You could also use it to address any disciplinary action that might exist on your record. where you are able to choose which SAT and ACT scores to report. This section is not a place to extend your personal essay or add to your activities list. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. For your current school, you have to indicate whether your school is a boarding school, when you started the school, and whether you plan to graduate from your current school. The high costs of attending college doesn't start your first day of school. If youve transferred schools, there is a section that allows you to discuss this transition. You could use it to build upon any research abstract or include your art or writing portfolio. More and more, colleges are looking for indicators other than GPA and test scores to indicate strong students. Do not rush through these details. If you spend a lot of time with your family, perhaps you take care of an ailing member, that absolutely counts as well and shows a great deal of responsibility. All of these efforts show admissions officers that you took an extra step to explore a topic of your interest further than obligated at your school. If you hold a dual or non-US citizenship, you are asked to list your citizenships. At Command Education, we often emphasize the importance of establishing your hook otherwise known as a passion and skill set that sets you apart. Spirit boosts school spirit, event attendance, and makes communication easy. You could relate your experience as a tour guide and representative at your high school to marketing, or your experience working as a sales associate at a clothing store to client relationship skills! His work has been published in Our State Magazine, Ladygunn Magazine, The Nocturnal Times, and The Lexington Dispatch. The application asks this because colleges want to know what kind of student you will be when you arrive. Create art (paintings, portrait photography, nature photography) and exhibit on personal Instagram. Because this student also has an entrepreneurial streak, she could optionally indicate a secondary interest in business if a school offers dual degrees, majors, or minors in business administration for undergraduates. Make it clear what your responsibilities were and highlight your key accomplishments. -. Our goal is to help you navigate the very big decisions related to higher ed with objective information and expert advice. If youre a candidate who has done well even through setbacks and taken advantage of this time that can show how youve persevered during tough circumstances and made the most out of the hand youve been dealt. Although family is a commonly used topic, this student makes sure to have unique ideas and write in a genuine way. The Honors section allows you to show a snapshot of how you excelled on a local, national, or international level. Your child can add up to 10 school activities on the Common App. For example, if you completed a summer course the summer between freshman and sophomore years of high school, you would select 9th. Think about. Also read:How to complete the Common App Activities Section. So by answering yes to this question, you are merely indicating that you are interested in continuing the activity. Moreover, make sure your recommender is someone who takes the time to sit down with you, has time to dedicate to a careful letter, and is enthusiastic and excited about your application. Instead of filling out the same general informationlike your address, GPA, and extracurriculars a dozen times, you only have to do it once. Here are two examples of what an activity can look like once you have filled out each of the 9 fields! Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. How to complete the Common App Activities Section. Colleges do want to see that you are specialized, but you probably dont want to choose the same category for every activity. Those word limits and guidelines exist for a reason. Be ready for the world. Colleges are of course free to support other practices outside the Common App, but the Common App works to support practices that have been found to be easy to administer and understand for hundreds of colleges and millions of applicants over the years. Always be as specific as possible in these essays. Within 250 words, you have the opportunity to inform colleges whether the Coronavirus outbreak and social distancing protocols affected your health, family life, and learning abilities. Common App is a non-profit college access organization that helps students apply to college every year. These are examples of strong activity descriptions because they provide a large amount of information in a few words. Do not rush through these details. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. After you choose the activity type, the application will ask you to describe the position you held (or hold) and the organization name. This shows us that theyre almost as important as academics! Well let you know if your profile is competitive for your dream schools and give you tips on improving your profile! You can list up to five honors, and for each one you'll be asked to provide a brief . Zach Skillings is the Scholarships360 Newsletter Editor. For activities that are less structured, estimate the average time you devote per week. These lack the distinction of Tier 1 and 2, but still highlight students interests. Remember, each section is very important, not only individually, but how they work together to paint a more holistic picture of you as an applicant. If you have less than 5 awards you can stretch the definition of academic to include more honors, for example, if youve won first prize in a regional or national art competition. Make sure to be clear in writing. Good luck! The question thus sets a context for your entire application process. This enables you to have a certain degree of agency as to which scores colleges see. Activities that you can include on this list are: sports, community service, employment, religious activities (such as teaching Sunday school), internships (paid or unpaid), arts, hobbies (for example, biking or stacking competitions), school clubs, academic competitions, and basically anything else that you spend time doing outside of school. Common App and Reach Higher have united to inspire more people to complete their education and own their future, no matter what it holds. While extracurriculars might seem subjective, colleges are methodical in their evaluation of them. introduced a question for students to outline any changes in circumstances due to COVID-19. This section asks for your country of birth, city of birth, and how many years youve lived in and outside the United States. Many students will have experienced disrupted testing dates and summer programs or other plansand thats okay to unpack those obstacles here if they were significant and unique issues. Avoid redundancy. Gold Medal from the Presidents Foundation for volunteering 200+ hrs at animal shelters. We may receive commission from links on our website, but that doesnt affect our editors opinions. You do not want to waste their time with something that could have been mentioned elsewhere in the Common App. This example does not elaborate on what the student did, nor does it show what they learned from their time at the hospital. Colleges want to see that youre committed to your activities because that indicates a passion for something outside of academics that you will bring to college and hopefully beyond. As daunting as all of the sections of the Common App might seem, if done right, it can help ease the process. For example, if you were Student Council Vice President freshman year and a class representative the other three years, list these out as: Vice President (1 yr), Class Representative (3 yrs). It celebrates successes and creates a sense of togetherness. Instead of superscoring across test dates, some schools will just look at your highest score from a single sitting. If you participate in a club, define your role, rather than just listing member. If you participated in an activity for multiple years and have had multiple roles within it,list your roles in order of importance rather than chronologically. Your teachers, guidance counselors, and other recommenders can submit their letters of recommendation directly on the Common Appyou will invite them to contribute through the application platform. Host weekly meetings, trips. Be as specific as possible here. Filling out the Demographics section is optional. The Common Application is a single online college application form used by over 900 colleges and universities. The Common App uses a drop-down menu to help students divide their activities into preset categories. Idk about other high schools but a high school in . College admissions officers dont have the time to read large blocks of text, and its generally better to try and write less in areas where they are not asking for an essay. Apply to our $10,000 No Essay Scholarship! Higher education has never been more confusing or expensive. Only list additional honors that you think college admissions officers should absolutely know about. The drop-down menu under schedule allows you to select the system your school usesbetween semester, quarterly, and trimester. Be careful of any spelling errors or any courses you might have missed. Be sure to include the following information: the name of the award, what the award was for (community service, for example), and if applicable, what place you received (1st, Bronze, etc). You might have fallen ill yourselfor had to take on added responsibilities in your family because your parents were sick. Our chancing engine factors in extracurricular activities, demographics, and other holistic details. If you intend to continue a particular pursuit in college, it shows them that you are truly interested and dedicated to it. Privacy Policy. If you have more than 5 awards, try to think of ways to combine them. They use the. you left your previous school in the 250-word limit given. You only get 150 characters to sum up each activity, so make sure you are optimizing the space by summarizing your role and impact in each activity. , but you probably dont want to choose the same category for every activity. Share info about plant sales, swaps, and propagation. The best entries succinctly recap the meaning of the prize and why you were awarded it. Remember, they are looking for a diverse student body filled with future leaders in their respective fields. Well let you know if your profile is competitive for your dream schools and give you tips on improving your profile! speaks for itself. However, If you experienced bigger problems as a result of the pandemic, provide context for your circumstances, whether its unemployment or lack of learning resources at home. If it seems like you are choosing one category for everything, try to diversify a bit and think about how activities can be related without being exactly the same thing. If you are a leader in the activity, mention how many members the group has, how many people you serve (if applicable), how many people your work affected, and so on. You wont be harshly judged if you had significant changes to your life and academics. It involves events and activities that bring members of the school community together in some way. If you usually spend 2 hours a week with this club, but have 3 weeks during the height of tournament season during which you spend 15 hours with the club, you can list your hours per week as 4 since your weekly average comes out to 3.95 hours. Trained 7 state qualifiers; developed fundraising, recruitment campaigns to raise $1200 in 1 year, increase membership from 6 to 40 members in 2 years. Courses & Grades - This section is self-explanatory. When choosing your topic, it is very important to remember that the admissions officer will be reading thousands of applications. Today, students can use the Common App to apply to over 1,000 colleges and universities. As the application evolved over time from a paper application to online, the core of Common Apps principles has never changed promoting access, equity, and integrity, in the college admissions process for all students. Intrinsic to these principles is the promotion of fair, transparent, straightforward, and consistent practices in admissions. awards or achievements that you have earned starting from the ninth grade. 10, 11, 12School8 hr/wk, 25 wk/yrContinue. Steverino is right that those activities often involve sports. Mention specific faculty members you might want to do research with. Many schools allow you to submit a resume in addition to your application. Final review of 20 articles published and distributed bi-weekly. School spirit is key to creating a positive school culture. ways to show school spirit. Admission officers want to see your academic track record, and what classes you have taken at different levels. Spearheaded creating a digital paper. Work shifts at gift shop and assist customers with check out and locating merchandise. Colleges wont see the brevity of your involvement as a negative factor; they understand that some activities simply have an imposed beginning and ending that are not within your control. Keep in mind that this was a global crisis. The Common Application is a streamlined application service. This section features many different moving parts; not only must you describe ten of the most significant extracurricular activities that have filled your free time in high school, but it also asks you to estimate your time commitment to these activities and forces you to describe . Remember to account for spring/winter breaks as you calculate weeks you participated. Many high school students dont know exactly what they want to do. I noticed the "school spirit" category, and I feel like this is a stupid question, but what activity could someone put in that falls in that category other than being a mascot or something. They can also include supplemental essays, usually asking why you want to attend their school. Plans made in high school often change, and that is okay. School Spirit. Use verbs that show action and ownership over an activity, Worked with a professor on a research project, Include numbers and percentages to quantify your impact. A commonly asked question regarding this field is how to label the activities that took place in the summer. personal statement, remember your Application Persona. Sell prints and stickers with $500+ in profits. For instance, if you are the president of the tutoring club at your school, you dont need to list tutoring in the description, since colleges are likely to consider that a given; instead, emphasize your duties as president, how you manage and distribute tasks and how you work with club members. Your activities section paints a picture of who you are outside the classroom, but the honors section is a demonstration of the things you really excel at. The Common Application Honors List is separate from the Activities Listit can be found under the Education Section of the Common Application. This year, students have been calling TCU an "everything school" because of our success in academics and across all sports. Your activities list is the key place you can demonstrate your hook to admissions officers. Adding numerical values offers concrete proof of your success, and can show colleges how you were involved specifically. A student who is interested in business and starting her own company one day can select Business owner as part of the Future Plans section. Below, weve included an example activities list, paired with an explanation of how it demonstrates a hook! When self-reporting your test scores, you must be honest. Its accurate to the best of our knowledge when posted. At Common App, we know that the admissions process is one based on trust among students, counselors, teachers and our members. Students need to have comfort that the rules for applying to college remain consistent and have their best interests in mind. To support these values, through careful considerations of the comments and needs of our key constituents students, teachers, college admissions counselors, parents, and the colleges themselves as well as professional organizations and both federal and state guidance, Common App has developed the following principles, the focus of which is in the best interest of the student, to continue to forge a direct, unambiguous path to higher education for all. Therefore, as a member of Common App, you agree to abide by and uphold our principles within the application: Additionally, in the interest of students and their families, to assist in ease of use, and in the spirit of fairness, consistency, and widely accepted definitions and practices currently used in college applications, Common App will not support an application deadline for first-year fall admission that is earlier than October 15, Common App will not support questions that ask applicants to list or rank schools to which they are applying, Common App will support only the following decision plans: Regular Decision, Rolling Decision, Early Decision (I and II), Early Action (I and II), and Restrictive/Single Choice Early Action. The widely accepted definitions of these plans may be found here, Common App will not support multiple Early Decision (ED) applications from applicants, with the exception of an ED II application. Thus, demonstrating a strong hook through your Activities List is very important. They include minor leadership positions for well-known clubs and organizations and smaller athletic/musical distinctions. They include minor leadership positions for well-known clubs and organizations and smaller athletic/musical distinctions. School Specific Essays - A lot of schools have specific questions that they want to ask about your interest in their campus and course offerings specifically. Alternatively, some activities like sports or school plays are seasonal. The Common Application offers a drop-down menu with the following activities from which to select: For each activity you include on your application, choose the appropriate category. Participated in three conferences per year; Best Small Delegation 2018, Outstanding Delegate 2019. Here is the list of predefined categories provided by the Common App: If possible, add a descriptive term in front of your position. This is especially true of lesser-known regional awards. Your entire college application process rides on how you fill the Common App out! For example, if the school youre applying to is a liberal arts college, you can highlight how the community or small faculty to student ratio appeals to you. To make the most out of your honors section, keep the following strategies in mind: Make sure to lead with your most impressive achievements. Letters of Recommendation - Your teachers, guidance counselors, and other recommenders can submit their letters of recommendation directly on the Common Appyou will invite them to contribute through the application platform. It also lets you elaborate more on your gender identity if you dont identify as male or female. Through the following questions, admissions officers get a substantial idea of who you are and where you are from. Admission officers want to see your academic track record, and what classes you have taken at different levels. Write the title of the award and add details when possible! Number one priority your school spirit must be an attention getter. All of your . Unless the activity was high school-specific or if there is a good reason you wouldnt participate in it later on, we recommend that you mark yes.. Each admissions officer is assigned a particular geographical region, either according to each US state, or according to country. Youll have a chance to include five formal awards you received in the honors section of the Common App, but the activity descriptions are the perfect place to include achievements for which you did not receive awards. All of the colleges you apply to within this platform will see the same information that youve filled out in the Family section or Activities section of the Common App. Well let you know what your chances are at your dream schools and how to improve your chances! The activities section has a limit of ten extracurricular activities. Please use this space to describe how these events have impacted you. As you think about your response, remember that it is valuable to talk about how youve moved forward. Learn how to write a strong letter of continued interest. Remember that first and foremost, the prompt has been introduced for your benefit to provide colleges with a better understanding of how your life was influenced by the crisis. These examples should help you write a great Common App activities list: DECA Executive Vice President. Applications typically open on August 1 and close on January 1. There are so many sections to go through, and it seems overwhelming at times. Bill Jack has over a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. Our marketing partners dont review, approve or endorse our editorial content. #17 Best Colleges that Accept the Common App in America.University of Notre Dame. Most importantly, it makes your students feel like they are part of a community that is bigger than themselves. Chapter of club at high school; participated in toy and food drives, raised $1000 for refugees, made 200 cards and blankets for children in hospitals. If you find that a particular extracurricular activity fits into multiple categories, choose the more specific one (e.g. School Spirit. Do not write about middle school achievements, about others achievements, or try to accomplish too much. As daunting as all of the sections of the Common App might seem, if done right, it can help ease the process. The US Armed forces status allows you to list whether you are currently in the armed forces, have been previously enrolled, or are the dependent of someone serving in the armed forces. Extracurricular activities encompass a broad range of activities. Try not to feel too overwhelmed college applications take a lot of work, but the reward is well worth it. If you claim to spend ten hours per week on all ten activities, colleges will know youre exaggerating, to say the least. In tenth grade, I received an award from the Presidents Foundation for my work volunteering at an animal shelter. They want to know if you were raised by a single parent, whether you grew up in a divorced home, whether one of your parents has passed away. They include national awards or other prestigious achievements. Therefore, do not write anything thats specific to any one of the schools. as early as possible. If you hold a leadership position, emphasize that role in your description. . Activities like working a part-time job, or caring for a family member also count. Participated in multiple science-based events; 2nd place 2018 for Write It Do It, 3rd place 2019 for Meteorology. How can you take advantage of the prompt to provide your reader with a sense of your personal growth? can be daunting. You might not have been expecting to talk about your religious preferences or feel comfortable doing so. Now that you have an idea of what each Common Application section is like, you are all set to begin your application process. As a result, this section only becomes available if you select one of the schools on the list. The college application is a big deal. LGBT Tier 4: These are the most common activities and are seen most often by admissions committees. The Common Application offers a drop-down menu with the following activities from which to select: Academic Art Athletics: Club Athletics: JV/Varsity Career-Oriented Community Service (Volunteer) Computer/Technology Cultural Dance Debate/Speech Environmental Family Responsibilities Foreign Exchange Journalism/Publication Junior R.O.T.C. This will allow you to demonstrate your values to the admission officers who review your application. School spirit looks like teamwork. Though you devote much more time to your own practice, you may find the clinics to be much more rewarding and place this higher up on your activities list than your practices. If you talk about a debate competition that you almost didnt win, admissions officers might not be very engaged or impressed. They include general club/sports/musical membership and general volunteering. If you graduated from high school and continued to participate in that activity, mark post-graduate.. Each piece of content on the site is original, based on extensive research, and reviewed by multiple editors, including a subject matter expert. The important step is to make sure you do not select Undecided. Think about what you are passionate about, what courses you are excited to study, what activities you enjoy. Youre an excited high school senior ready to embark on the scary but thrilling journey of college applications, and then you encounter something known as the Common Application. 9, 10, 11, 12Year1 hr/wk, 26 wk/yrContinue. The Common App dashboard also helps you track necessary application documents (like your . Created multimedia portfolio of 5 works under guidance of professional artist First Last. You will be able to expand in the description if needed. By reading her Activities List, admissions officers would be able to envision her continuing to explore these intersections as an undergraduate, as well as contributing to sustainability initiatives and artistic projects and clubs on campus. A lot of schools that accept score choice recommend that you send all scores. In the description itself, use strong verbs and be as specific as possible. Colleges may give your name to members of a club, organization, or activity in which you participate so they can follow up with you, but you are by no means bound to joining when you begin college (unless, of course, you are accepted on an athletic or other scholarship that requires your participation in a certain activity). Not only has she pursued multiple activities in both environmental science and art, but she has also found and studied creative intersections between these fields, through painting murals at local gardens, featuring and selling her nature photography on her personal social media, and studying environmental art at a summer program. How does your personality tie into your Application Persona. Her hook is conveyed through an impressive mix of in-school extracurriculars, out-of-school activities, summer activities, and hobbies. Activities like working a part-time job, or caring for a family member also count. For each award, youll want to indicate the name of the honor, its meaning and purpose, and the years you received it. Colleges use class size and class rank to compare your academic standing with your peers. If youre an athlete, talk about the importance of the teams spirit if it appeals to you. If you participated during the school year and during school breaks, check off both During school year and During school break. If you participated in the activity during the school year, during the school breaks, and during the summer, check off All year.. All of the colleges you apply to within this platform will see the same information that youve filled out in the Family section or Activities section of the Common App. Below, youll find more examples about how to make the most of each field to highlight your potential! Adding numerical values offers concrete proof of your success. You could also be really interested in a subject and use the opportunity to learn more about the subject. The Profile section asks for: If you qualify for the fee waiver, dont hesitate to check the box. College admissions officers dont have the time to read large blocks of text, and its generally better to try and write less in areas where they are not asking for an essay. The options include: Academic Art Athletics: Club Athletics: JV/Varsity Career-Oriented Community Service (Volunteer) Computer/Technology Cultural Dance Debate/Speech Environmental Family Responsibilities Foreign Exchange Journalism/Publication
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