicate impact, and add color, personality, and humor where appropriate to make the description more engaging and impactful.
Why is it recommended to include honors and awards in the additional information section of the Common App?
-Including honors and awards in the additional information section allows students to avoid cluttering the activity description with awards and instead focus on tangible impact and leadership within the activity.
What is the final and most important tip regarding the activities list?
-The final and most important tip is to never exaggerate in the activities list, especially regarding the hours spent, as it can raise doubts about the student's authenticity or character.
Outlines
📚 Mastering the Activities List on the Common App
Kevin Zen, a Yale graduate and co-founder of Elevate Ed, introduces himself and his organization that specializes in critical thinking and storytelling for students. He offers eight top tips for filling out the activities list section of the Common App effectively. Kevin emphasizes the importance of consistency, making every character count in descriptions, and providing detailed and specific information about activities. He also advises on how to order activities based on the time and impact invested, using strong verbs, and including numbers to convey impact. Additionally, he suggests adding personality to descriptions and using the additional information section to list honors and awards related to activities. Kevin concludes with a stern warning against exaggerating on the activities list, as it can lead to doubts about a student's authenticity and character.
🏅 Enhancing Your Extracurricular Impact
In the second paragraph, Kevin Zen continues his guidance on the Common App's activities list, focusing on the importance of quantifying the time and impact of extracurricular activities. He suggests using strong verbs and incorporating numbers to demonstrate a significant impact in a concise manner. Kevin also encourages students to add personal touches, such as humor and personality, to their activity descriptions, especially for lower-ranked activities, to make them stand out. He provides examples of how to transform generic descriptions into more engaging and specific narratives. Additionally, he reveals a 'hack' for including all related honors and awards in the additional information section, rather than overwhelming the activity description. Kevin stresses the importance of honesty and authenticity, warning against exaggerating hours or achievements, as admissions officers can easily detect discrepancies.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Common App
💡Activities List
💡Position/Leadership Description
💡Organization Name
💡Accomplishments Recognition
💡Character Count
💡Acronyms
💡Hours Spent
💡Additional Information Section
💡Authenticity
💡Elevate Ed
Highlights
Introduction to the importance of filling out the activities list section of the Common App effectively.
Kevin Zen introduces himself as a Yale grad and co-founder of the elevated school.
Elevate Ed's focus on critical thinking, storytelling, and various writing and application assistance services.
Tip #1: Be consistent with your intended college activities as indicated in your essays.
Tip #2: Maximize the use of every character in the position/leadership description.
Example of how to effectively use character space by including multiple leadership positions.
Tip #3: Spell out acronyms to ensure clarity for admissions officers.
The significance of the organization name and how to make it informative within character limits.
Tip #4: Order activities based on the total hours invested and the impact made.
The importance of the 150-character description for detailing accomplishments and achievements.
Using strong verbs and minimizing their use to effectively communicate your activities.
The power of including numbers to convey impact in the activity description.
Tip #6: Adding color, personality, and humor to activity descriptions can make them stand out.
Tip #7: Utilize the additional information section to list honors and awards related to an activity.
Tip #8: A stern warning against exaggerating in the activities list to maintain authenticity.
Conclusion and reminder to like and subscribe for more helpful content.
Transcripts
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]
[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
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