We need to get students to stop treating the Activities List as an afterthought.

Admissions officers definitely don’t.

They see the Activities List as a quick way to see how involved students are, what they’re interested in, and the impact they’ve had. They translate what they find into hard numbers that make or break applications.

Note: Some schools give applicants a separate Activity score; others assess Lists as part of a broader personal score (ie: students’ potential for success, as reflected in essays and other non-academics).

In this newsletter, we’ll cover:

Admissions officers look at Activities Lists for evidence of impact
Write Activity descriptions using strong verbs + short phrases (5 tips for writing)
Descriptions should explain what the activity was + what the student did
Students should think deeply + creatively about what Activities to include
How the Additional Info section can be invaluable for some tricky Activity Lists
How to prioritize Activities (hint: description, leadership, time)

Admissions officers look at Activities Lists for evidence of impact

Knowing what admissions officers look for in an Activities List is the best way to write descriptions that give them what they’re looking for. Here’s what they keep top of mind:

Sustained engagement — Colleges like activities that students have done over a long time, or for many hours a week. It indicates that they care about the Activity (and are likely to keep caring as a college student).

Leadership — Colleges like to see that students attained a leadership role, whether formal or informal. Though it’s harder to describe an informal role in the Common App’s short boxes, we’ll talk about how to do it below.

Impact — Colleges like to see the student’s unique contributions to the activity. Students tend to articulate this well when given this thought exercise: Think about if you were never a part of the activity. How would it have been different? (Bonus points if they can quantify their impact with numbers or clarify it with quotes or awards.)

Potential to succeed (aka the 5 Traits) — Have we talked about this before? (Jk, yes, we do it constantly.) Colleges love the 5 traits that indicate a student will succeed in college and beyond: Drive, Intellectual Curiosity, Initiative, Contribution, and Diversity of Experiences. Activities — formal or informal — are a great place to demonstrate these traits.

Example — applicant filled in as an afterthought:

Position/Leadership description: Server
Organization Name: Scoops Ahoy, Starcourt Mall
Description: Served ice cream after school two days a week.

Example — Now that the applicant knows the college is reading this for evidence of impact:

Position/Leadership description: Server
Organization Name: Scoops Ahoy, Starcourt Mall
Description: Honed service skills, improving personal tips by 50%+ in 9 months. Received promotion. Used shop as base to uncover evil Soviet plot.

As you can see, there’s plenty of room within 150 characters to pack a punch and demonstrate potential to succeed in college.

Write Activity descriptions using strong verbs + short phrases (5 tips for writing)

Tip #1: Begin each phrase with a strong verb

Scooped ice cream. Increased tips by 50%. Uncovered Soviet plot.

Strong verbs get the descriptions going, are extremely efficient, and keep the focus on the student’s actions and impact.

Tip #2: Cut full sentences into succinct phrases

Instead of:

I set off a country-wide eternal winter, and put my sister in mortal danger, before applying a love-based solution to revive my sister and the land.

Pack the impressive facts in:

Created country-wide eternal winter. Put sister in mortal danger. Applied love-based solution, reviving sister and the land. Ruled happy people.

By cutting sentences down into phrases, students can pack in much more impact.

Tip #3: Focus on the problems solved, skills gained, and/or impact created

Most students instead list things that anyone in their position would have done:

Wrote articles for the newspaper.
Attended debate tournaments.
Played on the soccer team for four seasons.

These phrases are not doing the applicant any favors. Instead, encourage students to think about their activities in terms of problems, skills & impact.

Demystified new junior curriculum requirements in article newspaper advisor called “best of the semester.”
Raised over $1000 to help all debate members travel to the state tournament.
Scored five goals, the highest number of any team member this year.

Tip #4: Quantify impact, use quotes, and mention awards whenever possible.

Once students have determined their impact (using the “How would it have been different without me” prompt above), they should try as much as possible to translate it into numbers, quotes, or awards.

Compare:

Victorious in a high-stakes yearly contest of skill. Competed fiercely, using cunning, strategy, and collaboration to succeed.

It’s a big achievement, but kind of limp. Says who? What does any of it mean? Instead:

1 of 2 survivors (of 24) in a yearly contest. First to get authorities to change rules, saving co-victor. Dictator called me a threat to his rule.

By quantifying her experience, and quoting a real person, Katniss brings the size of her achievement into relief.

Tip #5: Students should show how activities changed them for the better

Compare:

Survived being eaten alive. Rescued by hunter. Grateful to be alive along with Granny.

To the improved:

Learned to be wary of strangers trying to influence me. Gained an appreciation for what matters in life, esp. time with loved ones.

Descriptions should explain what the activity was + what the student did

Most activities don’t need explanation. These are the usuals: Model UN, Speech & Debate, Band, Sports teams, etc.

For activities and clubs that are specific to your school, students should add a few words of context:

What the activity is (its purpose).
Its size (number of students in it).

Often, it’s helpful for the student to spell out their responsibilities — what did they do? This can do a few things:

Show the reader what the activity is. (Particularly, if it’s more unusual.)
Show why the activity matters to them.
Show what kinds of skills the student is building.
Show the student is acting as a leader, even if they don’t have a formal leadership role.

For example, a team captain might include the line:

Led early-morning practices.

This is just a description of what a captain actually does. While it doesn’t focus on impact, it does suggest that the student is building important skills:

Discipline and drive in pursuit of a larger goal.
Interpersonal skills — the ability to get teenagers to wake up early and do hard work.

In addition, this description shows that “captain” isn’t just a title to the student. They really put in the work. They really are a leader.

Students should think deeply + creatively about what Activities to include

It’s surprisingly easy for students to forget their own activities and accomplishments. It’s important to make students understand that they should devote some time to brainstorming and thinking comprehensively about their activities, formal and informal.

Encourage students to think through their high school years chronologically. (High school only — colleges don’t consider activities that predate freshman year relevant.) This can take some detective work - going through old emails and paperwork is normal for this exercise.

In addition, emphasize the power of informal activities to your students. Things like independent learning, family obligations, hobbies that have gotten serious, and much more can do a lot to show a student’s character and potential.

How the Additional Info section can be invaluable for some tricky Activity Lists

For students without a lot of activities, well, the best advice is to encourage them to participate in a meaningful activity if they still have time.

But … if it’s too late, or if that’s not possible, students can consider using the Additional Information section to put their somewhat-light Activities List in context. For example:

Long commutes,
Intensive family responsibilities,
Intensive practice obligations (violin, sports).

A straightforward account of these circumstances can allay admissions’ concerns and even add color and strength to an application.

For students with an activity that requires more than 150-characters to fully explain, they can add “(See add’l info.)” to their description, and say a little more there, particularly if providing a fuller picture of the activity can shed light on the student's capabilities.

How to prioritize Activities (hint: description, leadership, time)

Have students consider these 3 factors as they decide which activities to place highest:

How impressive is the description? — Descriptions with big impacts or awards should come first.
Where do they have leadership roles?
How much time have they devoted to it? (Per week and over what period)

There isn't a hard and fast rule, but these questions should guide the thinking here.

How to help your students write great college application essays (and activity lists)

Prompt’s Essay Planning Tools help students identify what to write about and how to write about it. The tools are available for free for every student either by requesting a Prompt college application essay resource page for your school (click here to request a page) or through our integration with MaiaLearning.

Click here for a 12-minute video overview of Prompt’s Essay Planning tools.

In our next issue, 14 ways to make the most of the Additional Info section.

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The Apply

How to write a powerful Activities List