<p>I've seen brag sheets mentioned alot on the forum, and I'm a little confused as to the purpose of brag sheets and sending them to college. Isn't a brag sheet just a restatement of the list of activities you will be asked for on the common app?</p>
<p>You’ll realize sooner or later that the common app gives you almost no room at all to describe your activities.</p>
<p>In that case, would the common app’s activities page be more like a resume list with the brag sheet just expanding on that with more details such as awards and positions?</p>
<p>I think it varies by applicant. </p>
<p>Sure the space is limited, but many do very well with the room provided; while others need extra space to list or elaborate. My recommendation is that if you do attach a resume, be sure it is truly necessary and not just a rehash of what you put in the Activities section.</p>
<p>Use a brag sheet or resume if it adds something that the common app does not have. That may be more awards, honors than you can fit on the common app or elaborating on stuff which does not work on the common app (like a unique EC which need describing)</p>
<p>So, would the brag sheet ONLY note the additional information, such as additional awards not noted before, or would it be the complete picture, all in one place?<br>
And, what about a situation where someone has a unique EC, and they have it noted on the common app but there is not enough room there to explain everything, do you list it again on the brag sheet, but only add the additional info, and or repeat what you already noted so that it is a complete picture in one place?</p>
<p>^^It seems like the activities list/resume should have the complete picture in one place, so there is no flipping back and forth to figure out exactly what you’re elaborating on, but I’d be interested to hear how others have handled this.</p>
<p>I started this thread a while ago, but somehow never caught MumTo3’s post. It’s also a question that’s bothering me now that the Common App’s up. Anyone else with how they they dealt with it?</p>
<p>Hello all,</p>
<p>There are many “correct” ways to deal with activities.</p>
<p>As has been said, many students find that the Activities section on the Common App has plenty of space to represent their EC’s. For each activity, there are two areas to describe what you have done:
“Position Held, Honors Won, Letters Earned, or Employer” and
“Details/Accomplishments”
Each of these areas allows you a maximum of 100 characters including spaces. Since the Activity section also has a drop-down menu for Activity Type, and areas for you to indicate which in which grades you participated, whether it was a summer or school year activity, and the approximate number of hours you spent doing the activity, these 100-chaacter fields are just for extra information. Don’t worry too much about which type of information belongs in which of these two areas; just use the space to your best advantage to fit in what you need to. If you can fit your activities and their descriptive info in the Common App’s Activities section, stick to that. Nobody wants to read a brag sheet or resume that has been attached merely for the sake of including one. Admissions officers will appreciate your brevity and directness.</p>
<p>If there is more that you would like to say about a particular activity, consider writing your Activity essay about your involvement in said activity. Here you’ve got a 1000 character limit (including spaces). This is not the place to put a lot of boring details about hours, locations, etc (the Activities section should cover that), but you can use this space to address some of the hows & whys of your activity. Convey your passion for your activity.</p>
<p>If 1000 characters isn’t enough to tell the great story about your activity, feel free to write you main essay (approximately 500 words) about one of your activities. Again, don’t bore your reader with facts; use this space to convey passion and a sense of who you are.</p>
<p>Another option is to include a resume in the Additional Information section of the Common App. I recommend this when students have too many high-quality EC’s to fit in the Activities section, or when there is important additional information about several activities listed (such as multiple awards won) that just won’t fit in those little 100 character sections. This resume would also include (and perhaps expand a bit upon) the activities that you list in your Activities section of the Common App.</p>
<p>Finally, if you have important details to add regarding one or two activities that you have listed in your Activities section, you might include a short paragraph of explanation, instead of a resume, in your Additional Information section. This is most helpful when an applicant really only needs to expand on one or possibly two activities. You can be very direct in this paragraph: “Please note that, while I listed State Champion under Competitive Whistling in the Activities section of my application, I have won the following Competitive Whistling awards as well:…”</p>
<p>Try not to be too repetitive in your application. Don’t write about the same activity for both your Activity essay and your Main essay. And as I said earlier, don’t include a resume that just repeats everything from your Activities section.</p>
<p>I have had many students who have used each of the approaches above with successful results. There is no hard rule here, it’s about common sense and making your information clear and presentable.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone!</p>
<p>Would hobbies and recreational activities (such as hiking) usually be included in the extracurricular list? For example, I go hiking every weekend and multiple times a week during the summer, so it does take up a lot of my time, but I don’t know if I should include it. Same with things like reading and creative writing (for which the hours are a lot more sporadic). </p>
<p>And in the honors section of the Common App, are they only looking for academic achievements, or can I include publications in literary magazines?</p>