Extracurriculars

Applying to College Common and Coalition Application
1

<p>I'm not really sure how the new Common App is going to work, but I was looking at the old Common App and I had some questions. I'm assuming the new Common App will be at least a little similar?</p>

<ol>
<li>If you attach a separate resume for extracurriculars, should you repeat the same stuff you listed on the Common App itself, or just put the stuff you didn't already list?</li>
<li>How do I decide which activities to put in the spaces they give on the Common App? I'd kind of like to organize them by field...like I'd put all my science activities first, and then community-service-related stuff, etc. Should I do that, or should I just list them in order of importance/impressiveness?</li>
<li>Do you list summer programs/camps in the same place as activities that went on all year? (I'm talking about programs that weren't courses and didn't offer college credit.)</li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<ol>
<li><p>The new Common Application DOES NOT allow for uploaded documents, so you cannot upload a resume or your essay – you must type everything in a text box. </p></li>
<li><p>You should list the activities in order of importance to you. Whatever you care about most, you should list that first.</p></li>
<li><p>There is a section on the old Common Application for summer programs, with or without college credit. I don’t know if the new Common Application will have the same format, but I assume so.</p></li>
</ol>

3

<p>As gibby notes, the old instructions say to list “in their order of importance to you,” but remember that this will be read by a stranger/adcom who is making an admit decision. They aren’t asking for encyclopedic about you. Anything additional you add should be relevant- </p>

<p>Your “chance me” has some interesting points- make sure you communicate that. You could do some bang-up writing, show positives. You seem to have made various choices that start to show an interesting picture.</p>

<p>A resume is not always required- it may be to your advantage, depending on what fits the spaces available in that activities section. What some kids do is lay out the activities section as self-standing. Then for the resume, those already covered are simply stated and another section picks up with 'additional." But, there will be a hard word limit for this fall. Play with it now.</p>

4

<p>How many spaces will there be for ECs on the new Common App? (Like on the old one you can only list 10.)</p>

5

<p>I imagine they’ll give about the same – 10 spaces, which is more than enough room to list your primary activities. Keep two things in mind: </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Quality is more important than quantity. Colleges are more interested in the activities that you have spent a lot to time participating in. </p></li>
<li><p>Colleges do not accept student’s from their extracurriculars. Instead, they use your EC list to make sure they aren’t recruiting the same kind of student over and over again. For example, let’s say you play the violin. If you are the 1st or 20th or 50th student to come before the Admissions Committee with a great transcript, test scores, essays, and recommendations who plays the violin, you are probably in good shape. But, if you are the 100th or 1000th or 10,000th student who comes before the committee with stellar everything who plays the violin – and they’ve already accepted 40 or 50 students who play the violin, your chances of being accepted are not great. So, make your list count!</p></li>
</ol>

6

<p>Another question: can I list two very similar jobs as one EC?
I’ve worked at McDonald’s for the past year, but I’m moving so I’m trying to find another job. If I get hired somewhere other than a different McDonald’s, is it considered a different EC and will they have to be on different lines?</p>

7

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<p>It’s mid-July. If you get a new job tomorrow, and apply to colleges in October, you will have been working at that new job for 3 months. Colleges are not really interested in something you have done for just 3 months – they are interested in activities you have done for years. So, you will need to prioritize. If you only have 10 spaces to list your EC’s, I would list the McDonalds’s job, as you have been doing it for a year, and just don’t list the new job. You don’t have to list everything you have done.</p>

8

<p>Agree quality matters, but the range of activities is quite telling about a kid. Adcoms are trying to piece together a view of you. What you chose to engage in and what you feel is important enough to include, says a great deal about you, how you see opportunities, what you take on, how you commit, what impact you have- and your judgment, perspective, energy. Maybe more. It is seen as a glimpse into how you may interact, on campus. The easy example is the engineering kid who did school plays. No, it’s not depth, it’s not central to his STEM studies. It may not even be a hobby or semi-pro. But it reads as a kid who can stretch a bit, pursue interests other than unilateral. </p>

<p>We don’t use the EC to eliminate kids who may look like others. If it were so, each STEM kid who did math/sci activities and maybe some outside research, would have a liability. Instead, what we look at is the choices one did make, what the pattern shows about the kid. Some are expectations, some are extras. Some should be depth, breadth can be icing. It depends on the kid. Where same old hurts is when that’s all the kid did. </p>

<p>Things like music- pursuing an instrument for years is good, no matter how many other kids play, eg, violin. What matters is what else. the whole. How it all pulls together. and then balanced against the written sections. Did she simply take lessons (which are really usually originated by parents) or also play in the orchestra, accompany, maybe go for All State or whatever?</p>

<p>My advice: keep both jobs in the form. If they are the same work, use one line, note both. Look, it shows you got and held a job, will read that you took on this responsibility and performed it, presumably, to adult expectations- and that you pursued another opportunity. Why arbitrarily exclude it. Instead, maybe exclude some of the hs activities that are just idle time, pie-club, less about college readiness.</p>

<p>In any competitive situation, you don’t want to arbitrarily limit your presentation. You have to think this trough carefully and use your best judgment. </p>

<p>if they weren’t interested in something you did for 3 months in senior year, think of all the kids who’d skip their role as head of Stu Govt or captain of a team or a research experience.</p>

9

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<p>Presumably, the kid who heads up Student Govt or captain of their team DID NOT just start those activities at the beginning of their senior year. Rather, it was a continuation of an activity that culminated in those positions. </p>

<p>Many rising seniors start to join clubs or other activities at the beginning of their senior year in the hopes of making their applications look better to a college – and Adcoms can smell those from a mile away. That is what an applicant needs to avoid, the appearance of joining, or doing something at the last minute – which is why I suggested the OP prioritize their EC list, and possibly list something else instead.</p>

10

<p>I don’t know what tier HH is aiming for. It’s true the whole EC thing matters less if it’s not a highly or most competitive college. </p>

<p>I agree that late joins can be silly, convey a wrong impression. Lots of kids misread what’s a big deal in the hs versus what matters to adcoms. But, a job can show a bit of industry and motivation. It’s not the “easy” path, just heading for meeting rooms when the bell rings, hanging with friends. It’s not the whoopdeedoo because you finally did a one-time walkathon. She held the first for a year, this isn’t job hopping or something where she couldn’t perform. Presumably the move is for a better fit or better opportunity. I just wouldn’t assume it should be edited out. </p>

<p>And a number of activities are logically taken on in senior year- docent, some new volunteer project (and some require them to be 17,) some are reserved for seniors. Starting in Sept doesn’t always mean a desperate add.</p>

11

<p>How would you list music-related extracurriculars? For example, I play the clarinet and participate in my school band and orchestra, outside honors ensembles, and solo competitions. Would I just put “Clarinet” and list all of the specifics within that?</p>

12

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<p>Neither do I. Right now it looks like I’ll end up at Ohio State because I won’t be able to afford anywhere better. But I have to fill out the Common App either way, so I may as well make myself look as good as possible.</p>

<p>My grades and test scores are a lot better than my extracurriculars. I have good reasons for some of this, but I’m probably not going to be competitive at extremely selective schools. </p>

<p>The reason I want to include the second job (which I haven’t gotten yet, btw…and I haven’t quit the first one) is that I want to try and get more hours. At my current job I only get around five hours a week, and I suppose it’s because they have all these older people working there who need the money more than I do. I don’t know.
I also don’t want it to look like I just quit working for no reason.</p>

13

<p>HH, I don’t think it will. You held the first job a year. Adults understand there are reasons for change. See how it develops.</p>