is it true that you can only list 10 extracurriculars on your common app? i’m a current sophomore and by the end of junior year, i might have over 10 extracurriculars. if i do get over 10, would there be an option to add more extracurriculars or would i just have to pick my top 10 and put that on my common app?
Yes, there is a 10 extracurricular limit. Pick the 10 that are most important to you and put it on the common app. (This question is being asked quite early given that you’re still a sophomore but that’s okay)
I have a different take. My kids went to a small school that encouraged a lot of ECs, plus they did a lot of outside summer stuff. Here is what they did:
Group things in common. For example, have an activity called “Music”. Put “See Additional Information” in the description. Then in additional info, put a header that says, “Activity - Music” and bullet concise lines for each related activity under it. Like, “- Pit Orchestra: Played clarinet and oboe in 3 school and 4 community musicals, 9-12, 8 weeks/year, 12 hours/week”. My kids listed related awards there, too, to make it easier for admissions. Admissions doesn’t care what section it is in, as long as it is in the app and understandable.
My kids still had more than 10 each. They added at the end of Additional Information a header for Additional Activities and bulleted them there.
Be sure you put your most important activities first.
They left out activities quit before junior year unless they had awards or they were related to their planned major.
My higher stats kid got in everyplace she applied doing it this way, including UChicago, Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd, and Carleton, plus a handful of lower ranked schools with good merit aid.
If you are a sophomore, start now to keep a running list of all activities and awards. It makes it a lot easier when application time arrives.
We weeded out activities that we thought wouldn’t really matter towards the picture we were building and actually put less than the 10 activities down. We wanted the application to focus on the most important/relevant ECs. We had success doing this with my kids apps - 3 for 3 ED at highly selective schools. No one right answer, but just make sure in your descriptions you highlight the stuff that makes you unique. For example, if you are an editor of a paper, assume that they know what an editor does (its the same everywhere). But if you increased circulation, started a new column or format, added an on-line component, etc. that is important to highlight.