<p>Upon starting the common app this summer, I realized that I don't have enough space for my extracurriculars. I'm not sure how to pick and choose what will look best on the application. I talked to my school counselor and she said to use each activity space as a category and then list the different extracurriculars I have done under each one. </p>
<p>For example,</p>
<p>Categories could include:</p>
<p>Athletics
Clubs
Community Service
ect. </p>
<p>That way I could fit everything. </p>
<p>However, I think that approach seems highly unprofessional and I'm worried that it will end up hurting me instead of helping me. </p>
<p>Here is a list of my extracurriculars (I can only showcase 10 on the Common App and 6 on the Questbridge App)</p>
<p>Student Gov. (President for 4 years)
Varsity Swimming (4 years total, 2 years captain)
Club Swimming (2 years)
Mayor's Youth Council (1 year, Secretary, got a chance to speak with the State Board of Education)
Youth Grant Committee (Total 2 years, 1 year executive board member)
Youth Literary Association (2 years, Founder/President)
ACTion: ACT prep club (2 years, Founder/President)
Tutoring for disadvantaged kids (4 years)
Environmental Club (2 years)
Vocal Music Workshop Chior/ Musical Theater (3 years)
Colorguard/Marching Band (Total 4 years, Captain 2 years)
Concert Band (First Chair Flute 2 years)
Classroom With A Current (working to create a new museum exhibit at local public museum based on sustainability of our community's watershed, 2 years total/head of communications)
Rabbit Island: Art and Ecology Expedition (went to undeveloped island reserve in U.P of Michigan to work on art and study ecology)
City Grind: School Coffee Shop (Total/Founder 2 years)
Grand Valley Chinese School (2 years, won medal in Chinese speech competition) </p>
<p>Please be brutally honest with me, I'd rather find out that categorizing would look bad from an online chat room than from a rejection letter. </p>
<p>It isn’t really clear to me what some of those ECs are, so it is hard for me to categorize, but the 2 band ECs and the 2 Swimming ECs only make sense to be combined. It is more important to show depth than breadth, so ECs will actually sound more impressive when combined. Something like “Environmental Club” alone doesn’t have much impact, but combine with other related ECs(maybe those Ecology related ones???) it shows more of a dedication to the subject.</p>
<p>IMO listing them as categories is a little silly. List the ones that were most time/effort intensive, and leave off the rest. Which ones are most important to you? There’s a big difference between just being a member of the environmental club and leadership on a varsity sports team</p>
<p>No, absolutely list them as categories. I did so, lots of people do it. I had music school-related, music nonschool-related, dance, clubs, volunteer, music competitions, summer camps, etc. If they are related, it makes sense to combine them.</p>
<p>See intparent’s post on this thread for how to do so:
<a href=“Should I expand on Activities in the Additional Information section? - #3 by intparent - Applying to College - College Confidential Forums”>Should I expand on Activities in the Additional Information section? - #3 by intparent - Applying to College - College Confidential Forums;
<p>I would group Swimming and Band for sure. And I think you could create an Ecology/Environmental grouping. It isn’t silly to group them, but I think your GC’s categories are sort of generic and don’t add to your narrative.</p>
<p>I would do a mix of combining some that lend themselves and leaving off the less important ones.
I put them together like this - for a total of 9. </p>
<ol>
<li>Student Gov. (President for 4 years)</li>
<li>Varsity Swimming (4 years total, 2 years captain)
leave off - Club Swimming (2 years)</li>
<li>Community Service
a. Mayor’s Youth Council (1 year, Secretary, got a chance to speak with the State Board of Education)
b. Youth Grant Committee (Total 2 years, 1 year executive board member)
c. Youth Literary Association (2 years, Founder/President)
leave off ACTion: ACT prep club (2 years, Founder/President)</li>
<li>Tutoring for disadvantaged kids (4 years)
leave off Environmental Club (2 years)</li>
<li>Combine music
a. Vocal Music Workshop Chior/ Musical Theater (3 years)
b. Colorguard/Marching Band (Total 4 years, Captain 2 years)
c. Concert Band (First Chair Flute 2 years)</li>
<li>Classroom With A Current (working to create a new museum exhibit at local public museum based on sustainability of our community’s watershed, 2 years total/head of communications)</li>
<li>Rabbit Island: Art and Ecology Expedition (went to undeveloped island reserve in U.P of Michigan to work on art and study ecology)</li>
<li>City Grind: School Coffee Shop (Total/Founder 2 years)</li>
<li>Grand Valley Chinese School (2 years, won medal in Chinese speech competition)</li>
</ol>
<p>But no one could tell you what order to place them in. Only you know what narrative you are trying to build for admissions, and from that how to rank them from most to least important. It depends on your possible major, maybe what your topic is for your essays, what your recommenders might say, what ECs are offered at the college you might attend, etc. </p>