Dilemma over stuff to include on Common App Activities section

Applying to College Common and Coalition Application
1

Hi guys,

So journalism is something I am pretty interested in. I currently write for two national magazines and I am able to combine them into one single activity in the ‘Activities’ section. However, that leaves me one more blank. I can either separate my two national magazines into two separate activities (though the job scope is pretty similar) OR for my last blank, put down this leadership conference that I helped organise in my senior year… which should I choose? My mum says that the first option is better, because if I clump the two things into one activity, colleges might not realise the significance of journalism as my extracurricular & organising a leadership conference may or may not count as an extracurricular (?). However, I was wondering if I should spend my last blank on something of a different nature (organising leadership conference) instead of my journalism stuff (which I already devoted 4 blanks in my Activities Section to).

Would greatly appreciate any input on this :slight_smile:

Btw, is it weird that I only have one volunteer/community service activity? It’s something I have been doing since Grade 9 on a weekly basis, but most people appearing to top schools seem to have done quite a few volunteering stuff pretty consistently…

2

I hate to disagree with anyone’s mum, but… if you already have four journalism-related activities, I’d go with the conference as the final item. Will you be listing the combined two national magazines as your first activity (meaning from most to least important)?

3

The combined two national magazines are my second activity :slight_smile: Mmhm I also have this concern about the conference: it’s a one-off thing…so not sure if that really counts as extra-curricular?

4

^ If you did it - it counts.

5

anyone else has thoughts about this? :slight_smile:

6

No. One volunteer activity dome consistently over time is not viewed as inferior to many volunteer activities done on an ad hoc basis,

Just because an app lists X # of spaces to put something does not mean you need to fill them all. It will really make no difference if you combine your writing into one block or split them into 2.