Listing certain things on the common app

Applying to College Common and Coalition Application
1

  1. What should I put down as the activity type for a JSA chapter? It’s debate/speech, but it’s way more than that. (School club, not the summer program.)

  2. Is Girls State an activity or award/honor? I was selected to be a delegate, so most people have told me it counts as an honor. However, it isn’t really academic. I have space for it as an activity, but I only want to list activities that took years of my time.

  3. I went on a volunteer trip and I wrote my essay about that. Should I bother listing that elsewhere? I put it under the activities portion, but I think it can be removed. However, I struggled to convey in my essay that I had to fundraise for the entire trip without it detracting from the story, so I included that detail on the activities part.

  4. I did a very brief summer research program at a college. There is no place under “Education” for it, because it’s enrichment and not college credit. I listed it as an activity; however, as I said, I only wanted to list activities that took years of my time.

THANKS IN ADVANCE. I’m so confused right now.

2

What kind of volunteer trip did you go on? Service trips abroad are really cliched and I would stay away from it as an essay topic unless there is something truly amazing and unique to write about.

3

@potatoprincess I went to Nepal and I volunteered in multiple hospitals, witnessing everything up close. I saw minor surgeries and an abortion (sorry if that offends, it was strictly medical); I stayed in a bacteriology lab and was taught by one of the professors; I read patient files, discussed cases with the doctors, and attended medical school lectures. I also interacted with patients, taught a health class, and learned about the local culture. I want to study medicine and work for Doctors Without Borders (or something of that sort).

4

@yaledreamer97 that sounds quite interesting. Are you thinking of pursuing a career in medicine? (Also, no offended people here, I’m fiercely pro-choice.)

5

@potatoprincess Yes I am! Particularly Global Health. (That’s good; I’ve had a couple incidences where I made people very uncomfortable while talking about that and trained myself to hold back a bit. As someone who wants to be a medical professional, I am of course pro-choice.)