extracurricular activity essay prompt

College essay resources

How (and why) to write a college essay about your extracurricular activities | guide + examples, brainstorm what to write.

Brad Schiller

😢 Won’t anyone think of the college admissions readers? 😢

In our work as college essay coaches , we’ve lately been delighted to learn that many people are in fact worried that college admission officers might be bored — specifically due to redundant college essays that rehash all the stuff that’s in the Activities List in prose-form.

Ugh! That would indeed be horribly boring. (And it does indeed happen.) 

[Shaking head.] Poor admissions readers.

But — little nuance — you don’t have to rehash what you put in your activities list. You could instead expand upon what’s there by either: 

• Talking more about the impact you had and the actions you took to achieve that impact ✨, or 
• Showing how the activity relates to your personal brand as an applicant who will succeed in college and beyond. ✨

Bottom line: writing a Common App Personal Statement (or supplemental essay) about a meaningful extracurricular activity is often a great idea. Read on for how to do it right.

In fact, many college applications specifically ask students to describe an activity or work experience — proof that colleges are interested in learning more about them. 

What you *don’t* want to do: Redundancy & the dreaded “it makes me feel alive” trap 

While the idea that you shouldn’t write about activities in college application essays is a pernicious rumor, as college essay coaches , we must admit that this territory does come with some real danger. 

The danger is that, instead of writing an essay that sheds light on how you’ll succeed in college and beyond , you talk about the activity in a way that adds little to nothing over what’s already in your Activity List. 

Here are some approaches that have been known to tempt those facing the terror of the blank page:

• “I love soccer so much. The thrill of the game is my favorite thing. I feel so alive when I’m on the field. One time, I scored this amazing goal. [Brilliant writing describes this amazing goal in gorgeous detail.]”
• [Same as above, except substitute “music” for “soccer” and “in front of an audience” for “on the field,” and so on.]
• “Debate is my passion. I began in ninth grade knowing nothing. But I worked hard at it, and won my first award as a freshman, even though it was only 9th place. As a sophomore, my skills really improved. I came in 3rd in the Semi-All Around [editor’s note: does that sound like a believable award?]. Finally, my junior year, I came in first in the National Regionals!”

Let’s analyze.

In the first two types of essays (the “[activity] makes me feel alive!” essay) the problem isn’t necessarily writing style. You could write a beautiful piece of prose about that amazing, game-clinching goal, with drama and stakes, reveals and surprises, and soul-plumbing moments on par with something out of Squid Game . 

But if the essay doesn’t say anything about your potential to succeed — elements we’ve boiled down to the 5 traits (more about them below) — it’s not going to matter to the college. 

Lots of students love music. Lots of people are passionate about sports. 

Those things aren’t enough (on their own) to make anyone stand out. 

The last type of essay is more of an obvious clunker. This student may be brilliant at Debate, but they can’t write for their life! The issue here is that they’re just laying out everything they’ve done — the admissions officer isn’t learning anything new. All of it would fit better in their Activities List.  

At least this example shows that college essays aren’t about “showing off.” You don’t need to have insane accomplishments to write a great essay. (Great accomplishments shine better in Activities Lists — although even there, it’s easy to undersell yourself. Here’s how to sell yourself in Activities Lists .)

Rather, it’s perfectly possible to write a great essay about a smaller moment or experience, so long as the essay focuses on your character traits, and how they’ll help you succeed. 

Speaking of which, let’s move on to ...

What you *do* want to do: Show how your activity connects to your potential for success 

Alright. Here’s the good stuff.

Yes, you can absolutely write about your extracurricular activities (including paid work). You can do this to great effect either in your personal statement or in a shorter supplemental essay (or even both!). If you still don’t believe us, here’s an example of a student who got into Harvard by writing about an extracurricular activity. 

Here are some reasons why activities make great essay topics:

• Fun! You probably enjoy these activities, so you might likewise have fun talking about them.
• Experience! Even if you don’t love the activity (maybe a job), you spend a lot of time at it, so you likely have lots of interesting experiences to choose from.
• Authenticity! Activities are usually something that can represent the “real you” easily.
• Potential!! Activities are great for showing off the 5 Traits that colleges look for in essays. 

That brings us to the 5 traits.  

If you’ve read almost any of our other articles, you know that the 5 traits that colleges look for in applicants are:

• Drive (aka Grit)
• Contribution
• Intellectual Curiosity
• Diversity of Experiences

These traits show you’re someone who has it in them to succeed. They’re more important than any one success or achievement. Because, if we’re being honest, one success or achievement in high school isn’t that impressive. But having a trait within you that leads to success? That actually is impressive. 

Let’s rewrite those essay types above with the 5 traits in mind:

• “I couldn’t believe it. My soccer team was discussing whether or not to schedule an extra practice during the upcoming long weekend. “Of course, yes,” I was thinking. But, shockingly, the room was not with me. A quick consensus formed around no added practice. It was my tipping point — I finally saw that I needed to convey to this team that settling for mediocre was not an option, and that none of us would regret doing what it takes to win.”
• “Nobody is musical in my family. Piano is something I made happen all by myself. I begged my mom for my first lessons as a freshman. The lessons soon got me fascinated by music theory, which I started studying on my own, since our school doesn’t teach it. Later, I found a Saturday class where I now study it.”
• “I started Debate Club just because I thought I needed an extracurricular activity for my resume. It didn’t mean much to me. It was only at the end of freshman year when I delivered an unsurprisingly lackluster performance in our final trials — and saw the look of disappointment on my teammates’ faces — that I realized I was letting everybody down, most importantly myself. After that, I …”

Let’s analyze. 

These examples turn the admissions reader from outsiders to insiders. 

Your Activities List was a teaser trailer, heavy on the special effects and with the greatest moments edited together to pack a wallop. Now, the college wants to know more . They’re metaphorically willing to cough up movie fare and schlep out to the theater (of course donning a covid mask) to learn the full story of what created this awesome list.

In an essay centered on one or more activities, they want to see what actions you took that led to these accomplishments. They want to see what traits within you caused you to take those actions. They want to see if you have what it takes to succeed. 

For the soccer example , we’ve tossed the game-clinching goal cliche out the window. Instead, we’re focused on rare, valuable traits — in this case Drive (aka Grit). This person gets things done. No matter what. Who would you rather have on campus? A student who’s great at soccer and has scored some extraordinary goals? Or … the person who rallied an apathetic team into adding work and improving their results? 

In the musical example, you see both Initiative (challenging the status quo) as well as Intellectual Curiosity (being excited about learning). This person doesn’t just love music, they made that love of music happen, and they got deep into it. What a cool type of person to admit to a college!

Finally, in our Debate Club example , you’re seeing some Contribution (giving back, helping others) in the form of a person wanting to do better by teammates, as well as perhaps some Drive and Intellectual Curiosity , both of which likely come into play later in the essay, as this person turns their performance around. 

Another thing you might want to do: Tell a fuller version of the impact you had and how you achieved it   

Another way we, as essay coaches , have seen students successfully discuss an activity is when the 150 characters allotted for each of your activities isn’t quite enough to tell its story. 

Let’s take this Activities List description as an example:

• Won a series of 6 deadly contests without losing my humanity. Subverted VIP expectations and made possible the redemption of a teammate gone evil. 

(Yes, this is Squid Game , and no there are no spoilers up there. I mean, you know one of them is going to win, right? It’s a very mild spoiler. Email us if you’re upset.)

Well, there might be a lot more to say here about this person’s participation in the Squid Games. About …

• Drive — How they kept at it despite long odds (game #2 springs to mind).
• Initiative — How they found new ways to defeat the odds (bringing in a welcome spirit of camaraderie in an otherwise dog-eat-dog atmosphere).
• Contribution — so many examples.
• Diversity of Experiences — if emerging victorious from the Squid Games doesn’t give you a unique outlook, I don’t know what does.

If you’ve got some great accomplishments under your belt, why not elaborate beyond 150 characters? There’s almost certainly much more to explore that admissions officers would find impressive.

Just make sure that you’re focusing on your actions and how they relate to one or more of the 5 traits. Avoid going on overly long about your deep feelings for the activity or simply recounting “facts,” such as awards or achievements (that clinching soccer goal) — the college wants to know what enduring traits are behind those fleeting achievements.

More articles on Prompt.com’s admissions-boosting methods:

• Work with a college essay coach
• Strong essays increase your chance of admission by up to 10x
• Don’t let influencers influence your college essays
• Should I apply test-optional?
• Early admissions: Everything you need to know
• College Essay Help Center

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How to Write a Strong Extracurricular Activity Essay

Written by:

Former Admissions Committee Member, Columbia University

Written: 4/23/24

Landing a seat in your dream university requires more than just showcasing your academic abilities; it's about highlighting your life beyond the books, your sources of inspiration, and the experiences that have played a crucial role in shaping your individuality. 

A great way to show off your many sides is by skillfully writing an essay about your extracurricular activities. This piece of writing offers a unique opportunity for admissions officers to peek into your world outside of academics by highlighting your passions, unwavering commitment, leadership prowess, and personal evolution. 

This comprehensive guide will delve into the intricate yet rewarding process of crafting an engaging and compelling extracurricular activity essay. It will help you figure out which activities are best for you to focus on, and it will also give you a bunch of interesting questions to get your creativity going.

We’ll also provide you with a curated list of extracurricular activity essay examples, Acting like a guide and a good example for you to follow as you write.

By being thoughtful, real, and creative, your essay about your outside-of-school activities could be the special thing that helps you get into the college you really want.

Keep reading to learn how to turn your passions and experiences into an engaging narrative that truly reflects who you are.

How to Choose Which Extracurricular to Write About

Selecting the most suitable extracurricular activity to write about for your college application essay requires careful consideration and introspection. Each choice holds the potential to shape the narrative of your essay and provide valuable insights into your character, values, and personal growth. 

To ensure a comprehensive exploration of this topic, let's discuss a few factors you should consider when choosing which extracurricular to focus on:

1. Personal Significance

When contemplating which extracurriculars to highlight in your essay, take the time to reflect on the experiences that have had the most profound impact on your life. Consider the activities that have shaped your character, influenced your values, and ignited your passions. 

It could be a community service project that opened your eyes to social injustices, a musical instrument that became your creative outlet, or a sports team that taught you the value of teamwork and perseverance. 

Choose an activity that resonates with you on a deeply personal level. This will enable you to authentically convey your emotions and the growth you have experienced.

2. Depth of Involvement

While showcasing a long list of extracurricular activities may be tempting, prioritizing quality over quantity is important. Admissions officers are interested in understanding how deeply you are engaged with an activity, as it demonstrates commitment, dedication, and the potential for impact. 

Evaluate the level of your involvement in each activity and focus on the one where you invested significant time and effort. This could involve leadership roles, taking on challenging responsibilities, or contributing to the activity's growth and success. 

By selecting an extracurricular where you had a meaningful and substantial involvement, you can provide a more detailed and insightful account of your experiences.

3. Leadership and Initiative

If you have taken on leadership roles or demonstrated initiative within a particular extracurricular activity, it can add an extra layer of depth to your essay. Admissions officers value applicants who display leadership qualities and the drive to initiate positive change. 

Reflect on instances where you assumed leadership responsibilities, whether it was captaining a team, organizing events, or spearheading projects. Share how you influenced others, made strategic decisions, and motivated team members to achieve common goals. 

Highlight any innovative ideas or initiatives you introduced and the impact they had on the activity and its participants.

4. Unique Experiences

Consider highlighting an extracurricular activity that stands out from the crowd. While popular activities like sports or clubs can still make for compelling essays, choosing a less common or unconventional activity can help your essay stand out and capture the reader's attention. 

Think about unique experiences you have had outside the mainstream activities, such as starting a niche interest group , participating in an underrepresented sport, or pursuing an uncommon hobby. These experiences can provide a fresh perspective and reveal different aspects of your personality and interests.

5. Alignment with Your Goals

When choosing an extracurricular activity to write about, consider its alignment with your future goals and aspirations. Admissions officers are interested in understanding your passions and how you plan to pursue them in college and beyond. 

Select an activity that showcases your dedication to a particular field of study, career path, or cause. Explain how your involvement in the activity has shaped your understanding of your chosen path and provided valuable insights into the skills, knowledge, and experiences required to succeed in that area.

Demonstrate how the activity has fueled your ambition and inspired you to make a meaningful impact in the future.

6. Overcoming Challenges

Admissions officers appreciate stories of resilience and personal growth. Consider discussing an extracurricular activity in which you encountered obstacles or adversity and how you overcame them. Reflect on the challenges you faced and the strategies you employed to navigate through them. 

This could involve overcoming physical limitations, balancing demanding commitments, or addressing conflicts within the activity. You can showcase your determination, adaptability, and problem-solving skills by sharing the lessons you learned from these challenges.

7. Diversity of Experiences

If you have been involved in multiple extracurricular activities, consider showcasing a variety of experiences to demonstrate your versatility and well-roundedness. Admissions officers value applicants who have explored different interests and engaged in diverse pursuits. 

Discuss how each activity has contributed to your personal growth and provided you with unique perspectives and skills. Show how your various involvements have influenced and complemented each other, highlighting the valuable transferable skills and insights you have gained from navigating different domains.

8. Impact on Others

Consider the impact your participation in an extracurricular activity has had on others. Admissions officers are interested in applicants who excel individually and contribute to the growth and well-being of their communities. Reflect on the ways your involvement has positively influenced others. 

This could involve mentoring teammates, organizing community service projects, or supporting fellow participants. Share specific examples of how your actions have made a difference, emphasizing the values of compassion, empathy, and leadership you have demonstrated.

By considering these factors when selecting which extracurricular activity to write about, you can choose the most compelling and meaningful topic for your essay. Remember, the goal is to provide a genuine and insightful portrayal of your experiences, passions, and personal growth. 

Through thoughtful introspection and effective storytelling, you can craft an engaging and impactful essay that leaves a lasting impression on admissions officers.

What Structure Do You Need to Use for Extracurricular Activity Essay?

When writing your extracurricular activity essay, consider two clear structures to effectively showcase your experiences. First up is the "Powerwall" approach, inspired by Elon Musk's presentation style for the Powerwall. Here's how it breaks down:

• Start by identifying the problem you faced in your extracurricular activity. Keep it simple and straightforward.
• Explain why overcoming this challenge was important. What were the stakes?
• Describe exactly what you did to tackle the problem. Be specific about your actions.
• Clarify your role in the situation. Why were you crucial to the success?
• Finally, share the impact you had and any lessons you learned. Show how your work mattered.

If you didn't encounter any specific challenges but still want to highlight your experiences, try the "Uncommon Connections" approach. This one focuses on making unique connections between your activities and your personal growth, interests, or values. 

It's all about showing what's meaningful to you and why. Whichever approach you choose, the goal is to communicate your initiative, leadership, and impact within your community in a straightforward way. Use concrete examples and clear language to make your essay stand out to admissions committees.

How to Brainstorm Beliefs for Essay

To nail your extracurricular activity essay, follow these steps: complete the BEABIES Exercise, identify a challenge, explain its importance, describe what you did, highlight your role, and show the results. Let’s take a closer look at each of these tips. 

1. Complete the BEABIES Exercise

Allocate some time, approximately 15-30 minutes, to complete the BEABIES Exercise. Think of it as assembling all the necessary ingredients before cooking a meal – essential for a successful outcome.

2. Identify a Challenge

Reflect on your extracurricular engagements and pinpoint a specific challenge you encountered. Whether it was navigating social dynamics or overcoming logistical hurdles, choose an issue that resonates with you.

3. Explain Why It Matters

Elaborate on the significance of the challenge you identified. Why was it crucial to address this? Provide context to underscore its importance, whether it impacted your community, organization, or personal growth.

4. Describe What You Did

Delve into the actions you took to tackle the challenge head-on. Offer detailed insights into the strategies you employed, initiatives you spearheaded, or contributions you made to address the issue effectively.

5. Talk About Your Role

Highlight your individual role in addressing the challenge. Articulate why your contributions were indispensable to the project or club's success, whether through leadership, initiative, or a unique skill set.

6. Show the Results

Lastly, showcase the outcomes of your efforts. Discuss the tangible results, positive changes within your community, or valuable lessons learned as a result of your actions. Use concrete evidence to illustrate the impact of your contributions.

By following these steps, you'll be well-prepared to craft an essay that demonstrates your leadership, problem-solving abilities, and commitment to making a difference. Keep your writing clear and concise to ensure your narrative resonates with your reader.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Extracurricular Activity Essay

In this section, we'll discuss key mistakes to avoid when writing your extracurricular activity essay. From being too vague to neglecting self-reflection, we'll cover common pitfalls and how to steer clear of them. Let's dive in.

Being Too Vague

When writing your extracurricular activity essay, it's crucial to avoid being vague or generic. Instead of simply stating that you participated in "various activities," provide specific details about each activity. 

For example, if you were involved in a community service project, describe what the project entailed, how you contributed, and what impact it had on the community or on you personally. By providing concrete examples, you paint a clearer picture of your involvement and its significance.

Quantity Over Quality

Admissions committees are more interested in the depth of your involvement in extracurricular activities rather than the sheer number of activities you participated in. 

Rather than listing a long string of activities without much detail, focus on a few key experiences and explore them in depth. Discuss the skills you developed, the challenges you faced, and the lessons you learned. This allows you to showcase your growth and accomplishments more effectively.

Missing the Point

It's essential to carefully read and address the prompt provided for your extracurricular activity essay. Make sure you understand what the prompt is asking and tailor your essay accordingly. 

Avoid going off on tangents or including information that isn't relevant to the prompt. By staying focused on the specific topic or question provided, you demonstrate your ability to follow instructions and communicate effectively.

Forgetting the "Why"

In addition to describing your extracurricular activities, it's important to explain why they were meaningful to you. What motivated you to get involved in these activities? What did you enjoy about them? How did they align with your interests, values, or goals? By sharing your personal connection to the activities, you give the admissions committee insight into your passions and priorities.

Not Reflecting on Growth

A crucial aspect of writing an effective extracurricular activity essay is reflecting on your growth and development. Don't just focus on what you did; also, discuss how your experiences shaped you as a person. 

Reflect on the challenges you faced, the lessons you learned, and how you grew as a result. This self-reflection demonstrates maturity, resilience, and self-awareness, all of which admissions committees value in applicants.

Exaggerating or Faking

Honesty is key when writing your extracurricular activity essay. Resist the temptation to embellish or exaggerate your accomplishments, and avoid fabricating experiences that didn't actually happen. 

Admissions committees are adept at spotting insincerity, and being dishonest can seriously damage your credibility and chances of admission. Instead, focus on presenting your genuine experiences and achievements in the best possible light.

Ignoring Basics

Don't overlook the importance of basic writing skills such as grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Careless errors can detract from the overall quality of your essay and create a negative impression. 

Take the time to proofread your essay carefully, or even ask someone else to review it for you. Paying attention to these details demonstrates your professionalism and attention to detail.

Being Too Formal

While it's important to maintain a professional tone in your extracurricular activity essay, don't be afraid to let your personality shine through. Write in a natural, conversational style that reflects your voice and perspective. 

Avoid using overly formal or stilted language that can make your essay sound robotic or impersonal. Instead, imagine you're having a casual conversation with the reader and write in a tone that feels authentic and engaging.

Rushing Editing

Finally, don't rush the editing process when writing your extracurricular activity essay. Take the time to revise and polish your essay until it's the best possible representation of your experiences and achievements. Look for areas where you can improve clarity, coherence, and organization, and make sure your essay flows smoothly from beginning to end. 

Don't hesitate to seek feedback from teachers, counselors, or peers, and be willing to make revisions based on their suggestions. Remember, your essay is an opportunity to make a positive impression on the admissions committee, so invest the time and effort needed to make it stand out.

By paying attention to these common mistakes and taking the necessary steps to avoid them, you can write a compelling and impactful extracurricular activity essay that effectively highlights your experiences, accomplishments, and personal growth.

Extracurricular Activities Essay Prompts

To help you kickstart your writing process, here are ten thought-provoking prompts:

• Can you share a story of an extracurricular activity that has brought about a significant change in your life? How did it alter your outlook and contribute to your personal development?
• Can you delve into your experience of holding a leadership role in an extracurricular activity? How has it shaped your leadership style and impacted your personality?
• Can you narrate how an extracurricular activity influenced your future career aspirations? Can you draw connections between your pursuit and your future goals?
• Have you ever faced a considerable challenge or failure while participating in an extracurricular activity? Can you share your journey of overcoming this challenge and the lessons it imparted?
• Is there an extracurricular activity that has played a crucial role in your personal growth? Can you discuss this journey of transformation and the factors that contributed to it?
• Can you elucidate on an extracurricular activity where you demonstrated a significant level of commitment and dedication over a long period of time? How did this consistent engagement contribute to your development and learning?
• Has there been an extracurricular activity that has allowed you to step outside of your comfort zone? Can you share your experience and how this helped you grow personally and academically?
• Is there a unique or unusual extracurricular activity that you have participated in? How has this activity contributed to showcasing your individuality and distinguishing you from others?
• Have you ever started or founded an extracurricular club, event, or initiative? Can you elaborate on the motivation behind it, the process, the challenges faced, and the impact it had on you and your community.
• Is there an extracurricular activity that has enhanced your understanding of a particular subject or field of study? Can you explain how this activity has deepened your academic interest or provided practical insights beyond the classroom?

Engaging in extracurricular activities not only enriches our lives outside the classroom but also provides us with invaluable experiences and lessons that shape our character, aspirations, and worldview. 

Whether it's leading a team, overcoming challenges, or exploring new horizons, these activities offer a unique platform to discover and showcase our true potential.

Extracurricular Activity Essay Examples

To help you grasp what an outstanding extracurricular essay looks like, let's dissect two examples and analyze why they make an impact:

1. Strings of Unity: My Dance with the Violin

“Every evening, as the sun set, the mellifluous notes of my violin would resonate through our home. I was six when I first held a violin, and it felt like an extension of my soul. Over the years, I practiced diligently, mastering complex compositions and performing at numerous recitals.

However, my most cherished moments were when I played at local nursing homes. Witnessing the joy and nostalgia my music brought to the elderly was profoundly rewarding. Inspired, I initiated "Melodies for Memories," a program where young musicians performed for seniors, bridging the generational gap through music.

The violin taught me discipline, empathy, and the power of connection. It wasn't just about playing notes; it was about touching hearts and creating moments of shared joy.”

Why This Essay Was Successful

Here are a few things that made this essay successful:

• Vivid Imagery : The essay paints a beautiful picture of the writer's relationship with the violin, making it easy for readers to visualize and connect with the narrative.
• Community Impact : By highlighting performances at nursing homes and the "Melodies for Memories" initiative, the writer showcases their commitment to community service and the positive impact of their passion.
• Personal Growth : The essay emphasizes the values and skills gained from playing the violin, such as discipline and empathy.
• Concluding Thoughts : The conclusion ties back to the central theme of connection and shared joy, leaving a lasting impression on the reader.

This essay effectively conveys the writer's deep connection to the instrument, showcasing personal growth, community impact, and the transformative power of music.

2. Beyond the Board: Life Lessons from Chess

“The chessboard was my battleground, a place where strategy, patience, and foresight converged. Introduced to chess at age eight, I was captivated by its intricacies and the mental agility it demanded. As I delved deeper, I realized chess was more than a game; it mirrored life's challenges and decisions.

I began teaching chess to underprivileged children in my community, hoping to equip them with critical thinking skills. Through "Checkmate Challenges," our monthly tournaments, I saw these children grow in confidence, strategy, and resilience.

Chess taught me that every move has consequences and foresight is crucial. It reinforced the importance of patience, strategy, and learning from mistakes. Through chess, I not only honed my cognitive skills but also discovered the joy of mentoring and making a difference.”

This essay was successful because it included:

• Engaging Start : The essay begins with a powerful statement, drawing readers into the world of chess and its significance to the writer.
• Community Involvement : The writer's initiative to teach chess to underprivileged children showcases their dedication to community upliftment and the broader impact of their passion.
• Life Lessons : The essay effectively draws parallels between chess and life, highlighting the invaluable lessons the writer has derived from the game.
• Concluding Reflection : The conclusion emphasizes the dual benefits of chess: personal growth and the joy of mentoring

Both essays effectively communicate the writers' passions and the profound impact these activities have had on their personal growth and community involvement.

To gather inspiration from more successful essay examples , check our extensive database!

FAQs: Extracurricular Activities Essay

Writing about your hobbies for an essay? Here are some common questions and answers to help you out.

1. How Do You Write an Extracurricular Essay with a Word Count of 150 Words?

Crafting an extracurricular activity essay with a 150-word limit is both a test of your brevity and your ability to make a powerful impact. To start, you need to isolate a singular, significant moment or achievement from your chosen activity. 

This should be something that is both personally meaningful and serves as a representative snapshot of your broader involvement. Then, hook your readers right from the first sentence, making them intrigued to learn more about your story. 

You might paint a vivid picture, share a quick anecdote, or open with an interesting question. Afterward, give the reader a brief context or backstory about the activity to ground your story. This is where you quickly explain what the activity is and why it matters to you. 

Next, it's time to dive into the crux of your essay—your specific role and the impact it had. Highlight the challenges faced, the initiatives you took, and the results achieved. Be careful to maintain clarity and brevity, avoiding unnecessary details that could detract from your central message. 

Finally, wrap up your essay by tying your specific experience to a broader theme, value, or life lesson, which serves to highlight the significance of your involvement beyond the activity itself.

2. How Long Should an Extracurricular Essay be?

The length of an essay can fluctuate depending on specific application instructions. However, most hover around 150-300 words. Regardless of the word limit, remember that clarity and conciseness are your guiding principles. 

Every sentence you write should serve a specific purpose, contributing meaningfully to your overarching narrative and effectively portraying a holistic picture of you as an individual. Avoid fluff or filler content; instead, focus on delivering a tightly woven narrative that showcases your passions, commitments, and personal growth.

3. Can an Extracurricular Activity Essay Focus on More Than One Activity?

While you can mention multiple activities, focusing on one that has had the most significant impact on you is generally better. This allows you to provide a deeper, more detailed account, revealing valuable insights about your character, passions, and learnings.

Writing an exceptional extracurricular activities essay is a journey that requires introspection, authenticity, and excellent storytelling. As you embark on this journey, remember the goal is to bring to light not just what you did but who you are as a person, showcasing the experiences that have enriched your life. 

So, start reflecting on your experiences, unleash your creativity, and let your story resonate with the admissions officers.

4. Why Do Colleges Require Extracurricular Essays?

Colleges require extracurricular essays because they offer a more rounded view of applicants, going beyond mere academic accomplishments. Admissions officers want to understand who you are outside the classroom.

They're interested in your passions, long-term commitments, leadership experiences, and personal growth—all aspects that may not be apparent from your grades or test scores alone. 

5. How Do I Write About Extracurricular Activities in a Personal Statement?

When it comes to incorporating extracurricular activities into your personal statement, the goal is a seamless integration that enhances your overall narrative. It's important to discuss the activity in a way that highlights not just what you did but also how it contributed to your personal growth and future ambitions.

Elaborate on your involvement, detailing the specific roles you took on, the challenges you faced, and the skills you've gained. Then, explore how these experiences tie into your personal evolution and future goals.

Final Thoughts

Writing an extracurricular activity essay is more than just recounting what you did; it's about sharing a slice of your life that speaks volumes about your character, passions, and growth. It's about crafting a narrative that not only shares your experiences but also provides a window into the person you've become as a result. 

Whether you're speaking about the time you spent backstage in theatre productions, the hours you dedicated to the robotics club, or the weekends you spent volunteering at a local shelter, remember that the best essays are authentic and come from the heart. 

Use this opportunity to let your experiences shape your story, let your passions shine through, and let your unique voice echo in the admissions officer's mind. 

Your experiences make you unique, and this uniqueness can help you stand out among the sea of applicants. So, embrace your individuality and let it guide your journey as you write.

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How to Write the Harvard Extracurricular Activities Essay

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Elias Miller in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info. 

What’s Covered:

Purpose of the prompt, example answer, showing vs. telling.

In this post, we look at Harvard University ’s supplemental essay focusing on extracurricular activities. For more information, check out this article on how to get into Harvard . 

Harvard’s second supplemental essay prompt reads, “Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences.” 

This prompt enables you to focus deeply on one of your extracurriculars to showcase your involvement. With a 150-word limit, your response will be brief, but it should say something profound about you. Choose an activity that is important to you, but avoid discussing something that you’ve already talked about in detail elsewhere in your application. Try to weave in a personal anecdote, but avoid using gimmicks or unnecessary fluff in your response.  

Let’s look at an example answer to this prompt. 

As I crashed into the final chord, I broke into a satisfied grin. I had just played the epic third movement of the “Moonlight Sonata,” a longtime dream of mine. Only four months ago, I had considered this feat impossible. The movement is long and its tempo impossibly fast. It features the most fragile and intricate melodies I had ever encountered. With the end of the school year last June, I was free to determine my own musical path: either finally learn the piece or let it defeat me for the third consecutive summer. During the following months, I spent countless hours practicing until the notes burned a permanent place in my memory, creating a soundtrack for my dreams. Despite my success, I know I haven’t mastered the piece. I am now eager to take the next step and add in layers of nuance to make my performances even more expressive. 

This response is incredibly well done. It’s well-written, not overly flowery, and free of grammatical errors, and it gets the point across. The writer leads us in with a bit of a hook, beginning their response in media res , in the heat of the action. We accompany the writer as they finish their performance of this difficult piece, then we go on a journey with the writer as they talk about their grit, determination, and perseverance to overcome struggles and learn this score. 

Another positive aspect of this response is that the writer doesn’t declare that they’re now a piano genius. Instead, the applicant’s takeaway from this experience is that they have so much more to learn. Playing all the notes of a piece is just the first step in a long journey toward musical maturity and eventual mastery.

The writer doesn’t say, “I’m very determined,” or “I’m very mature,” or “I care a lot about piano.” They don’t have to because they’ve shown these things through writing about this experience. From their journey of learning this piece, we can glean for ourselves how committed, determined, and mature the applicant is. Showing rather than telling is critical in college essay writing.

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

How to Write about Extracurriculars in Your Personal Statement and Supplemental Essays

By Kylie Kistner

Writing Coach, Former Admissions Counselor

9 minute read

Whether you’ve completed a passion project you’re proud of or won a robotics award, you might be thinking about writing about extracurriculars in your college application.

Extracurriculars are an important part of the college admissions process for a reason.

Your out-of-the-classroom participation shows admissions officers what you care about, what you’re talented at, and what you’re committed to. How you choose to spend your non-academic time in high school will help them predict what you’d be involved in on their campus.

But there’s an art to writing about extracurriculars in a college application. Too much detail or too little explanation can lose admissions officers in the mix.

In this post, we’ll share our best tips—the ones that our clients have the most success with—for writing about passion projects and extracurricular activities in your personal statement and supplementals.

Let’s get started.

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Why write about extracurriculars?

You already put your extracurricular activities in your Common App activities section, so why use up precious essay space elaborating on them?

While admissions officers can see your activities list, they don’t always realize the full context or importance of every single one of your extracurriculars.

If there’s an activity or project that’s especially important to you, it can be worthwhile to elaborate. But if you’re going to use your essay space to write about an extracurricular, you need to make it count. You might choose to write about an extracurricular or project for the following four reasons.

Reason #1: To expand on the details an extracurricular

The 150 characters allotted in your Common App activities list isn’t much. You can convey the basics, but if you want to elaborate at all, you’re going to need more space.

Writing your personal statement or a supplemental about an extracurricular lets you write more in-depth about an extracurricular that’s important to you . Expanding on what you did and why it was meaningful will help admissions officers see why your activity mattered.

Reason #2: To highlight an impressive accomplishment

Let’s say you won a national competition, had a small role on a TV show, or raised a lot of money for an organization you care about. Or maybe you developed an independent research project and published it in a prestigious publication like The Concord Review or invented something and won the Regeneron Science Talent Search .

Your admissions officer wants to know about those accomplishments.

Remember that you want to give admissions officers a compelling story to tell committee about you. Your job is to make their job easier. Impressive extracurriculars can make you more memorable to admissions officers and can set you apart from the sea of other equally-qualified applicants.

Reason #3: To demonstrate magnitude, reach, and impact

Anything you write about an extracurricular, no matter where that writing appears in your application, should work to show the magnitude, reach, and impact of the activity.

Why? Because college admissions is all about outcomes. The more you can show that you’ve positively impacted yourself and the world around you, the better.

Admissions officers want to invite students to their communities who will have an impact, both before and after they graduate. Showing that you’re already impacting those around you can make it clear that you’re ready to take advantage of all the opportunities the school has to offer.

Reason #4: To weave your extracurriculars into a broader story that says something about who you are

Especially when writing about extracurriculars in your personal statement, you can use your activity as a springboard for writing about something else that’s important to you.

You’ve probably chosen your project or activity because it’s interesting and meaningful to you.

Extracurriculars can be an organic gateway to tell admissions officers about a more vulnerable part of who you are. Choosing to write about them in your personal statement or supplementals can emphasize how important they are to you, and it can help draw admissions officers’ attention to a core part of yourself .

Should I Write About My Extracurriculars in My Personal Statement

Refresher: what is a personal statement.

Personal statements —also called college essays or Common App essays—are the main piece of writing in your college application, and they typically range from 520 to 650 words.

They are tricky to write because you’ve probably never written (or even read!) one before. (We work on these with students every year , and trust us, they’re tough!)

So what’s the purpose of a personal statement, anyway?

Personal statements are meaningful reflections on an important part of your life. Their purpose is to give admissions officers insight into who you are. They are genuine, often vulnerable pieces of writing. And most importantly, the narrative you create with your personal statement should compel admissions officers to admit you.

It’s a lot to ask of a 650-word essay.

But writing about a passion project or extracurricular can be a fantastic way to communicate your interests, showcase your talents, and advocate for your admission.

With that in mind, let’s go over three important strategies for writing your personal statement about an extracurricular.

Convey Your Strengths (But Avoid Bragging)

All outstanding personal statements communicate a core strength to the admissions committee.

Think about it: when an essay clearly conveys a strength, it’s easier for an admissions officer to understand what the applicant would bring to the campus community.

Your strengths don’t have to be explicit, but they should color the overall theme of your essay.

In our work with students, some of the most common strengths that surface include intellectual curiosity, artistry, teamwork, wisdom, and problem-solving.

The key to writing a good personal statement is finding a balance between conveying your strengths and being authentic and vulnerable. You want your strengths to be clear, but you don’t want to come across as bragging.

Instead, the point is to show a genuine strength while still appearing real and human.

Focus on Outcomes

Personal statements about extracurriculars can go awry when they get too caught up in the details of the activity.

Remember: admissions officers don’t need to know every single second of how you spent your time. You want to hit only the key points that create a seamless story so you can spend the rest of your essay reflecting on meaning and outcomes.

Whatever your project is, consider these questions: What did you learn? How did you grow? How did you help others learn or grow? What did your project do to make the world a better place?

Emphasizing the outcomes will keep your essay focused on what matters most.

Implicitly and Explicitly Answer the “Why” Questions

The “why” questions are the questions that admissions officers are bound to have when they read your personal statement.

Once you introduce them to your passion project or extracurricular, they’ll wonder a lot of things, such as: Why did you choose this activity? Why did your activity matter to you? Why did it matter to others? And—the big question— why should it make me more compelled to admit you?

This last question is key.

Simply telling your admissions officer about your passion project or extracurricular is one thing. But the question you can’t loose sight of is how your passion project or extracurricular demonstrates that you should be admitted. You want to preemptively answer these types of questions in your statement. 

That doesn’t mean that you should come right out and say, “My passion project about educational equity means that I should be admitted.” Definitely don’t do that!

But it does mean writing about your activity in a way that draws on your strengths and outcomes so your admissions officers can envision you joining their campus community. Put another way, every essay you write should give your admission officer a clear reason to admit you to their campus.

Should I Write About My Extracurriculars in My Supplemental Essays

Refresher: what are supplemental essays.

Supplemental essays are additional essays some schools require applicants to write. At around 50 to 500 words, they’re typically shorter than a personal statement.

Since supplemental essays only go to one school, they’re the perfect opportunity for you to make the case that you’re a good fit for the school and its academic community. Your goal in a supplemental essay is to show values-based and academic alignment with the school in question.

Supplemental prompts often fall within a few standardized categories that ask questions like “Why are you interested in attending X?” or “How have you contributed to your community, and how will you contribute to ours?”

One of the most popular supplemental prompt types is the extracurricular activities essay . In these prompts, schools ask you to elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities. If your extracurricular relates to academics, you might also respond to an academic interest prompt.

In short, you’re allowed to write about your passion project or extracurricular in a supplemental essay whenever you feel it’s appropriate.

Make Relevant Connections to the School

Whether you’re responding to an extracurricular activity, academic interest, community, or other prompt type, strong supplemental essays often make explicit connections to the school.

Why do they do this?

Because that’s how you show that you’re a natural fit for the campus community.

It also shows admissions officers that you’ve done your research and are invested as an applicant.

Let’s say you have a passion project about Type 1 Diabetes . Through your research, you learned about Dr. Damiano’s ground-breaking Type 1 Diabetes research at Boston University. Now you have the perfect connection to work into your BU supplemental essay .

Emphasize Meaning and Impact

We’ve already gone over the importance of focusing on the outcomes of your extracurricular, but it’s worth restating.

Emphasizing the meaning and impact of your activity is especially important in supplemental essays because they’re shorter, more purpose-driven in response to a prompt, and often more straightforward than a personal statement.

Take this example essay (“Community Essay: The DIY-ers”) in response to one of MIT’s prompts. The applicant writes about a passion project, building a telescope, but doesn’t stop there. They also go on to explain the meaning of the project (how it helped them connect with their family) and the impact (how it shaped their career goals as an aspiring environmental engineer).

So as you write, be sure to draw out the meaning and impact of your activity for your admissions officers. Don’t leave the guesswork up to them.

Think About Values

The final way to take your supplemental essays to the next level is to think in terms of values.

If you’re choosing to pursue a passion project or spend a lot your free time time on an extracurricular, then chances are it’s something you value.

Use that to your advantage by aligning with values at the institutions you’re applying to. You can do this in any supplemental essay, but your case will be much stronger when you have a passion project or extracurricular to emphasize your alignment.

Perhaps you completed a passion project looking at corporate sustainability practices —something you’re really invested in. Well, let’s also say that you’re interested in the University of Pennsylvania because of Wharton’s Business, Energy, Environment, and Sustainability concentration.

Because of your passion project, you now have the ability to make a very natural, compelling case that your values line up with Penn’s. Showing your commitment to similar values will help admissions officers imagine all the ways you’d contribute to and benefit from their community.

Key Takeaways

We spend our time on what we value most. As a high schooler, you have limited time outside of your school day. Admissions officers appreciate seeing how you’ve committed yourself to projects, activities, and causes outside of the four walls of your high school.

Writing about an extracurricular or passion project in your personal statement or supplementals can be one of the best ways to expand on an activity that is important to you and forge significant connections with the schools you’re applying to.

No matter what kind of college essay you’re writing, avoid getting too caught up in the minutiae of your activity, and be sure to emphasize the meaning and outcomes.

Above all, take stock of your application narrative, and consider how your extracurriculars make you a more compelling candidate for admission.

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Last updated June 21, 2023

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Blog > Application Strategy , Essay Advice , Supplementals > “Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities”: Tips and Tricks

“Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities”: Tips and Tricks

Admissions officer reviewed by Ben Bousquet, M.Ed Former Vanderbilt University

Written by Ben Bousquet, M.Ed Former Vanderbilt University Admissions

Key Takeaway

You’ve probably seen this prompt again and again: “Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities.” It’s a popular supplemental essay among schools like Harvard, Colorado College, and Amherst.

But it’s also one of the trickier prompts. What does it mean to “briefly elaborate” anyway?

We break it all down for you in this post.

As you may have guessed, all versions of the “Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities” prompt are extracurricular activities essay prompts.

Here are two real examples:

Harvard: Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (150 words)

• Vanderbilt: Vanderbilt offers a community where students find balance between their academic and social experiences. Please briefly elaborate on how one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences has influenced you.

Because your response will be an extracurricular activities essay, you should have two goals in mind:

1: Show the impact of your activity.

If you’ve read any of our other posts, there’s a good chance you’ve come across our philosophy about communicating extracurricular accomplishments. We use a framework that draws on factors of magnitude, reach, and impact to communicate the importance of your extracurriculars.

The higher the magnitude, reach, and impact, the more impressive the extracurricular is to an admissions officer. Focusing on these factors keeps your attention on what matters most.

2: Show the personal significance of your activity.

We also know that your extracurriculars aren’t just about how you impact other people. You participate in them because they’re personally meaningful to you.

In addition to showing the magnitude, reach, and impact of your activities, you can also use your essay to describe why they’re important to your values, beliefs, goals, strengths—anything that will vulnerably tell an admissions officer more about who you are.

Bonus goal: Show alignment with the school you’re applying to.

This final goal is a bonus goal because it’s not necessarily a requirement for a good answer. But where appropriate, sprinkling it in can help you make your case.

If you see any extracurricular alignment with the school you’re applying to, or if you can show that your values align with the school’s because of your extracurriculars, then you’re free to mention those connections. If you’re applying to a school that values community service, for example, and you’ve organized a food drive through your local library, then you can absolutely draw out the similarities between your activity and the school’s values.

With those goals in mind, let’s go over what kinds of extracurriculars you can write about in the first place.

What extracurricular activities can you write about?

When you think about extracurricular activities, the first things that come to mind might be sports, music, and school clubs. Those are all great extracurricular activities, and you can absolutely write about them in the “please briefly elaborate” style of prompts.

But anything you do outside of the classroom can count as an extracurricular activity, even home responsibilities, a job, hobbies, volunteer work, and activism. Let’s say that you watch your siblings and make dinner for your family every day after school, even though you also have a part-time job. Your magnitude, reach, and impact may not look exactly like someone who won a robotics competition, but your activity is impressive nonetheless. What matters is that the activity takes up a significant amount of your time, dedication, and energy.

As you’re selecting from all your activities, remember the goals from the previous section. Which has the greatest magnitude, reach, and impact? How do your activities align with your application narrative ?

How to “Briefly Elaborate”

Ah, to “briefly elaborate.” It’s the vaguest part of the prompt. How briefly you elaborate will, of course, depend on the word limit of the supplemental essay. The longer you have, the more you can elaborate. Seems simple enough.

But there’s an art to selecting what to focus on and what to skim over. Where should your story linger? Where should you explain the details of your extracurricular, and where should you cut back?

I can’t give blanket advice that will apply to every single extracurricular essay. There are, however, a couple of general guidelines you can follow.

• Avoid the urge to go on and on about the details of your extracurricular . It’s easy to get bogged down in a topic that you’re passionate about, but often students spend too much time explaining details that don’t matter to the overall essay. Give your admissions officers only the information they need to understand what your activity is and why it’s important.
• Spend at least a third of your essay on meaning . In this kind of essay, it can be easy to get so caught up in writing about your activity that you forget to write about its significance. Remember to draw out the most important points for your admissions officer and highlight why your activity has been significant to you and to others.
• Use numbers to quantify your impact . Just like your activities list or a job resume, the fastest and easiest way to show your impact is by using numbers. You can say, “I helped a lot of people with the food drive I organized.” But that doesn’t actually tell me much. How many people did you help? How did you help them? Something like, “Our efforts stocked the pantries of five hundred of our community members” communicates a whole lot more in the same number of words.

Final Thoughts

You’ll probably encounter this prompt during your college applications. You may even encounter it more than once.

When schools have to sort through tens of thousands of applications ****from the most highly-qualified candidates in the country, you need all the help you can get. Your response to this type of question can do crucial work for setting your application apart. Hopefully now you feel prepared to tackle it.

If you want to learn more about all kinds of supplemental essays and personal statements, consider joining the Essay Academy, our comprehensive digital college essay course.

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Essays & Short Answers

Summer/Fall 2025 Essay

Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

Please keep your essay between 500–650 words (typically two to three paragraphs).

Spring 2025 Essays

All freshman Spring 2025 applicants must submit Topic A in ApplyTexas.

Please keep your essay between 500–700 words (typically two to three paragraphs).

Spring 2025 Essay Topic

Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?

Submitting Your Essay

You can submit your essays:

• In conjunction with your application.
• Using the Document Upload System in MyStatus.

*Students do not need to submit other Common App essays. We’ll only review what is required.

Short Answers

Submit the required short answers to prompts in your admission application. Answers are limited to no more than 40 lines, or about 250–300 words per prompt, typically the length of one paragraph.

Summer/Fall 2025 Prompts

• Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major?
• Think of all the activities — both in and outside of school — that you have been involved with during high school. Which one are you most proud of and why? ( Guidance for student s: This can include an extracurricular activity, a club/organization, volunteer activity, work or a family responsibility.)

Optional Short Answer

Please share background on events or special circumstances that you feel may have impacted your high school academic performance.

Spring 2025 Prompts

• Describe how your experiences, perspectives, talents, and/or your involvement in leadership activities (at your school, job, community or within your family) will help you to make an impact both in and out of the classroom while enrolled at UT.
• The core purpose of The University of Texas at Austin is, “To Transform Lives for the Benefit of Society.” Please share how you believe your experience at UT Austin will prepare you to “Change the World” after you graduate.

Submitting Your Short Answers

You can submit your short answers with either your Common App or Apply Texas application. Short answer responses must be completed in order to submit your application.

Transfer applicants must submit one essay responding to Topic A. Applicants to the School of Architecture are required to upload Topic D in addition to Topic A. 

Essay Topics

Topic a (required).

The statement of purpose will provide an opportunity to explain any extenuating circumstances that you feel could add value to your application. You may also want to explain unique aspects of your academic background or valued experiences you may have had that relate to your academic discipline. The statement of purpose is not meant to be a listing of accomplishments in high school/college or a record of your participation in school-related activities. Rather, this is your opportunity to address the admission committee directly and to let us know more about you as an individual, in a manner that your transcripts and the other application information cannot convey.

Topic D (School of Architecture majors only)

Personal interaction with objects, images and spaces can be so powerful as to change the way one thinks about particular issues or topics. For your intended area of study, describe an experience where instruction in that area or your personal interaction with an object, image or space effected this type of change in your thinking. What did you do to act upon your new thinking and what have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area?

Submitting Your Essay(s)

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3 Writing Tips for the University of Florida Essay Prompts

College Essays

Are you applying to the University of Florida? You'll need to answer some essay prompts as part of your application.   Read this guide to learn what the University of Florida essay prompts are, what admissions officers are looking for in your response, what you should include and avoid in your answers, and what strong UF college essay examples look like.

What Are the University of Florida Essays?

The University of Florida accepts both the Common Application and the Coalition Application, and applicants must answer one of the Common Application prompts. 

As part of your application, you'll also need to answer an additional UF-specific essay prompt, and you'll have the option of answering three additional essay prompts. Your answer to each prompt can be up to 250 words. Here's the prompt:

• Please provide more details on your most meaningful commitment outside of the classroom while in high school and explain why it was meaningful. This could be related to an extracurricular activity, work, volunteering, an academic activity, family responsibility, or any other non-classroom activity

We'll go over how to best answer this supplement question in the next section.

The UF Essay Prompt, Analyzed

In this section, we explain what the prompt is asking for, why UF is interested in this information, what information you should include (and what information to avoid), and what a strong example answer could look like.

Please provide more details on your most meaningful commitment outside of the classroom while in high school and explain why it was meaningful. This could be related to an extracurricular activity, work, volunteering, an academic activity, family responsibility, or any other non-classroom activity.

What the prompt is asking for: A description of the one extracurricular you feel is most important to you.

Why UF is interested: Students who are dedicated to something show they are passionate, interested in learning, and have a strong work ethic. These are all characteristics colleges want their students to have, so having something you're committed to is a major boost to your application. Seeing what you choose also gives UF a better sense of who you are and what you value.

Potential topics to discuss: What the extracurricular, is how long you've involved with it, how much time per week/month/etc. you dedicate to it, what activities your involvement includes, why you consider it meaningful. 

Topics to avoid: Listing multiple activities or simply describing the extracurricular without explaining why it's important to you.

Example: "The extracurricular most important to me is my involvement in my high school's Model UN team . I've been involved for four years, since I was a freshman. We meet once a week during the school year to prepare for the four conferences we participate in each year. As a Model UN member, I research different political events and international relations topics, then debate the issues with other team members to build my skills in those areas. Model UN is so important to me because, not only did it solidify my choice to major in International Relations, it strengthened me personally. As a result of my participation, I've improved my debate skills, become a more confident public speaker, and have much more experience finding a compromise even between very different groups."

Tips for the UF Essay Prompt

Follow these three tips when completing the University of Florida supplement essays to make sure your answers are as strong as possible.

#1: Keep Your Answers Concise

You only have 250 words per prompt. That isn't that much! This means your responses need to be brief and to the point if you're trying to fit a lot of information in. You likely have a lot of reasons why a particular extracurricular is the most important to you.

#2: Show Your Strengths

Even though the prompt is short, it’s still an opportunity for you to impress the admissions committee. You can dive into how you've been involved in your extracurricular, as well as any leadership roles you may have had. Try to include themes you've mentioned in other parts of your application , such as your longer essay. For example, if you mentioned that your dream is to be a doctor, try to highlight experiences that reflect that, such as volunteering at a hospital.

#3: Be Honest and Passionate

Sometimes students think they need to tell a story that the admissions committee wants to hear...so they make things up. Do not lie in your college essay—admissions counselors are  great  at sniffing out fibs! 

Instead, lean into the passions and experiences that make you unique . For instance, maybe you made a quilt and entered it in the fair. That's awesome! Just make sure you're explaining why it's meaningful for you! Maybe your grandmother taught you how to quilt and you worked on it together, which taught you the importance passing knowledge down from one generation to the next. 

Summary: UF College Essay Examples

There is one main University of Florida essay, and it'll be the Coalition or Common Application (depending on which application you use) prompt of your choice. But there are also additional UF essay prompts to answer. These shorter prompts are a way for the UF admissions committee to learn more about you and have the most accurate look at your application.

Here is where you can discuss extracurricular activities, anything that prevented you from participating in extracurriculars, certain programs you took part in, and anything else you think is important for the people reviewing your application to know. As you answer these UF essay prompts, remember to keep your responses short, don't feel pressured to answer every prompt, and highlight your strengths.

What's Next?

Considering the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship? Our guide to Bright Futures Scholarship programs answers all the questions you're wondering about.

Want to bring up your GPA? Read about four ways to bring up your high school grades fast .

Interested in community service ideas? Check out our guide to 129 great community service projects .

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Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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Writing About Extracurriculars in Your College Essays

Are you a high school student gearing up to apply for college? Are you unsure how to effectively showcase your extracurricular activities in your college essays? Join us for an informative webinar designed to help you master the art of writing about your extracurriculars in your college applications!

Former admissions officer Stacey Tuttle will delve into the importance of highlighting your extracurricular involvements and the significant role they play in your college admissions process. She will provide you with valuable insights and practical tips to ensure that your essays truly shine.

Key Learnings to Expect:

• Understanding the role of extracurricular activities in college applications: Discover why extracurriculars matter beyond academics and how they can help you stand out among other applicants.
• Identifying your unique story: Learn how to identify and articulate your most meaningful extracurricular experiences, demonstrating your passions, leadership skills, and personal growth.
• Crafting compelling narratives: Explore effective storytelling techniques to engage admissions officers and make your essays memorable.
• Showcasing impact and personal development: Gain insights into showcasing the impact you’ve made through your extracurricular involvements and how they have influenced your personal growth and character development.
• Avoiding common pitfalls: Understand common mistakes to avoid when writing about your extracurriculars, such as vague descriptions, generic statements, and lack of focus. We’ll provide you with strategies to ensure your essays are authentic and impactful.
• Tailoring your essays to different colleges: Learn how to tailor your extracurricular stories to match the values and interests of specific colleges, making your application stand out in the highly competitive admissions landscape.
• Leveraging supplemental essays: Discover how to effectively utilize supplemental essays to delve deeper into your extracurricular experiences and provide additional context to your application.

Don’t miss this opportunity to gain invaluable insights into writing about extracurricular activities in your college essays! Join us for an engaging webinar that will equip you with the tools and knowledge to present your extracurricular involvements in the best possible light. Register now and embark on your path to college success!

Webinar Transcription

2023-07-18 – Writing About Extracurriculars in Your College Essays

Anesha: Hi, everyone, and welcome to tonight’s webinar. My name is Anesha Grant. I am a senior advisor at CollegeAdvisor, and I will be your moderator today. Today’s webinar is, “Writing About Extracurriculars in Your College Essays.” Before we get started, I just want to orient everyone with the webinar timing. So we will start off with the presentation, and then we will answer your questions in a live Q&A.

On the sidebar, you can go ahead and download our slides. questions in the Q&A tab. Now let’s meet our presenter for today, Stacey. Hey, Stacey, how are you?

Stacey: Hey, uh, thanks for the introduction, Anesha. Um, I’m really excited to be here tonight. A little bit about myself. My name is Stacey Tuttle. Um, I went to Yale University for my undergraduate degree where I focused on psychology with a concentration in neuroscience.

I then got my master’s of public health at Southern Connecticut State University, a local university near me, um, where I focused in health education and promotion. I worked in life science consulting for a time. And before I moved back to academia, where surprise I went back and worked at the School of Medicine at Yale, um, and then later to the School of Public Health at Yale, um, where I got all of my admissions experience.

Hence why I’m with you today. I’m a former admissions officer, um, at the Yale School of Public Health. I’m still at the Yale School of Public Health today as the Director of Student Affairs, um, and I, um, Love, you know, college advising. I was a first generation college student. I’m really passionate about talking about these, talking through these topics and providing resources to students who might not otherwise have them.

So I’m really excited to be here.

Anesha: Excited to have you. Um, and I always, I always forget you went to Yale and I’m like, why don’t we have more of a rivalry? We just ignore it, but I think, I

Stacey: think this is fine.

Anesha: We’re

Stacey: like really good friends. We got a Harvard, Yale match over here.

Anesha: Yeah. Um, I forgive you. No. Um, okay.

So we’re going to do our first poll. So for folks in the audience, let us know what grade level you are in or the grade level that you will be starting in the fall. So we want to know, so to give context on how Stacey can help you where you are in the process and where you are thinking about your extracurriculars.

Do you have? An extracurricular that stood out for you that you wrote about in your application, Stacey, all those,

Stacey: yeah, thanks for asking this question. It was the topic, the main focus of my personal statement when I applied to college, um, with theater, I was heavily involved. I actually didn’t know I was interested in theater when I was in high school.

Um, until my sophomore year, um, where I then got really heavily involved and it really changed my life. Um, and that’s why it was the focus of my essay. Which I will talk a little bit more about in a bit.

Anesha: We are kindred spirits. My essay was also about theater, but not, but I was like tech theater. So I was like stage manager, light design.

So we, we, we should put together a show one day. Okay. We’ll go ahead and close our poll. The majority of folks who are with us today are seniors. So about 67 percent of those in the room with us are seniors, followed by about 22 percent are in the 11th grade. We have one freshman. Welcome. We’re excited that you’re thinking about this question so early.

And then, uh, About 10 percent of our folks are, um, in the 10th grade. So the majority of folks are in the writing mode, getting ready for supplementals, um, or so it seems. So I will stop talking. I’ll hand it over to you. I’ll be back a little bit later.

Stacey: Thank you. All right. So let’s get started. Um, number one question to begin, where in the application can I talk about extracurricular experience?

And so obviously the, the title of this webinar alludes to the fact that you can certainly talk about these in essays, but, uh, the very first spot you’ll actually be talking about your activities is the activities list in the common application. Um, and so this is a specific area where you can list all of your relevant activities.

There’s a limited number of spots. spots to do this so that you do have a limit of 10 in the common application spots where you can describe your relevant activities. This might put some students into a whirlwind of panic because they may have a lot more than 10 activities, or they may even be working toward a lot of activities thinking that will help them in the college application process.

The truth is, it’s quality over quantity in reality. So you want to have. experiences that are meaningful to you and not just, you know, 20 experiences that are sort of meaningful, but you haven’t really engaged in them fully. Um, and so I think having a limit of 10 is actually a really good thing. It allows you to really focus in on those activities that are important to you during your high school career, um, without that pressure of needing to list more.

Um, and I always recommend. You know, focusing on those things that are most interest to you and of true passion for you, um, rather than if you will, extracurricular collecting, um, which can cause a lot of stress for students. So that’s the 1st area where you will list your extracurriculars. Uh, there is a 150.

character limit, um, in those activity sections, so you don’t have a lot of space to write about them, hence why you might decide to spread out where you talk about your activities, um, throughout your Common App. Another section that you might talk about your activities is actually in the Honors and Achievements section, so if you have a limited number of space to talk about your activities in the Activities List section, then you You won’t want necessarily to talk about an honor or an award that you got related to that activity.

You can actually separate that into the honors and the achievement section. So you can really spend the meat of your activities description talking about the activity itself and then talk about the awards and honors. If you got an award or honor related to an activity in that honors and achievements section, then, of course, what we’re going to talk about today, the personal statement and supplemental essays are also areas that you can talk about your extracurriculars, and we’re going to talk a little bit more about why you might do that specifically in those areas.

And then finally, letters of recommendation. Students don’t often think about this, but you can certainly, um, ask for letters of recommendation from Faculty or teachers or instructors that advised you, um, in an activity or extracurricular, perhaps your research, perhaps they, perhaps they advise you in a club or help you get a hub started.

Um, and those can be really powerful ways to elaborate further on your extracurriculars outside of, say, the classroom. the essays. What different extracurriculars can students describe in their activities list? So this is actually the complete list of activity categories, if you will, that you would see on the common app.

There’s a number of different categories that you can choose from that, um, you’ll select one when you’re describing your activity. So you choose the category, you describe it, and then there, there’s an area to elaborate, um, in 150, um, characters. So some of these will be intuitive. You might Be involved in debate or speech, dance, bands, music.

Um, you might have religious activities that you’re engaged with. You might be involved with robotics or math club. You might be involved in student government or athletics. Some categories I want to highlight for you today that you might not consider. Um, When you are entering your activities are family responsibilities.

So this is a way for you to talk about any activity that you’re involved with with your family life that involves a significant amount of time, a significant amount of commitment from you, for example, taking care of younger siblings or elderly family members like grandparents. Some students have, do need to spend the majority of their time doing, um, those things and having those responsibilities and you can certainly list those, um, if they do, uh, compose a significant amount of time during your week.

Another, uh, category that you might not consider, When you were completing the activity section is paid work. I worked heavily in high school and so work was an important part of my activities list. I certainly included that and you should too. Um, students often, um, exclude that from their list, uh, not realizing that it absolutely can be included.

And then finally, other club activity. This is really an all encompassing category where if you do something in your spare time that takes up a lot of time and commitment for you in high school, that really doesn’t fall into any of the other categories. You would select this option and describe that further.

So for example, I have an advisee right now who spends a significant amount of their time running a jewelry business and making jewelry. That doesn’t really fall into any of the other categories here very nicely. Thank you. And so that other club activity option might be selected. And many of you might have what we call passion projects, projects that you do out of your passion for the subject matter, the area of interest, and they really don’t fall nicely into any of these categories because it is a project that you have been inspired to pursue.

So that might be something you need to consider. Okay, so why does it make sense to write about your extracurriculars, particularly as it relates to those essays? Um, so first and foremost, the, the major reason why you would be talking about your extracurriculars in your essays, um, is to further emphasize, excuse me, your most genuine, your true authentic passions and interests.

So, You might have activities on your list that are not justified in terms of the time, the commitment, what they mean to you, uh, in that brief activity section, and really not captured well anywhere else on the application. But for you, it’s really important to convey to that admissions committee what that activity meant to you, um, and how that shaped you as a person.

And so that would be a major reason. to discuss that in your essay. Another reason that I actually don’t have listed here, um, is if there is a supplement that asks you very directly to talk about an extracurricular. And so those would be reasons to talk about your extracurriculars in your essays. Um, there is a word limit, right?

But keep it in terms of the activity section and the essays, um, and the supplements. The supplements are even shorter than the essays themselves. And so, um, while you might want to convey your extracurricular activities in an essay format in some kind of narrative format, you won’t be able to do that for all of your extracurriculars that might be meaningful to you.

So you really wanna hone in on the one or two that are the most meaningful to meaningful to you, or the ones that really answer the question being asked, right? You always wanna go back to that essay prompt. And make sure you’re actually answering that question. Um, because if you’re, you know, going on and on and on about this extracurricular, that’s great.

If you’re not answering the question, you’re not actually writing a strong essay or a strong response. And keep in mind, again, you won’t be able to elaborate on all of your extracurriculars, so if there are more than a few that you really want to talk about in more detail, keep in mind that you can leverage those letters of recommendation I talked about.

Um, see if somebody can really talk about, say, your leadership, and Or qualities on that you were that were brought forth because of your participation in a particular extracurricular like teamwork or, um, You know, communication skills or, um, management skills. Those are all things that a supervisor of that club or activity who is writing that letter for you can really touch on.

How can students write meaningful essays about their activities? So first and foremost, do not simply reiterate what is already shown in that activity section. The admissions office already has that information. You gave it to them. You wrote it. Uh, they have it right in front of them. They don’t need that information again, and that’s not a good use of the 650 word limit that you have in your common app essay or even shorter supplements.

Uh, so make sure you’re using that space wisely and elaborating on your activities further and giving more information And then what the officers already have. So, if you’re choosing to include an extracurricular or two in your essay, ask yourself these questions. I talked about this earlier. Does this actually help me answer the essay prompt at hand?

Again, go back to the essay prompts when you’re done writing that initial draft and ask yourself, Did I actually answer the question? Are all parts of this essay relevant to and important to me answering that essay prompt? Um, so does this contribute to secondly contribute to or help progress the narrative at hand or Is the information i’m providing more filler or excess information that doesn’t really add much it doesn’t add value Then it might not be useful and does that admissions committee member get more about you?

Run the information you’re providing and is that more information you’re providing important to your identity and your story and your narrative? Excuse me one second. If your essay focuses on an activity be sure to tell that story So don’t just reiterate the activity and what it was and what you did have a beginning a middle and an end So a common mistake is writing about the activity how you got involved and what the activity involves You And a story about kind of how you interacted with the activity or people with the activity or event that happened to you.

But then there’s no ending. So an ending should answer the question, so what? Meaning, so what? What does this mean for you in terms of your future, your career goals, your educational goals, your personal growth as a human being? It’s great that you had this experience with this wonderful activity that you’re involved in, but I want to know what that means for you as a person.

And so without that self reflection point, that essay is really not complete. And so always end your essay answering the question, so what, what is that next conclusion or step for you as a person beyond what you’ve told me about the activity? All right, Anesha, back over to you.

Anesha: Thank you. I’ve been trying to answer some questions.

in the chat. So I might ask you one as we get moved forward with this next poll question. So the question is, where are you in the application process? So I’m assuming some folks are getting application materials together, working on essays or starting to work on essays. Um, so let us know how far into the process you are.

And the question that I’ll pose to you, um, that someone asked because you mentioned passion projects. I said, No, but it gave a little bit of detail, but I asked a lot of does the does does your passion project have to be related to your major?

Stacey: It does not. Um, and I’d love your input on this to your passion project is very much that it’s a passion project.

So you can pick a topic. That’s of interest to you, of passion to you, um, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be related to your major choice. Almost any activity you pursue can have relevant skills that you can then relate back to the major that you’re choosing. Um, leadership skills, um, team building skills, like I said, person, personable and communication skills.

These things can come through a passion project without the passion project directly relating to major. Also, keep in mind that universities are looking for well rounded individuals, how you’re going to contribute to campus, not just your academics. And so they’re going to be looking for ways that you might be involved on campus and that might be directly relevant to your passion project.

Anesha, what are your thoughts?

Anesha: Yeah, no, I said that passion projects can be a lot of different things. I was like, they could be art, they can be poetry, they can be community service events, they can be, um, Um, whatever you kind of want them to be. So long as you demonstrate and you could talk about why you’re passionate about that thing and, um, that you’ve put in a lot of time and thought into creating it.

So, um, it’s great if it is, but I have, I was giving some examples. I’ve had students who did murals. I have a student who’s doing a children’s book, um, you know, because she was inspired by a younger sibling. She does not want to go. She wants to go into law. So, um, I think, um, it can really be whatever you want it to be.

And also, I think, to push back on, like, don’t feel the pressure to do it if there’s a project that doesn’t come to mind for you. That’s the other piece, too. It’s like, it’s something that has to, yeah, it’s something that you want to be meaningful for you and not just, I think colleges can sometimes tell if you’re just kind of doing it to fill the space.

So, um. All right, we’ll, we’ll have more time for questions, but I’ll stop rambling, um, and go ahead and close our poll. Um, and just so you know, so about 31 percent of folks, or sorry, 13 percent of folks have not started, 35 percent are still in the researching phase, uh, 32 percent are working on essays, and so I’m assuming the folks, those folks are who this is mostly for, and about 19% Are getting their materials together.

2 percent are almost done. Congrats to those 2 percent of people who are we’re nearing the end so early on Um, but yeah, okay. I’ll stop talking and we’ll hand it back over to you and be back for our Q& A a little bit

Stacey: Thank you. Okay on to the rest of the presentation here. Um, did I skip a slide? No. Okay, great Um, what are some tips to describe your extracurriculars in the best light possible?

So talked about different areas where you can talk about your activities. Um, for the activities section, use action verbs and it’s very similar to a resume. You want to be as concise and clear and specific as possible because again, you have a word limit, um, for the activities description. Um, and actually, it’s really a character limit.

So you don’t have a lot of space, uh, to talk about each of the activities. So you want to be very purposeful in the words that you’re choosing. Nothing can be fluff. You need it to be relevant and consider again, what can be included elsewhere in the application to cut down on word counts. So you can certainly include honors and awards in the honors and achievement section as opposed to in the activity section.

For essays, you’re going to want to paint a picture. And again, this goes back to what I was talking about earlier. You want to be descriptive. You want to give more than that information that was provided in the activity section alone. And during that picture painting process, we talked about the beginning, the middle, and the end.

So that, that painting, the picture, is really towards the beginning and the middle of your story. The end is that self reflection. And I say it’s an end, but it could really happen throughout your essay, um, where you self reflect on what that moment, that event, that activity meant to you. And there’s two potential areas of impact that I always talk about when you self reflect.

The impact that you had on the activity, and the impact the activity had on you. So it could go in both directions, and you can talk about both, one or both. Or. You know, um, if it’s in one direction, that’s fine. If it’s in another direction, that’s fine. Um, if it’s in both, that’s fine, but you should be talking about impact.

You should be reflecting on impact. Um, how was that impact relevant? And what did that mean to you? Don’t forget the, so what? Right. So what does this mean to you? What, what is that next step for you, given everything you’ve learned? And finally, when activities are talked about in the letters of recommendation, make sure that they’re mentioning, um, perhaps leadership that wasn’t necessarily highlighted or needs to be further emphasized from what you already included in the activities list.

Your letters of recommendation can also highlight leadership that couldn’t We included in the activities list. So maybe leadership, um, academically, for example. And qualities that you brought to the activities that you’ve engaged in that aren’t self evident in your descriptions. You might not want to, um, include details about yourself.

Like I would, I was a really great communicator, um, in this team activity. But your letter’s recommendation can certainly say that about you. So definitely have those conversations with your letter’s recommendation writers. And make sure they have, you know, those key anecdotes about you ready and prepared so they can customize your letters appropriately and make them very strong.

I can’t tell you actually how many times I’m reading an application, and it’s a good application, but then I get to letters of recommendation, and a letter, a good letter of recommendation can really push a student toward the admissions goal, um, as opposed to not. So it’s very important to have those letter of recommendation conversations.

What are some things to avoid? Again, do not just reiterate what is on your resume or already in the activity section. You want to think really critically about whether talking about the extracurricular in an essay adds value to your application. Ask that of yourself. When you read that essay back or that supplement back, did you add value to your application in providing that information?

If not, um, maybe that wasn’t the best choice of topic for your essay at hand. I hate to say it like that, but you might go through multiple drafts, multiple topics that you want to touch on, um, when you’re addressing the common app and personal statement specifically. Uh, and, you know, reflect, reflect, reflect is my main advice here.

Spend less time talking about the activity and talk more about you. Again, if you’re not self reflecting, or if you’re having a hard time self reflecting, so you’ve described it, but you’re not really able to make those connections about impact and what this meant for you, maybe that’s not a good topic for your essay.

Maybe that’s not the topic that’s gonna make you the most introspective. Maybe you need to choose a different topic as a result, and it doesn’t have to be an activity. Um, and so, When I say spend more time talking about you and less about the activity, really think about the number of words you have available to you, and think one third about the activity itself, two thirds really about you.

That’s the goal. You really want to talk more about you than you’re talking about the activity, and I find that really giving a student a limit on how much they can talk about the activity helps them avoid talking about the activity too much. Of course, you want to have enough, um, detail to cover everything that’s relevant, but it’s good to kind of use that as a compass.

Um, and note that sports is one of the most overused essay topics. I’m really sorry, um, to say that. I know a lot of students really love their sports and they’ve had really great experiences. It does not mean you can’t talk about this. It just means it’s a very common essay topic and you really need to work hard to make that stand out for you Okay, so you want to be very specific you want to dive into the anecdotes?

You want to bring the admissions officer into your shoes very vividly, um, and really bring your, uh, your takeaways from your sports experience to a personal growth level, you know, um, take it to that next level, take it to the next step, really relate to that. To other things outside of sports, um, in order to kind of step out of that commonality.

My experience in reviewing extracurricular essays, again, I talked about this in the beginning. My own essay was about an extracurricular and, you know, really beautiful experiences can come from. Those very meaningful activities in your life. That said, a lot of admissions officers actually advise against, um, writing about extracurriculars because it’s very easy for students to fall prey to those common mistakes where they just talk about the activity.

And they never talk about themselves. Essays that are not successful are ones that describe the activity and don’t say much about the individual. And essays that are successful describe how the activity impacted them and or how they impacted the activity in a meaningful way. And they go beyond the activity.

They go beyond the surface level description. And show that introspection. All right, last advice, um, for students today. Similar, it’s similar advice, um, I think that I’d like you to take away for any essay writing. Be specific. All of your words should have a purpose, right? Ask yourself, every sentence, ask yourself, does this bring value to the essay?

Be concise. You don’t have a lot of words to write in, so you want to make sure you’re being as clear and concise as possible. Be your authentic, true self. You know, you’re going to put a lot of pressure on yourself when you’re writing these essays. Uh, everybody does. It feels like a very major step and in some ways it is.

If you are being true to yourself, if you are listening to that voice inside you, um, telling you what’s meaningful for you, what’s important for you as a person, then finding the right essay topic As it relates to your identity won’t be as hard. The hard part is the writing and so give yourself a lot of grace and be open to that writing process.

So a couple of notes here, spend time brainstorming ideas in response to those essay prompts with the help of a counselor, a mentor, a friend, whatever that looks like. They can give you feedback on the initial ideas because if you’re thinking about this in a silo, it’s You’re not getting that active feedback loop, um, and therefore might make decisions around your topics in your writing that might not be perceived the same way that you think you’re perceiving them.

Um, and so it’s important to get that outside perspective. Also ask others to review your essay drafts, not just your ideas, your drafts, but not too much help. I do think students often get into this whirlwind, of asking for too many editors, too many readers, and then it kind of waters down the essay to some degree and it causes unnecessary, uh, stress on the part of the student incorporating all that feedback.

So I recommend two to three readers max. Advice specific to writing about your extracurriculars, um, goes back to all, you know, all of my prior slides. Tell a story, tell a narrative, okay? Um, don’t just describe the activity. Put me in your shoes. Tell me about an event that happened. Tell me about a specific person you interacted with.

Tell me about a specific day that really made a difference for you. Self reflect, you know, bring it back to you. Reflect on what that meant for you as a person, how it helped you grow, what it meant for you in terms of how you’re going to approach the world, your education and your career goals. And overall, um, challenge yourself to question the added value you’re bringing to the application by talking about an extracurricular in your essay versus another topic.

All right, over to you, Anesha.

Anesha: Okay, so that is the end of the presentation portion of tonight’s webinar. We are going to switch over to the Q& A. Remember that you can download the slides under the Q and a tab. And if you do have any, I’m sorry, you can download the slides under the handouts tab. And as your questions come in through the Q and a tab, I will read them aloud and then pay some of the public chat so that others can see them and give Stacey an answer to respond.

Any challenges submitting questions. Double check that you logged in through the webinar custom link in your email and not from the webinar landing page. If you are having challenges, you might have to log out log back in. We’ll still be here to answer your questions when you get back. Okay, the first question that I have for you, Stacey, is.

How important are, and you spoke to this a little bit, but how important are extramural leaders in the overall holistic admissions process? process.

Stacey: That’s a great question and I love that you use the word holistic because that is directly related to how I would answer this question. The admissions process is holistic by nature.

So to give you some insight into how I would typically read an application, I start with the academics first. So I’ll look at the transcript and the test scores if they are submitted to get a sense of where the student is academically. I often look at the major choice and then look at relevant course work, do that major choice to see how the student performed.

Also to the relevant text sections. After I review the academics, I go on to the extracurriculars. Um, and that’s where I’ll get a sense of kind of the student interests and their passions and how they’re spending their food time. So it is an important component, but it’s only one component. Component.

Then I move on, um, to the essays where. Even a deeper dive into the student’s personality. I get to hear their voice, right? I know it’s not me actually hearing it, but I get to hear their voice by reading the narrative they provided, the narratives they provide in those essays. And then finally I review the letters recommendation, which either, you know, add, reinforce, Um, or sometimes they don’t add much at all to the application So it really depends on how those letters of recommendation are written Um, but that’s typically how we read applications and we you know I I shouldn’t say we but you know, most admissions officers would review it in a similar way where they’re reviewing all Um, um admissions teams do get a plethora of uh, Applications and so often the academic review is the first Um, component for a reason because they might, you know, um, cut off at the academic thresholds that are expected of the students of the incoming class.

That’s usually not the case. It’s not always the case. Um, and most of the time it’s holistic. Extracurriculars are important. It’s just one part. Alicia, do you agree? Is that your experience too?

Anesha: I mean, you’re coming from the AO experience. And so, yes, I feel like extracurriculars matter in there and they do take pieces into account.

I know that at least for me and my own application process, I feel like they were definitely a selling point for me because it showed my well roundedness and so I can’t, I can’t, I won’t speak to the holistic review process, but I know my students who have been able to thoughtfully convey the diversity of their extracurricular activities have been it.

Fairly like more, I will say, I wouldn’t say more successful, slightly more successful than my other students. Um, but that actually pivots into the next question that I had, but because someone raised for reasons, my kid doesn’t have a lot of activities. What are the alternatives?

Stacey: This is a great question.

So the, I do challenge you to consider what an activity is. How, how is your student, child, whoever that may be, whatever relationship you have, how are they spending their time? Okay. So if they’re not doing activities, what are they doing in their spare time for whatever reason? Um, and then, Whatever that particular thing is or things are that they are doing in their spare time If you can’t list that in the extracurricular section the activity section under that other category I would use heavily use your essays and your letters of recommendation to elaborate on The reasons why.

So I can imagine there might be a personal medical reason, um, involved. That might be something that you want to touch on, um, in some way, shape, or form. And one of the written components where you can elaborate, there’s also a section in the common app where you can explain personal circumstances. Um, there’s also an ability to upload supplemental.

Um, Documents if you need them, but I would definitely spend the The or use the main parts of the application to emphasize what is actually happening in that person’s spare time Um, you’re of course going to want to make sure that those components are strong You’re going to want to make sure that essay is really strong really well written Reviewed thoroughly that your letters of recommendation can really speak strongly to the person at hand Um, and that your academics are as strong as they can be You

Anesha: So there were a few questions following up on the passion project, and so someone asked what’s the best way to write about a passion project or a research project on the Common App?

Stacey: That’s a great question. So I think I probably have to approach this from a couple of perspectives. Um, the first would be, uh, in the activity section itself. So if you have a passion project, you’re going to want to, um, that’s important to you, you’re going to want to list it there. If you’re able to do that.

Um, there’s that other category that I would encourage you to use, especially if that passion project is taking a lot of your time. If you don’t feel like you want to include that in the activity section, um, then you’re going to end up touching on it elsewhere in the application. And again, I mentioned that there’s kind of two areas where you can do that.

One is in the essays, um, either the main essay or in the supplements. Keep in mind that not every school is going to have supplements. Okay, so it’s really important to you. I encourage you to focus on that in the common app personal statement, the main essay. Otherwise, if it’s a component of your identity that you can touch on in most of those supplements, that’s another way to do it.

And then finally, you can ask a supervisor, somebody who has worked with you closely on that passion project. Often students will, um, get help on their passion, passion project and advisement from a mentor, you can have that person write a letter of reference. And that’s a really great way to tie that in.

Anesha: Uh, this is an entry question, just kind of generally about extracurricular activities. Does an activity have to be something where you produce something or can it consist of reading and watching movies?

Stacey: That is a great question. Um, so you do not need an actual product from an extracurricular. And this was actually a question I got earlier today.

Um, the difference between an experience and an activity. So an activity, um, I would say is one of those, uh, pieces that is more action oriented. There’s less coming out of an activity per se. And I know this is confusing because it’s called an activity section in the Common App, where you might actually be listing a collection of activities and experiences.

The activity, I think, is a little bit more passive. So you’re doing the activity, um, But there’s not a lot going on beyond actually engaging in the activity. So some people might feel this way about playing a musical instrument, whereas other people might view playing a musical instrument as an experience, meaning that they are actually gathering something for themselves, learning something about themselves, growing as an individual as a result of engaging in that activity.

And so it’s kind of framed as more of an experience. Um, if you will. So I’m not sure if that helps answer the question. And Anesha, what are your thoughts?

Anesha: Um, yeah, I think you still have to talk about what you do. So I think you still have to think about what the action words are. And then I think to your point around the introspection, if it is reading, what are you learning from it?

from the books that you’re reading. How are you engaging with it? Is it expanding your thinking? If it’s films, that’s also fine. But I think you just have to then convey what are you taking away from those activities? I think you might have to focus a bit more on the introspection aspect of talking about these activities.

If it is a little bit more passive, it might be considered the experience versus like producing something. So,

Stacey: Sorry, Anesha, I interrupted. No,

Anesha: go ahead, go ahead.

Stacey: With something like watching movies, I think anytime you engage in media and you’re listing that as an activity, i. e., social media, TV, music, movies, the challenge for you really is to articulate why that’s different for you than every other person who engages in that media every day.

So are you engaging with movies that are of a particular genre and then kind of, um, you know, engaging in thoughtful processes around, um, the movies that you’re watching? Are you talking through them with a group? Um, are you researching more? About a particular genre. Are you hoping to study film studies one day?

And that’s why it’s relevant. Maybe that’s not where you should be listening it in the activity section then. Maybe you should really be talking about that in a, in the personal statement. Because while you might be watching the movies, if you, there’s not something you can really describe about it that is particular to you, um, then it might not, there might not be much to talk about in the activity section.

But there might be a lot to talk about in your essays. Thank you. So I think it involves some strategy discussion as well, hopefully with a counselor at hand.

Anesha: I think you sparked some things when you talked about letters of recommendation, because we’ve had a few comments there. So some folks said, for letters of recommendation, how do you ask them to write about specific activities?

Do you recommend that for letters of recommendation? Do you Do you recommend we do supplemental essays or, I guess, specific essays and asking for letters? So, Ken, I guess, I, I guess if you could speak to it, I feel like it was a suggestion and not a requirement, um, for what you just shared, but if you could add, I guess, a little bit more clarity to the interplay between activities and letters of recommendation.

Stacey: Absolutely. Okay. So on the common app, you’re typically asked for three letters. Um, or I guess references to should be your choice. Um, and typically those are high school instructors. The third is your guidance counselor. Okay. So the other two are very flexible. Um, but again, typically high school instructors.

And so I think the most successful Cool. Letters are from instructors that really work closely with you as a student in the course in question and or engage with you in some capacity outside of the classroom. A, E, I, E Extracurricular work and so a lot of students will ask For a letter of recommendation from an instructor who might have taught them.

I don’t know AP lit for example And then also help them start the English club That person can really talk not just about your work in the class, but also about how you started the club and how you engaged in the club and how you led the club and those qualities that you’ve exhibited both inside and outside the classroom.

Um, you can also ask somebody who is very simply a supervisor of a club or extracurricular that you’re engaged in. Um, I see a lot of pre med students asking, uh, a science instructor who might be helping them with research outside of the classroom. I see students who are asking, um, individuals who were, was, were perhaps an instructor for them, um, but then mentored them through their passion project as well on the side.

So somebody who can really speak to you beyond, um, again, what is presented are in your application as an admissions officer. If I look at your transcript, I know you got an A in that course, right? Okay. What is your letter telling me that isn’t, you got an A in a course, you know, what, how did you get the A in the course, what, what qualities did you exhibit in the classroom, um, that made you deserve that A and beyond.

Um, and then somebody who can really talk to your qualities, add something further to the application that is beyond what is already available to me. Um, And you should, did I address all components of the question or were there kind of additional specific?

Anesha: No, it was, I think it just was in reaction to what you had shared earlier regarding letters of recommendation.

I think you spoke to it. Um, I’m going to do a quick PSA before we move forward in the rest of our questions. So you all have a ton of questions that I’m trying to go through today. But for those of you who are. For those of you in the room who aren’t already working with us, we know that the process can be overwhelming and we do have a team of over 400 former admissions officers and admissions experts like Stacey and myself who are ready to help you and your family navigate the process through one on one advising sessions so you can take the next step in your journey and sign up for a free 45 to 60 minute strategy session with an admission specialist on the CollegeAdvisor.com team by using the QR code that is on the screen. During that conversation, we’ll review your extracurricular lists, your application strategy, discuss how everything aligns, and then outline some tools that you will need in order to stand out in the competitive admissions world. So we’ll keep that QR code up on the screen, excuse me, as we move forward with our questions.

Um, the next question I wanted to ask you, which was related to a topic we talked a couple minutes ago, but, um, this person said, my son is interested in game design. and computer science and plays a lot of video games, but I’m guessing that’s not a great activity to highlight. I kind of disagree, but um, I wanted to hear your take on it.

And you know, if you, if you don’t have one, I can share mine really quickly, but I thought, yeah, what do you think about this parent’s predicament?

Stacey: I, I actually love this question. And Anesha, I really would, I think your insight would be really helpful here. Um, but from my perspective, Um, if your student, your child, your student relationship, whatever that may be, um, is extremely interested in computer science, programming, and video games, um, there is, there are definitely ways to highlight on the application those specific interests.

Um, I think it just depends. I would have to know the student a little bit better to know how I’d want to frame that, um, and how I would advise that strategically. I feel like that Is a perfect topic for a personal statement, um, or supplemental essay, um, if that’s something they’re passionate about, and they can really relate how that, um, what that means for them in terms of their interest in their educational goals.

Anesha, what was your insight there? I’d love to hear it.

Anesha: Yeah. I mean, I think yes, like if that’s if your kid spends a lot of time playing video games, then yes, they should absolutely bring that up that it is an interesting topic to talk about. Again, it’s pushing for the introspection. Have they learned teamwork?

Have they learned communication skills? Have they learned design work? Are they drawing more? Are they creative? Like there’s a lot of different things. I think we often brush aside video games or things like that to say, Oh, they’re kind of childish, but I think kids are learning a lot from them or, or, you know, intrinsically or things that are.

as a parent to parents. And so it’s just kind of pushing, uh, pushing them to talk about it. I’ve had students who are into video games, then went into character design that made them learn a lot more about like, uh, I’m not sure even of all the programs, but a little bit into computer science, creating their own characters, going into animation.

There are a lot of different directions. So I think stepping back and talking to your kid about what they get out of the video games. And I think as an advisor, we would do the same of like, okay, this is a hobby. Why do you do it? What do you enjoy about it? What, you know, and then how can we think about an essay that could come from it?

So I, I don’t think it’s kind of a lost cause just because maybe you don’t value it as much or you don’t see the fun in it in the same way that, that your child might. So I think it just might be a deeper conversation about why they enjoy it and, and then thinking about how they can talk about it reflectively.

Um, that was my, that’s my gut response, but, um, Yeah. Okay. Moving on to our next question. Um, so this is more of a writing question, but this person has asked it a couple of times. So aside from extracurriculars, is it possible to write about personal life, personal growth as an essay topic? Um, maybe someone overcame a challenge or a struggle.

Stacey: Yeah, absolutely. Um, and so really the focus of this webinar was about how to approach the topic of an extracurricular in the essay format. Right. Um, so how are you doing that successfully? Many students choose to not focus on an extracurricular in their essays, and that is totally fine. The same advisement from an essay writing perspective still applies, right?

So you want to make sure you’re self reflecting on, you know, what that experience was, you know, what that meaning was for you, how you personally growed, as you alluded to, or grew, excuse me, And, um, what does that mean for you moving forward? You know, don’t, I think the common pitfall is students will write about that challenge that they’ve experienced and then not elaborate further, right?

They’ll say, this happened to me, this is what I learned, but the so what’s missing, right? So, okay, you learn this thing, what’s next? What does that mean for you? What are you going to do about it? Um, how are you going to approach the world differently? How are you going to approach your own goals differently?

Make sure you’re always asking about the so what.

Anesha: Yeah. Yeah. I think that really speaks to the, the introspection. They just want to see that you’re growing, you’re thinking, um, but yeah. Uh, okay. Oh, this is, this is a quick question. Could the events that take place as part of a school program be listed separately as an extracurricular activity?

Stacey: So the events that take place as part of a school program.

Anesha: This person said specifically international baccalaureate. I guess there’s something specific to the classes that they’re doing or maybe projects they’re doing.

Stacey: Okay, I see. Yes. So, Um, I think, so I want to approach this, uh, from the perspective of the different parts of the application.

So if you had a significant activity in relation to a course that you took, um, and that activity involved you spending more time outside of the classroom. So in that sense, outside of your curriculum, it is an extracurricular. It should be included in the activities list. If that’s something that is important to you and you spend a significant amount of time on it.

If it really was part of the course itself, I wouldn’t include it in the activities section. I would, and it was important to you, I would elaborate on that in the essay and or ask for a letter of recommendation from that instructor who helped you through that academic pursuit or project. So those are two ways you can approach it that don’t involve listing it in the activity section.

Remember, your activity section is limited to 10 spots. Um, so if you feel like that. you know, that activity would be valuable and taking up at one spot. Great. Um, if you’re struggling, which with, with which tend to include, then maybe talk about that in an essay or in your letters of reference.

Anesha: Excuse me. The next question is if I’m starting a club that will begin in the fall, can I still, and I think this person is a senior. Can I still write about it in the activity section, even though it’s so recent and what if I don’t know the numbers in order to quantify the impact yet?

Stacey: Uh, what if I don’t know this by the thing I was qualified in?

Okay, I see. So yes, you absolutely can include in the activity section, but you will be expected to quantify it in some way. So you can’t list, you know, the way it’s phrased in the activity section is hours per week. And you know, that is certainly something that you can average or project, um, based on your experience starting into the school year.

A lot of applications will require you to submit, um, until mid fall at the earliest of October, November. At that point, you will already be into that activity for at least a month, and that’ll give you a baseline for how to estimate those numbers. You absolutely can include it. Just keep in mind that when you start an activity in senior year, um, it doesn’t show a long You know, long term commitment and show, you know, long term sustainability.

I wouldn’t start a, an activity for the sake of starting an activity. It should be something of interest to you, something meaningful to you that actually adds something to your own personal growth and your application.

Anesha: Uh, this is an international student question. So the student said, I will apply, uh, to college as an international student, but I’m living in the U.S. I’ve received a few honors and awards in my country. Would I be able to include those in my application?

Stacey: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, um, you know, there’s not a limit, uh, based on your time zone or country or location as to which honors and awards would be relevant as an international student. You should all the same advice applies.

You should focus on those things that are important to you that drive your passions that drive who you are, and those things should be included.

Anesha: Sorry, excuse me. Um, this is a quick question not related to writing, but how should we order our extracurriculars by importance, by time commitment, by how long we’ve been doing it?

Stacey: You should order by importance, and I believe this is actually even explicitly the instructions on the Common App. So number one should be, and really importance should equate to the activity that is the one you spend the most time on, typically, because that’s usually the one that is the most important to you.

So it kind of organically coincides with activities that you spend the most time on, are also the ones that are the most important to you. But I think if you’re going to, you know, get into semantics about it, it would definitely be an order of importance.

Anesha: Uh, this person said, my daughter is in an outside of school.

competitive dance class four days a week for hours a day, which doesn’t leave a lot of time for school activities. Um, how would that be viewed by admissions officer? And how can we best represent that activity in the activity section?

Stacey: That’s a great question. So this involves, I think I would actually encourage you.

I encourage all of you to take advantage of this. Um, Consultation opportunity with CollegeAdvisor. I think strategy discussions are really important to these very specific cases Um, if you have somebody engaged in dance, you might decide to in the activity section kind of break out what those Engagements are as they relate to dance So you might just, you might not just say dance as a category, right?

And then elaborate just on that. Um, and dance as, you know, one overall thing, you might have different types of dance. You might have different commitments in dance. You might have teaching, tutoring. Um, you might have competitions that you might less regular competition. So there’s different strategies you can approach to kind of breaking dance out as a major, uh, category.

commitment in that activities list. And then feel free to also talk about that in the personal statement. There’s no shame in that and reiterating that. Um, if again, the question is always, if you talk about dance in that personal statement, does it add value to the application? Does it tell, help you reiterate what’s important to your identity?

Does it help the admissions officer understand your goals and who you are? Um, and so if that’s true, you know, go on ahead and, and, and. you know, write about dance. Um, and I would imagine that your daughter would want to write about dance because it does sound really important to her and really challenge her to ask those questions, to be introspective, to be self reflecting throughout, um, because that will make for a strong essay.

Anesha: Yeah. There’s a similar question about someone who did an activity that was, um, This person’s talking about like chess. And I think to your point of like just talking through the different things they might have done through chess, uh, assuming that they just didn’t spend their time playing games, they were learning, competing, maybe teaching other people to your point, tutoring others, or, or doing that.

So try to figure out how you can expand that. the different ways that they were taking advantage of that opportunity, the competitions, the travel, and talking about the time commitment as well for, for the student in putting in that work of like practicing multiple times in addition to going to traveling to shows or traveling to competitions and things like that.

Sorry. I just wanted to add that cause someone also brought in a non dance related. So I think it applies regardless of the activity outside of school.

Stacey: I totally agree.

Anesha: Um, someone said, How can I connect my values to my extracurriculars in my supplemental essays? I feel like that’s a heavy question. But, um, any thoughts on that one?

Stacey: Yeah, I mean, again, I think this involves a little bit deeper of a discussion to Anesha’s point. Um, you so you want to, I think it’s going to happen somewhat organically when you’re writing. And you’re self reflecting, right? So you have an activity and it’s impacted you or you’ve impacted it in a specific way.

Um, What does that mean for your values? You know, how do your values um, align with the activity in question? How do how does the activity further inform which values are important to you? You can certainly answer those questions when talking about an extracurricular. Be sure to answer the prompt, right?

So when you’re talking about your values, when you’re talking about extracurriculars, that’s fabulous, wonderful. Go back to the prompt and make sure you’re still answering the prompt. And that would be my one word of caution.

Anesha: Um, this question is, will telling a sad story to show an extracurricular activity’s significance come across as unauthentic, inauthentic, or as a cookie cutter?

So I think people are, uh, trepidatious about writing sad stories. They’re trying to pull on heartstrings in, in essays. So,

Stacey: so the question, I just want to make sure I understand. Sorry,

Anesha: yeah. Will, will telling a sad story show, um, will telling a sad story as you talk about an extracurricular come across as inauthentic or cookie cutter?

Stacey: Got it. Okay. And I think this is also I understand the trepidation because I think this is also why sports essays are so common is often students who play sports experience, um, an injury, a life altering injury, or really substantially tragic, maybe potentially event in their life as it relates to that sport.

And you can certainly talk about a sad story. My, uh, because it might be important to you and your personal growth. My word of caution there is to avoid being overly negative in your description of that event, right? So you want to make sure you’re describing it as it occurred and you want to move in the positive direction.

You want to talk about, okay, this thing happened. It was terrible. Um, and there’s nothing taking away from that, right? What does that mean for you now? How does that make you want to move differently through life? How does that make you want to move forward? And as long as you’re moving in a positive direction from that story, then I think, you know, that’s going to be a successful essay.

And again, you want to ask yourself, is that story giving the admissions officer information that would make them want me to be part of their community. And it’s not that they wouldn’t want somebody who experienced this tragic event to be part of their community. They want to make sure they have somebody who will take tragedy, um, and demonstrate that they can turn it into something positive, right?

That demonstrate that they’ve turned it into something positive, demonstrate that they can overcome obstacles. Right. Um, and so you definitely wanna make sure you’re doing that self-reflection and not just talking about the story itself. Um, Anesha, do you agree with that approach?

Anesha: Yeah, I mean, I think it, it comes down to what you’re sharing, sharing about introspective introspection.

Like, I feel like we keep repeating that, but it is really important and I think to your, I, I like what you added about. It can start sad, but talk about the positive, what you learned from it, how you came through it, how you’ve grown from it. If it’s just a sad story without kind of resolution or growth or some kind of change, I think it won’t read as inauthentic, but it just won’t be as helpful to help for them to learn something about you and how you deal with challenges and sad stories.

So, um. Yeah, uh, this is, I think, a quick question but an interesting one. Someone said, for the description, um, should the tone remain formal or can you play around with other styles? I’m assuming this is in the specific, the activities list section.

Stacey: Oh goodness, I’d love to talk to this person a little bit more about what they mean by the, the playing around with the style.

style. Um, I think what’s most important again is that you’re clear and you’re concise. You don’t have a lot of wiggle room there where you really should be focusing on your voice. As an individual is in those essays and in those supplements, um, because you do have opportunity to be creative there and to really come through, um, clearly with how you would talk, how you would describe things.

Um, whereas you don’t have a lot of room in the activity section. Um, I, again, I would need to talk to you a little bit more about what you mean by playing around with style. It might not be a poor choice, um, by any means, but my advisement always is. to use action verbs, make sure every word counts, um, because you just don’t have a lot of room to play around.

Anesha: Um, we kind of already spoke to international students, but, um, the student is insisting on us answering this question. So if I just moved to the U. S. and completed high school outside of the U.S., But my country focuses more on academics and extracurriculars. Um, how do I show that on my application and how else can I make my applications stand out?

Stacey: Yeah. Again, I think this would involve more of a strategy discussion. Um, I think there are a lot of occasions where students don’t believe they have activities in their spare time that they should be talking about on their application when in fact that is not the case. I alluded to this a little bit, um, when we were talking about the case of where somebody doesn’t engage in a lot of activities perceptively.

And my challenge there was, okay, what are you doing in your spare time? How can we spend that to, um, complete your application in a meaningful way? Um, and for you, if you’re spending most of your time participating in academic, um, pursuits, then we want to think about what parts of those academic pursuits can be considered interesting to you.

areas of interest or activities that you can highlight on the application. And so again, a strategy session is probably needed. More discussion is probably needed. Each individual will be very different in how they have to approach things given their, their circumstances.

Anesha: Yeah. I just want to just do a quick PSA for some of the questions I’m seeing in the chat.

You do not have to write about your extracurriculars in your supplemental essays or in your personal statement. So today’s session is just if you choose to write about them, how can you do so effectively? But if there are other topics that are of interest to you, feel free to write about those things.

Feel free to write about any other prompt. Um, so someone asks, would it be better in the personal statement or better in the supplementals? It depends on the question you’re answering and how you’d like to answer the question, but don’t feel like you have, they will see your resume. They will see your activities list.

So you don’t have to do extra work to talk about extracurriculars. If they’re not asking that question explicitly. Um, one question. Sorry. No,

Stacey: no, no. Thank you. Thank you for that.

Anesha: What might be the last question is, is it bad? Is it a bad idea to include a religious extracurricular when applying to a non religious college?

Stacey: Absolutely not. Um, the, the question you should be asking yourself is, is this activity important to who I am and, um, my goals as an individual, um, and do I spend a lot of time participating in the activity? If all of those questions are answered, yes, include it. Um, and. You would be doing yourself a disservice by not including it.

Um, every campus wants to create a diverse community of people who are going to contribute in a variety of different ways, and that includes people of all backgrounds, um, and religions. So, definitely do not shy away from embracing religion as a part of your identity. In fact, there are schools that have whole majors, um, focusing on religious studies or a particular, a particular religion.

There are divinity schools that you may be applying to later in life. Thank you. Um, if that’s important to your identity, embrace it.

Anesha: All right, we will have to leave it there. Write about what is true for you and write about it in the way that you is best conveys how you’ve grown, what you’ve learned, um, and what you can contribute and bring to a college community.

I will say I will leave it at that. Um, and thanks so much, Stacey, for your thoughtfulness of your commentary tonight. Um, also, uh, we hope that you will join us for our future sessions. Uh, we Tomorrow on July 19th, we will have a session focusing on building a resume. So if you are thinking about how to really describe all of your activities on a resume, separate from the activities list, join us for that session tomorrow.

Also, on July 24th, we’ll be talking about Fine Tuning Your College List. So really thinking about how you find that alignment, how you built a comprehensive list. And we’ll end the month with advice from an admissions officer. I’m making a strong emphasis Overall, a college application on July 27th. So we do hope you’ll join us next time.

But until then, take care and have a great evening.

Stacey: Thanks, everyone.

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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 2024-25 Supplemental Essay Prompt Guide

Early Decision: Nov 1

Early Action: Dec 1

Regular Decision Deadline: Jan 15

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 2024-25 Application Essay Explanations

The Requirements: 1 essay of 250 words and 1 essay of 300 words

Supplemental Essay Type: Why , Activity

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is not going to make you jump through hoops to submit an application, in fact, RPI asks applicants to apply to two of the most common supplemental essay types out there. Let’s dive in!

Why are you interested in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute? (250 words)

This prompt is so run-of-the-mill, but that doesn’t mean response should be. In order to impress admissions, you need to not only demonstrate a solid knowledge of what the school has to offer, but also leverage that knowledge to show that you’ve done your homework and thought your decision to apply through. Try to connect your past intellectual pursuits or extracurricular interests to those available to you at RPI. Which departments, majors, and other opportunities excite you? What do you want to learn? Bone up on the professors and notable alumni in your field—is there any research that you’d like to be a part of? Whatever you choose to focus on, make sure your choices reveal something important about who you are, what you value, and who you will become at RPI.

Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (300 words)

Okay, now for the second most common type of supplemental essay prompt: the activity essay. We recommend writing about an activity that you have not already addressed in depth in your application. If you wrote your Common App essay about your time scrambling eggs at the local diner, focus on a different activity or work experience that reveals a new aspect of your personality. This can be a great opportunity to highlight your leadership skills and any accolades you may have received. Were you elected student body president after a strenuous campaign? Were you asked to take the lead on social media marketing for your neighborhood grocer? No matter what you choose to write about, it should probably be something you’ve either been involved in for a while or put a lot of time and heart into.

About Amanda Amah

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Essay on Extracurricular Activities

Students are often asked to write an essay on Extracurricular Activities in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Extracurricular Activities

What are extracurricular activities.

Extracurricular activities are things you do outside of your regular school work. They can be clubs, sports, art, music, or volunteering. These activities help you learn new skills, make friends, and discover what you like to do.

Benefits of Joining

Joining these activities can make you happier at school. They teach you how to work with others and give you a break from studying. They also help you do better in school and can lead to better jobs in the future.

Types of Activities

There are many types of activities to choose from. You can play soccer, join a science club, or learn to play an instrument. It’s important to pick something you enjoy.

Getting Involved

To get involved, ask your teachers or friends about different activities. Try out a few and stick with the one you like best. It’s a fun way to learn and grow outside the classroom.

250 Words Essay on Extracurricular Activities

Extracurricular activities are things you do outside of regular school classes. They can be sports, clubs, debate, drama, school publications, student council, and other social events. These activities help students learn new skills, make friends, and find what they love to do.

The Importance of Extracurricular Activities

Joining these activities is important for several reasons. First, they help you grow as a person. You learn how to work with others, solve problems, and manage your time. They also make school more fun because you get to do things you enjoy. Colleges and jobs often look for people who have been involved in extracurricular activities because it shows you’re a well-rounded person.

Types of Extracurricular Activities

There are many kinds of activities to choose from. Sports like soccer, basketball, and swimming teach teamwork and discipline. Clubs like chess, science, or art encourage you to explore your interests. Activities like drama or music can help you be creative and confident.

Balance is Key

It’s important to balance schoolwork with these activities. Too much of anything can be bad, so make sure you have time for both. It’s okay to pick one or two activities that you really enjoy and focus on them.

Extracurricular activities are a great part of school life. They help you learn new things, meet new people, and have a good time. Remember to balance them with your studies, and you’ll have a great experience.

500 Words Essay on Extracurricular Activities

The benefits of joining in.

When you join an extracurricular activity, you get to enjoy a lot of good things. First, you can make new friends who like the same things you do. This can make school more fun because you have buddies to share your interests with. Also, you learn how to work with other people as a team, which is a skill you will use your whole life.

These activities also help you become better at managing your time. You have to figure out how to fit your homework, your activity, and your rest time into each day. This makes you more organized and responsible.

Discovering New Passions

Staying healthy and active.

Sports and other active clubs are great for keeping your body healthy. Running around and playing games is not just fun, it also makes your body stronger. It is important to move and not just sit all day, and sports are a great way to do that. Plus, being active can also make you feel happier and more ready to learn when you are in class.

Getting Ready for the Future

Believe it or not, extracurricular activities can even help you in the future when you are looking for a job. They teach you how to be a leader, how to solve problems, and how to talk to other people. These are all things that bosses like to see when they are hiring someone. Also, if you want to go to college, they like to see that you have done activities outside of class too.

Choosing the Right Activities

Remember, the most important part is to have fun and try your best. You do not have to be the best at something to enjoy it. Just by being there and giving it a go, you are already doing something great. So go out there, join a club or a team, and start having fun!

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

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How To Craft An Ivy League Worthy Activities List

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Brown University

Do Ivy League schools really care about your extracurricular activities? The answer is emphatically yes .

Ivy League colleges seek to admit students who are specialists in their fields of interest and will put their passions to positive use in their future communities. While grades, test scores, and a rigorous course load convey your academic interests and skill set to top colleges, your activities list goes a long way in communicating what you truly value and what kind of community member you will be on your future college campus. For this reason, the Common App activities list is one of the most critical components of your college application—a thoughtfully crafted activities list paints a picture of your commitment to your passions, your leadership abilities, and your history of enacting positive change in your environment.

With the school year quickly approaching, students should use the remaining weeks of summer to start crafting their activities lists , taking advantage of their free time before the demands of the school year ramp up. By using this time to strategize and thoughtfully map out your activities list, you can put your best foot forward to Ivy League admissions officers and distinguish yourself in a sea of talented applicants. Here are three key strategies to ensure that your activities list showcases your talents and stands out to top schools:

1. Use your Activities List to Demonstrate Your Hook

Every element of a student’s application, from their essays to their transcript and letters of recommendation, should coalesce around their “hook”—and the activities list is no different. A hook is a unique passion, skill, or area of interest that a student hones over the course of their high school career; it is the special X factor that sets them apart from the pack. While your essays tell admissions officers about your passions in your unique voice, your activities list provides an overview of how you have spent your time over the past four years, each activity acting as a piece of a puzzle that tells your broader story. As such, it is critical that students use their activities list to clearly convey their core passion and show how they have engaged with it in tangible ways.

For example, if your hook is in biomolecular sciences and cancer research, you should be able to demonstrate that interest through activities like working as a professor’s research assistant at a medical school or research institute, taking related classes at a college or university, or writing about cancer research-related topics in your school newspaper. Alternatively, if your hook is in environmental advocacy, your list should include activities such as leading a local environmental club, organizing community clean-up events, or conducting research on sustainable practices. This coherence not only makes your application more compelling, but also works in support of your long-term goals and informs the unique perspective you bring as a candidate.

2. Be Specific About Your Contributions

Admissions officers not only want to see what activities students have been involved in, but also how they actively contributed as group members and leaders. The language you use in your activities list can significantly influence how your involvement is understood. Therefore, when describing each activity, be specific about your role and the impact you made. Instead of simply stating that you were a member of the debate team, highlight your achievements, such as winning regional championships or mentoring five junior members. Use quantifiable data to underscore your impact wherever possible. For instance, “Organized a charity run that raised $5,000 for local shelters" is more impressive and informative than “Organized a charity run.” This level of detail will allow the admissions committee to understand the breadth and depth of your involvement, which can go a long way in distinguishing you from other applicants who participated in similar activities.

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Additionally, active language conveys enthusiasm, initiative, and leadership. Verbs such as “spearheaded,” “executed,” “developed,” “launched,” “advocated,” and “strategized” paint a vivid picture of your initiative and drive. Likewise, avoid passive phrases like “was responsible for” or “helped with,” as they can minimize the significance of your contributions. Using dynamic and active verbs also enhances the readability of your activities list, making it more engaging and memorable for admissions officers.

3. List Your Activities in a Strategic Order

Many students assume that they should list their activities in order of the amount of time they have devoted to each activity, from most to least. However, students should note that the Common App indicates: “Please list your activities in the order of their importance to you.” This means that even if you are a varsity athlete who trains 20+ hours a week, if you plan to apply as a STEM major, you might prioritize listing your research endeavors and internships higher up on your list than your athletic achievements. For instance, you could list your groundbreaking summer research project first, followed by an internship at a tech company, placing your training sessions further down the list. This strategy ensures that your activities list reflects your personal priorities and aligns with your intended major and career goals.

Approaching the activities list with strategy, thoughtful reflection, and a clear sense of one’s central passion will allow students to put their best foot forward to admissions officers at Ivy League and other top schools. Using the remainder of the summer to get ahead on the activities list will give students the time they need to ensure that this component of their application is polished and catches admissions officers’ eyes.

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My Top Tips for Applying to Michigan Ross

As we kick-off the 2024-25 application cycle, I am sharing a handful of my top tips to keep in mind when you are applying. 

Tip 1: Read the instructions

Every year when I write a blog about my top tips for the application cycle, I start with this tip: Slow down and read ALL of the instructions. Seems simple, right? But with all that you need to keep track of with applications and school-related responsibilities, it is easy to miss something important. This is especially true this year because for the first time, Michigan Ross is a First-Year Admitting Unit at the University of Michigan. Read the blog I published in June to learn more about this change. 

We have a variety of resources on our How to Apply: First Year Applicants page Also, if you happen to forget where to submit your portfolio, we have a Ross Admissions Portfolio website with the SlideRoom link available. 

Tip 2: Take ownership of your application process 

The more organized and in control of your college application process, the less stress you may feel. Taking ownership means understanding and tracking all deadlines you need to meet for the colleges you are applying to (including financial aid). This also means organizing what materials you need to submit in addition to what is requested within the actual application. You will need to submit transcripts, and letters of recommendation, among other items, and it is your responsibility  to ensure that these materials are delivered on time.

Another tip I often give to students is to write a thank you note to your recommenders about a month before each application deadline (which also means you gave them more than a month to write your letter). This is both a form of gratitude, and a good way to politely remind your teachers and counselors if they have not already submitted your letters. 

Tip 3: Make the call, not your parents 

Speaking of ownership, it is important that you make the call or initiate the email when you have a question related to your application. It can be brave to navigate a complex application or university system, but it is also a very important experience for you to gain before you arrive on a college campus. Building that independence begins now. The more confident you are now in talking with the staff and faculty at colleges and universities, the more successful you will be later. Remember the common phrase, “no such thing as a stupid question”. That is entirely true! We are here to answer every question you may have and it excites us even more when we talk to a student who is considering our program. 

Tip 4: Show an authentic voice through reflective writing

Your voice is the most important part of the application process. College essay writing is reflective writing - not academic writing, and usually not creative writing. What do I mean by reflective? We want students to reflect on their interests, goals, what they will contribute to this new academic community, and what they want to gain from it.

Let’s take that typical “why [this college] essay.” When you answer that question, it is not about what the school will give you in terms of job placement rates or fancy facilities. It is about what you want to get out of your college experience. Reflect on the moment you knew you wanted to study business and tell us why. Was it a class within your high school? An extracurricular activity that exposed you to a new concept or idea? Try to be present with your thinking and stay away from essays that center others as your reason, such as the “dinner time conversations with my parents on their business/job” or “my cousin who attended business school.” Remember, you are the one completing this degree, not anyone else, so you need to show that you have thought through your why.

And, write all of this without platitudes on how great Michigan or Ross is. We certainly love Michigan and Ross, too! But the essay is about you, your goals, and a reflection of what you want to study and why.

Tip 5: The Business Case Discussion is not a research-based prompt

In the BBA program, we solve a lot of problems and case study analysis is at the core of our broad-based management degree. Therefore, the portfolio has a performance assessment known as the Business Case Discussion that allows us to view and analyze your problem-solving ability. I recently wrote a blog post on it and recommend that you check it out. But to quickly summarize a few things here, the Business Case Discussion is not a research-based prompt. You will give no citations or reference works of others. That is because the topic you will choose is local and not global. We are instead looking to see how you identify the business implications and what steps you take to think through or get to a solution. It should all be original thinking on your part. 

Tip 6: Submit by the Early Action deadline

I will end with the last tip I always give: Please apply by the Nov. 1 Early Action deadline. We build the majority of our class with Early Action applicants. Also, applying Early Action means you get your admission decision by late January and financial aid and scholarship processes can commence sooner. Early Action is non-binding (we do not have any application deadline restrictions or Early Decision deadlines. We receive, review, and make decisions periodically for the BBA program, and the later you apply, the higher likelihood that we are filling up and will have less space for admission offers later in the process. 

I hope these application tips were helpful. Remember that our website is a wonderful resource for more information on applying, and we have many ways to connect with us . I look forward to reading your applications this winter.   

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