Listing Activities Effectively on Common App

I need some help figuring out the best way to list my extracurricular activities on the Common App. How do you decide what order to put them in? And is it better to have a few really well-explained activities or more activities with less detail? Any advice would be great!

Hello there! It's awesome that you're putting thought into presenting your activities effectively. Think about ordering them from most to least impressive, with your Tier 1 and Tier 2 activities at the top. If you're wondering about how to sort your activities into tiers, you can check out CollegeVine's blog post on the topic here: https://blog.collegevine.com/breaking-down-the-4-tiers-of-extracurricular-activities

Colleges are looking for deep commitment and leadership, so it's often better to highlight a few activities where you've really made an impact than just list every single thing you've done. For instance, if you’re the captain of a sports team and also started a community service project, those could be your top listings, followed by activities or personal hobbies that have still been meaningful to you, but you haven't been quite as involved with.

When describing your roles and responsibilities, use active verbs and quantify your impact where possible, like 'Organized a fundraiser that raised $5,000 for local shelters.' Keep in mind that you should do that for every activity on your list—even if there's something lower down your list that you've been less involved in, you still want your description to be detailed enough that admissions officers understand why you're including it in your college application.

Keeping your list focused and descriptions detailed will show colleges what's truly important to you. Good luck with your application!