Hi everyone, so I am rough drafting my Common App activity list and have a few questions.
First off how much weight does playing a sport year round have as an extra curricular. I play quarterback for my schools football team and in season we practice/ play 25+ Hrs/Week and out of season we practice 10+ Hrs/Week for the whole year. Also as quarterback does that in a sense count as a leadership position as well?
Second, I was talking with a college admissions friend that reads applications for some top schools and he said to leave off service trips. I went to Louisville for a week this summer and worked with refugees and the homeless. Should I leave that off?
Third, what is the best ratio of activity to service under the activity section of the common app. Personally I could list 10 of each that I do, however, I want to condense things and I feel service maybe carries less weight than activities ect. Would 8 Activities 2 service events make the strongest application profile? Or should I not even list 10 totla activities. I plan to apply to a few of the top schools and dont want to come across as padding my application.
It’s not better than any other extracurricular activity unless you are good enough to be recruited. It certainly shows dedication, hardwork, etc., but it isn’t inherently better than another EC someone spent this amount of time on.
Yes.
No, I think if it was important to you and you have space (common app allows 10 activities) you should list it. The only thing I would caution against is writing an essay about this experience as these types of essays usually turn out cliche.
Not sure I completely understand the question, but I think you should list what you’ve done if it’s meaningful to you. You should condense it, by listing similar things together. For example, if you volunteered with kids, list all those volunteer experiences together. Or if you did a bunch of environmental beach cleanups, recycling initiatives, etc., you could list all those together.
It isn’t bad to list 10 things on the common app if you did 10 things. It’s bad picking up more activities solely for the purpose of filling all 10 spots.