Jobs on Common App

Hello! I am a senior in HS and I am currently working on the activities section of my common application, and I (like many other people) have more than ten activites I was truly involved with throughout high school. I am working on narrowing everything down and focusing on activities where I made a genuine impact, but it is still a tight fit. I worked two jobs in high school (a country club where I was a server and host/reception which I started the summer going into freshman year and Starbucks which I started the summer before my junior year). I worked these jobs simultaneously, and they took up a significant amount of time. Would it be okay to “combine” them into one activity and mention them both in the explanation? I would title it “Food Service Jobs” (or something similar), and make it clear that I had two different jobs.
I do not want to “break” any common app rules, but they are similar activities.
Please let me know what you think, and if you have any ideas for what I could name the activity (other than food service jobs).
Thank you and let me know if you need more information!

You have 10 activities. If you list 10, the colleges know it’s fluff. They want depth.

My point is - list the 3 jobs separately because they are three - and if dates overlap, they’ll understand the hours worked at a time.

That leaves you 7 slots for other activities - and there’s no way you could have done 7 other activities with depth.

Don’t break the rules. That’s just a reason to see that someone doesn’t follow instructions.

Stick to the plan - and show the skills that you learned at these jobs (customer service in a time of covid, etc., dealing with unruly people, etc.) and have a great app.

I think it is fine to list them as “food service jobs.” This is not a job application. The point for colleges would be that you had a job for a certain amount of time weekly over a certain period of time. If listing them separately takes away from listing other activities, it makes perfect sense to consolidate.

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That does make sense. I do genuinely have “fluff” activities and I will not be including those, but I there are 7+ activities where I really did have an impact, especially because some of them (like an internship I worked) did not last all four years. The jobs were similar, so that is my struggle. Thank you

Imagine if you are the reader. I’m not saying it’s not true but no one will believe you had 7 impactful activities plus 3 jobs. Rank and eliminate.

I had ten activities on mine.

My brother who is currently applying has ten. He works 3 jobs. lifeguard (summer) ski instructor (winter) waiter (all year) varsity sport, habitat for humanity , old age home volunteer. and vp of school club, big brother mentor and other volunteer work through the 4 years

list 10! if that’s what you have…which is believable. I was involved a ton in HS. (see my post below) if colleges didn’t think 10 was possible- they would ask for 7 or 5 etc.

I did not say not to list ten. I said you have ten spots - and I was answering the question of if the OP should list the three jobs individually or combined - so they could then create two more slots for activities.

My guidance was to list them separately - they are separate job. Another person said combine.

The fact that you used ten (as did my daughter but not my son) does not mean that all ten were read or believed, etc.

Colleges all say they want quality, not quantity.

Some people want to list stuff from 8th grade of things like NHS where they literally do nothing and in reading their descriptions, you can tell.

There’s only so much time in the day - and between studying, work, and activities - many AOs probably discount the bottom of the list.

It’s up to the OP - I was simply answering their questions which is if I had three jobs and those three were “important” - i.e. in my top ten, I would list them separately. That’s me, not everyone.

Did you combine any activities to any extent? Do you think it’s acceptable to combine the jobs?

I would definitely combine them. It’s important to your application that you held these jobs, but they’re essentially the same activity. As a reader I’d be way more annoyed to read them as three different activities when essentially they are the same. That’s like saying my D should list ballet classes separately from jazz classes - of course she’ll mention all types of dance she takes, but dance classes will be the activity. I think she plans to combine her various paid jobs, with the exception of being a teaching assistant at her dance school as that’s clearly different from her other jobs. I doubt she’ll have ten activities, or even close to it, but that’s partially because of combining like with like.

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definitely not

You can absolutely combine your jobs into one paid work activity line.

Whether or not that’s the best thing to do though depends on the strength, depth, and time commitment of your other activities. Since you have been working all 4 years of HS, half of that with two jobs, paid work seems like a pretty important activity…so maybe two separate work activities is more powerful.

Be judicious about your other activities too…a poster above suggested combining dance classes which is a great idea. Similar combination could be different bands one plays in and so on.

I hate seeing this from so many students. Kev, what specific “rules” do you think you’re breaking by, for example, combining activities?

Here’s all the Activities Page says:
"Reporting activities can help colleges better understand your life outside of the classroom. Examples of activities might include . . . Do you have any activities that you wish to report?

That’s it, baby. Do not be constrained by the boxes in the common application. Or by some unwritten college admission “rules” you’ve heard about. Flex your muscles! Think inside the box by being as creative and thoughtful as possible about how you describe your activities and descriptions. Don’t write scared. Swing big. Combine activities, shorten titles, use creative descriptions, omit positions when they’re weak. Make that document as clean, concise, and compelling for your speed-reading admission officer as possible.

But I totally get your concern: I don’t want to “misrepresent” something. Don’t worry, man. If you’re having that thought, you’re good to go. Here’s all you need to do: provide context. Usually, all that takes is a few lines in a description or better, a parenthetical. So if you have a killer internship coming up in December, but it hasn’t happened yet, does that mean you can’t put it down on your Activities Page? No! What “rule” is that breaking? All you need to do is provide context:

Genetics Researcher, Prof. X, Stanford (Dec. 2021)
[In December,] I’m studying the latest techniques for using gene editing to solve autism.

You probably don’t need that [In December,] bit–the parenthetical makes it clear it hasn’t happened yet. But why shouldn’t you get credit for an awesome internship you secured just because you’re submitting your application in November?

“Some people like to lose small. I like to win big.” Swing for the fences my man.

MCS

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