I’m trying to start on my common app early, but I’m having trouble deciding which extracurriculars to include. I will definitely put down choir (where I’ve done the most leadership), theatre (also a lot of involvement), math team, a special needs peer group, work, and volunteering at a respite care center. There are a few other activities that I’ll list below, and I’m wondering which I should include. My major is Communication Sciences or Speech Pathology. Thanks in advance for your help!
-math tutor during my lunch period junior year (3.5 hours per week)
-cello lessons (only started in the spring of my junior year)
-NHS, math, and science honor society (Should I just include these in awards section? We also do volunteering in these groups)
-I went to a speech pathology summer program at a college. Where would I include this on my application?
The Common App only has room for up to 10 ecs, coalition app has 8. You already decided six, I’d say add speech pathology summer program for sure, and math tutor and cello lessons if you have the room. The honors societies can go under awards as long as you have room for them.
I think the speech pathology program isimportant given your,choide of major, so I would list that prominently. If yiu are in honor societies and don’t have enough room to put those in your actviity section, put it under awards.if yiu want to combine your math tutroing wiht math team,you can do that. Just say “math team and tutoring, dates…” That saves you space and shows you involvment. Yiu may have to leave soemthing off, and that’s okay. My daughter didn’t want to fill every space in the activities section becasue she felt it would look like she was trying too hard. She didn’t list every activity. If you just started cello junior yesr, maybe leave that off.
–I would definitely include the summer program as it shows that you have taken the time to gain an understanding of the field you plan to go into. I expect that it will be a positive factor in your application if you go the speech pathology route.
– You can include the honor societies in the awards section and maybe have one line saying Tutor (for honor societies) as an activity if you want. Other than that just put things in the order of how important they are to you until you run out of space.
–FWIW my D is currently doing her masters in speech pathology and loves it.
@happy1 Thanks for your reply! That’s great to hear about your daughter! As I’ve researched and talked to people in the field, I really think it could be a great career for me.
How about putting down the EC activities that you really have an interest in and that you might like to actually follow up on in college. You can then go a step further and use this list as a guide to help you learn more about the college. :bz