Should you list everything or just the ones you were most committed too?
Just because there are 10 spots doesn’t mean you need to fill all of them. Fewer activities that show your commitment are best, and put them in order of importance to you. In other words, don’t just add activities just for the sake of adding them. It will not make your application any better.
Put the following in for sure:
- anything you did jr or senior year
- anything in any year related to your planned major
- anything in any year when you won an award or held a leadership position
- anything related to the narrative/story you are trying to build with your application
Only list the ones that are necessary for the admissions officer to get the whole picture of who you are and what you did in high school. So, for example, if you’re really into math and want to major in engineering, you wouldn’t want to put down that you were in art club for a year in high school. That type of information is confusing and distracts from the central picture of you as an applicant. If you find yourself just trying to fill the spaces, then stop. Only put down the activities that were meaningful to you and are related to your interests.
I disagree. Most engineering faculty I know would rather have a roomful of decently capable well-rounded students than a roomful of absolutely brilliant students who know from nothing but math and science.
It’s the same with other fields—it’s good to see that someone has a set of interests.
(Well, okay, maybe I’ll given you the situation where it’s “for a year”. But a couple or three years of art club? Absolutely wonderful for an engineering application.)
That is not good advice. Colleges LIKE to see that a student has tried some different things. If you made a significant commitment to it, put it on. (Parent here of a kid who got into every college she applied to and is a Physics major at a top college who put her art and writing activities on her app). But order them by importance to you. You would probably think that an engineering major puts Robotics above writing club. But you help rather than hurt yourself to show that you have broad interests.