How to Impress Adcoms with your Extracurriculars

boho_girl, always list all of your activities! I created a resume and attached it under the Additional Info section and it has pretty much everything I’ve done over the past 4 years - academic honors, in-school extracurriculars, out of school extracurriculars, volunteer work, and work experience (I also added a section with the languages I speak). You should definitely name the smaller activities, even if they’re not that significant, and how long you’ve been doing each of them.

Fluxxii, thanks.

<ol>
<li>So I should make a list in common app style, right? List like:
Activity with described details if relevant, Participation, Average Time spent, Position held</li>
<li>And I can write a lot more in “Position held, honors won, letters earned” section in my word doc than common app web site allows, right?</li>
<li>I have more non-academic honors (like some art awards) than academic honors. And I am not sure where I should list some scholarships that I won: academic or non-academic (=additional info, resume). None of them went through school but I applied outside school and only in one of them grades mattered (along with my ECs and personal character). Other’s the artistic one that I didn’t even apply but got on merit base. </li>
<li>Lastly, would it look bad or cluttered if I list all the small stuff like student of the month award or honor roll? </li>
</ol>

Sorry for asking a lot and thanks in advance!

Edit:
I just found this on “OFFICIAL Common Application Question Thread”

So this pretty much answers my 4.?

I don’t know how you guys come up with these hours. Do your parents just initial or what??? I’ve caught several friends embellishing their e.c hours so I wouldn’t be surprised if others did.

Is it that easy or what??? I spoke with my gc and she basically said the process is governed by the honor code. XD

What’s the deal cc?

Is peer-tutoring at school considered an extracurricular or a volunteer activity?

I’d say both (at my school at least)

So if I’m writing a resume (that I want to attach under “Additional Info”) then should I just put it under volunteer acitivities?
Because I did that both in the school and out of school.

And one more,
when I am writing a resume, do I have to list the activities in order that interest me (as in common app) or can I group them by sections (like “Volunteering”, “Summer Workshops”, “Sports” etc)?

^^ You can do it either way. Personally, I did it into sections and then in order of grade. I elaborated a little more on the ones that interested me the most.

Is it common for people to send in additional information after they have already submitted their applications? For example, before I submitted my applications I couldn’t drive and thus was limited in terms of work, volunteer, ECs, school clubs, etc. However, now I can drive and I’ve just gotten my first job and started volunteering at a more significant place. Should I let them know, or is it not that important?

I’m doing about 5 Ecs some are either 4 or 3 years. …length is better than a whole list of things you did one year then dropped and replaced.

^^^
Well, I have 3 EC’s in which I’ve been involved since elementary school.
And some of the acitivities that I’ve taken up in the meanwhile were some that I didn’t have choice but taking (ex. trimester sports, they were mandatory for a year) or one of my long-running activities ended due to personal reasons of leaders of those EC’s so I just wanted to have something to do.

Determined15, will you still attach a resume with additional EC info?

Yeah I’ll be doing that

I’ve only been recently involved in my EC’s but I’ve achieved political prominence and national importance (I’m now the most famous person in my city’s history =D) in that short time period - dedication works a long way!

I’m involved in cross-country, track, associated student body and I play the piano. I’m also planning on getting a summer job and a weekly community service gig (2+ hpw).

If I’m really dedicated to these (especially the sports), is this enough? I’m probably going to focus on running in the essays.

Wow! Now I feel really confident..I have a medium list of ecs..but my essay focused solely on one of them (soccer) and how it has impacted me and taught me alot. THX!

I have a question. If I do not pick up an activity until late in Sophomore year will it look like I just did it for college. I am definitely not doing it for college and I am really passionate about it, but in order to become and EMT ( which is the activity) you must be 16 in my state. I really do not want it to come off like I just did it for college. Any advice?

InfiniteTruth, how did you manage an EC like that? What is it (if you don’t mind telling us)?

what if i go indepth in all my activities. i have a leadership position in everything I do… I wrote an essay not about my EC. i hope that was okay

ChadtheRTF, I’m in a national leadership position for a political party’s high school youth branch and also part of a lobbyist group’s governing board, and currently am also working as head of a state’s high school campaign staff for a candidate in the 2008 election

thank you, so all all we have to do is to make us OUTSTANDING.

dont haev a laundry list. be passionate in two or three things and have leadership positions in them. be passionate not fake. seriously, do things you actually like dont resume build.

hello.i am a greek student and i am applying next year to harvard,mit,yale,stanford chicago.my sat scores are math800,reading600,writing700 and subject tests math1 800,math2 800,physics800.i was very dissapointed with my read result and i am very anxious. But i have a very important question. the main extracurricular i am involved are some rhetoric contests which are held annually. And the best speaches are chosen every year and then one person is selected and win. what i want to ask, is this: will the admissions people even know that this is smth important??? becuz i dont know if such a contest exists in usa.or in my application i should explain the proccess???i am worried becuz i really like this debate competitions and i am not sure if they know about it and if it will count. i would be pleased if someone knew sth about that to write. thanks!!!