Finalizing your Extracurriculars as a High School Junior

Webinar Transcription

2024-05-29 – Finalizing your Extracurriculars as a High School Junior

Lonnie: Hello, everyone. My name is Lonnie Webb, and I am your moderator for this webinar with CollegeAdvisor. So our webinar today is called, “Finalizing Your Extracurriculars as a High School Junior.” What a relevant topic as we get ready to enter summer. And Getting ready to start applications. So to orient everyone with the webinar timing, we’re first going to begin with a presentation and then we’ll have the opportunity to answer your questions in a live Q& A.

You also can download the slides by clicking on handout and they will be available for you to go ahead and download. Also, if you’re having any webinar, please feel free to send me a private message and I will do my best to support you. And lastly, You can already go ahead and start submitting your questions in our Q& A tab, and we will get to them when we get to the live Q& A.

So with that, let’s now meet our panelists. Anna.

Anna: Hi, everyone. My name is Anna. I’m really happy to be with you tonight, this afternoon, this morning, whatever time it is. From wherever you’re joining us in the world. So happy you’re here. Excited to talk about extracurriculars with you. Um, a bit about my background.

I studied psychology at Carnegie Mellon. Thought I was going to end up a clinical psychologist, but after working for a couple of years, my interest shifted. So I ended up at Harvard Law School where I graduated a couple of years ago. In addition to my work with CollegeAdvisor, um, I work as a non profit defense attorney for young folks who’ve been in foster care, which I know is a mouthful, uh, but that’s the most succinct way I’ve found to describe it.

I’m thrilled to be here and thrilled to get into our topic.

Lonnie: Okay, Anna, for sharing more about your background. You all are in store for some great information. Um, but before we get into our webinar, we actually would love to get a sense of What grade you are in that allows us the opportunity to speak directly to you and, you know, be able to just get a sense of who is in our audience.

So please let us know. And just speaking of just like extracurricular activities, Anna, what was, you know, one of your favorite activities you did in high school, if you can think back.

Anna: Yes. Oh, my favorite has to be musical theater. Um, I, I was, NRC kid, but the stage brought me to life. It was a huge fan.

Lonnie: Nice. Nice. Um, I think for me, when I was in high school, my favorite activity was being part of the associate student body. Um, I really loved my role as a fundraising coordinator. And so I really enjoyed, you know, helping our high school raise money for all of our school activities. And it really helped me build my leadership skills.

Um, and I did that for about two years when I was in high school.

Anna: Okay.

Lonnie: Thank you. Um, so with that, Anna, um, for our live webinar, we have 50 percent of our audience is in 10th grade and 50 percent is in 11th grade. So again, we know that this webinar is geared toward 11th grade students, but it is information that’s going to be applicable to anyone, you know, that is gearing towards the college application process, whether you are in middle school or just entering high school as a ninth grade student.

All right, so with that, Anna, if you can jump us into sharing, you know, what is the college admission timeline for high school juniors?

Anna: Absolutely. Um, so thrilled that we have sophomores and juniors here. Good for you all for being on top of this. Uh, we recommend at the beginning of your junior year, so fall, September, um, sign up for the PSAT.

If your school is like my high school and does not offer that, talk to your guidance counselor, your high school counselor, see if you can find a test at another local school. There’s a lot of value in doing the, the PSAT, um, gives you a sense of what the test is like, which I think is one of the most important things to prepare for, um, and, and will serve you well.

So sign up for that if you’re going to take the ACT register for that. And then start finalizing your college list. At the beginning of your junior year, you do not at all need to be committed to what schools you’re applying to, but you should be thinking about exploring options and putting a list together, um, just so you have like some target that you’re working towards, um, and it will inform what SAT, ACT grades you should be aiming for.

So then comes October, you take the PSAT, register for the November SAT if you feel ready based on the PSAT. Um, if you don’t, that’s okay. You can keep practicing. You can sign up to take it in December. Um, also be looking out for college fairs. Some high schools host those. So don’t, um, attend them when you can, go on campus visits, be getting as much information about the colleges that you think might make it to your final list as possible.

So then comes November, take the SAT or the ACT if you’re ready, um, we do leave a little break here in December to somewhat enjoy the winter break. Then, in the new year, Make sure you sign up. I would do it right in January. Create a Common App account. If you’re not familiar, the Common App is a website that allows you to submit your college application to multiple schools at once.

Most colleges want you to submit through the Common App. There are some exceptions, but the Common App is your best friend, because what it does is it saves you from having to enter the same information, right? Name, address, grades, et cetera, et cetera, on 12 different schools websites. Instead, you put them in once on the common app and all the information goes to all the schools you’re applying to.

So around January of your junior year, just make a common app account. I start adding the schools you’re interested in and look at the essay topics. So you’ve probably heard of the personal statement. That’s the essay you’re going to write. It’s going to go to all of the colleges you apply to. But many colleges have additional essays, which we call supplemental essays.

Those essays are going to go just to each school. So say Harvard had supplemental essays, the supplementals you write for Harvard are going to only to Harvard. But you want to know well in advance how many essays you’re gonna have to write, what the topics are about. Um, so this is a great reason to sign up for the Common App in January and then just take note of the essay topics that are popping up for the schools you’re interested in.

Then, um, By February, if you haven’t taken the A. C. T. or S. A. T. recommend that you do that. Um, I, I should say, um, because probably a lot of you have heard that many colleges went test optional during Cove it, meaning you did not have to submit an S. A. T. or an A. C. A. C. T. grade to apply. Many colleges are still test optional.

Many are switching back to requiring the test. Either way, if the schools you’re applying to are test optional or not, I absolutely recommend taking the PSAT and then taking the actual SAT or ACT and just seeing what you get. Because if you end up applying without submitting, An SAT or ACT grade, that means all the other parts of your application are going to need to carry more weight.

So, at least take them, see what you get, um, you can study for them, you can, you know, somewhat improve your performance. Um, it’s worth submitting them if you can get them to a range you’re happy with. I do know that there is a cost associated with taking them, but I believe both offer fee waivers, um, for demonstrated need.

So look into that if that’s, um, Uh, relevant for you. Uh, that’s my tangent about testing. This brings us to spring of your junior year. Juniors. Fantastic time to start going on actual campus visits. Um, so campuses host All sorts of ways for you to do this. They’ll have open houses. They’ll have, um, days specific to majors.

You know, there’s the general campus tour where you can walk into the admissions office usually, and, and sign up for one. Um, colleges do, it varies by school, but. I have heard that some do pay attention to your engagement with them pre application, because it gives them a sense of how serious you are. So if you’re very serious about a school, especially, consider if you’re able to visit.

If you’re not able to get there in person, a lot of schools, especially since COVID, have virtual open houses that might be a good option for you. And then! So spring of your junior year, work with your family to create a list of extracurricular activities, which is what we came here to talk about, but I wanted to put it in context because there’s a lot of things that go into your applications.

Extracurriculars is a big part of them. Um, there’s a lot to think about. So by spring of your junior year, um, you should have a solid sense of what extracurriculars you’re going to be including in your application. Then end of the school year comes around. If you have any AP exams, you’ll take those. This is also by the end of your junior year.

I recommend my students ask, uh, teachers for letters of recommendation. So again, that’s a reason to look at the common app ahead of time to see what schools you’re applying to, how many letters of recommendation they want. It’s usually two. Um, depending on your high school, I have heard of some teachers.

Just having a limit of how many letters they will write. Our teachers are very busy. Uh, they do not get paid extra for writing these letters. So it is, it’s, it’s a big deal to ask them. It’s a big deal that they’re committing to you to write it. So if you ask them end of your junior year, And they do happen to have a limited capacity for writing these letters that just gives you a bump above other students who might not think to ask until fall of senior year.

Then junior summer, again, great time to go on college visits. You might have more time to travel. Maybe your family schedule is more flexible. Um, You can really start filling out your Common App profile, so putting in your background info. Um, start brainstorming your personal statement, uh, topic. I, um, I would recommend maybe even starting writing that earlier in the week.

Your junior summer. Um, if you can walk into your senior year with your personal statement written, it doesn’t have to be a final draft, but with a rough draft written, whew. You are putting yourself, you’re setting yourself up for success. You’re putting yourself ahead of the curve. Um, senior year goes fast.

And I want you to be able to enjoy all of the fun things that come along with it. So if you can have that essay mostly ready to go by the start of your senior year, you will thank your past self. And you’ll give yourself a lot more time to focus on those supplementals that we talked about earlier. fall of junior year.

Also, you want to be finalizing your activities list that you’re going to enter into the Common App and then be present to your senior year and, and make the most of it. In terms of how many extracurriculars on the Common App, you are limited to 10. If you have 10, fabulous. Give them 10. If you do not have 10, don’t do what I did.

Learn from me. I went out, I think, my junior year, and I joined every single club. Every one. I went to a small school, but still, I joined every club that my school had, only because I thought that would look good to colleges. I’m telling you, admissions officers can see through that, and that’s not what they’re looking for.

What they’re looking for is you engaging in a meaningful way in your community. So what I want you to focus on is the experiences that you want. Your extracurricular should reflect your genuine interests, because that’s the point of them. If you’re the type of person who maybe isn’t sure of their interests, or you just need to try things out to figure it out, great, do that.

Um, but that should all be reflected in your extracurricular list. And if you feel like there’s any story there that needs explained, you could do that in the essay section. But focus on the quality of experience. Not the quantity. Don’t get caught up on that number 10. Don’t be like, um, so we are asked frequently.

What is the most important part of your application? Um, you may have heard the term holistic review. I believe that’s true. I’ve worked with a lot of former admissions officers here at CollegeAdvisor. Um, they are looking at your whole application and They’re looking first at your grades. So, grades are important.

That means if joining three more clubs is going to somehow impact your grades in a negative way, I would advise against that. So prioritize your work as a student. Extracurriculars, they still matter as you can see here, they’re a solid chunk. Um, but I wouldn’t prioritize them at the expense of your grades.

That’s, I think that’s all I have to say on that slide. In terms of what counts as an extracurricular, I have a fun time doing this with my students, who often come in and say, I don’t, you know, I’m in like two clubs, and that’s it. And then I ask, okay, well, are you part of a religious institution? Do you have any family responsibilities?

Do you have a job, et cetera? And all of a sudden we found, you know, three to four more activities to include on their list. So again, another great reason to make a common app profile early because you can click through. And if you click to the extracurricular section, And look, under each one that you can add, there’s a drop down menu, and it will ask you to categorize what type of extracurricular it is.

That list won’t even fit on a slide! I’ve tried. It is so long. So, what that tells me, and what admissions officers here tell me, is what colleges want to see, what they want to know. The goal of this section on the application is to learn how you spend your time when you’re not at school, where you’re legally required to be, and when you’re not lounging around, scrolling TikTok.

That’s what they want to know. What, if there is something you are doing. It’s meaningful. It’s building you up as a person that’s helping you figure out your interests and who you are. It’s probably a way you can frame it as an extracurricular on the list. So think broadly. I mean, the list on the screen is not, uh, it does not include everything, uh, but that’s a good starting point.

Sorry. Do extracurriculars need to align with your intended major? No, they don’t. Um, that said, if you’re applying, say, as a math major, and you happen to be in your school’s. math club. If I were you, I would consider listing math club towards the top of your extracurricular list. So not only, uh, do the extracurriculars that you list matter, but the order can also have an impact, um, and give, the application readers, a sense of which ones are most important to you.

Um, so certainly, you know, I would pursue extracurriculars that align with your major. But as I said earlier, I was big into musical theater, didn’t really have anything to do with psychology, but it was important to me. It helped me learn a lot about myself. Uh, so I included that on my list, but my volunteer work for hospice, was listed first because that seemed more aligned with a helping profession of psychology.

Um,

I mentioned this earlier, things like jobs and family care absolutely count as activities. You can list those on the extracurricular section. Be realistic with what you list, be honest. Um, so in addition to asking you to describe what you’ve done, they’re going to ask how many hours I think it’s how many hours per week they ask you to estimate that you’ve spent on it.

Um, so, you know, if you’ve watched your younger siblings for your parents one time over the course of three years, I wouldn’t list that. Um, but if it’s, if it’s a commitment that you are making to your family on a regular basis, and it’s really making a difference, absolutely, I would include that. Um, if you’re helping at a family store or with elder care or siblings, um, that’s all really relevant to include on your activities list.

If you’re looking for additional extracurriculars for the summer and the fall, always ask your school counselor. They are a wealth of resources. knowledge on super local opportunities. I think that’s always the best starting point. Um, and then just, you know, start. searching what’s in your community, what civic organizations are there, check out the local community colleges, any organizations.

Um, also look at the colleges that you are interested in applying to. So I went to Carnegie Mellon, I happen to know Carnegie Mellon has summer programs for high school students. That’s a really good way to show your interest in attending college there, and also a great, uh, opportunity to just learn more about your interests and explore.

your passions further.

Okay, balancing extracurriculars with schoolwork and college applications and all of the excitement with being a senior, it’s hard y’all. Step one for me, um, is to make sure you’re taking care of yourself as a human, which means in this, this is a balance that Adults have to figure out too. I think I’m always figuring it out for myself.

Don’t overcommit yourself. If you feel that you are so involved in activities that things like family relationships and your grades are suffering, consider if you need to cut back, right? You have to prioritize you as a person and a student first, then finding organizational Approaches that work well for you will serve you well throughout your life.

So try different methods, um, you know, maybe create a family calendar, um, so everyone in your household can see your availability, understand your commitments, um, and then find how to keep all of your tasks organized. I’m a list writer, that does not work for everyone. So just try out different ideas and see what, what works for you.

Um, as a high school junior, when you’re thinking about extracurriculars, I see, especially in junior, my junior students, a bit of anxiety about, uh, I’ve waited too long. I’m not involved enough. I, I think instead of thinking like that, instead of getting caught up on the number of activities. Focus on the quality.

Hone in on what is important to you. Um, so maybe you’ll only list three to five activities, but you’re spending lots of time on them, right? Because they also are asking for your hourly commitment. Maybe in one of them, you have a leadership role that also shows your commitment. Um, be thoughtful, especially as a junior, about what activities you’re committing to, thinking about how it’s all gonna fit within your application.

And, um, yeah, I said this before, but try not to overcommit. And I know this might be an annoying thing to say, but really, really, really, Originally extracurriculars were designed for you to have fun. Like that’s it. They were designed to help you enjoy and become better people and learn about yourselves.

Um, that is still. what they’re there for. They just also have become this like really important part of the college application process. Um, but if you can keep that perspective in mind, like what their, what their goal is, I think that can be helpful with that anxiety. I see.

Lonnie: Okay. Thank you, Anna, for sharing this great information and definitely we’ll see you. Um, I want to reiterate to, um, quality over quantity and, you know, working with students. Um, so often I hear, well, what does the college want me to do? You know, so I can, what are the, what are the extracurriculars I should be doing that they want me to do to ensure that I’m like, you know, putting my best foot forward.

And, um, I would say, you know, doing activities that are, you know, of passion and interest to you. Um, the authenticity of that is going to be so compelling. Um, admission officers can know, you know, when a student is just adding things to their list just to say that they did it. Um, because, you know, that authenticity is going to come out in your application.

You know, when you put together your activities list, when you write your essay. Um, so just making sure that the activities that you get yourself involved in are things that are truly of interest. Um, you know, earlier grade levels is you’re exploring activities. You know, you’re trying to get a sense of what are the things that you really love and passionate about.

So you might, you know, be a part of different clubs and organizations. That’s, that’s great. All great. We want you to do that. Um, and as you continue to be a part of these organizations and clubs and activities, et cetera, then you’re going to start to hone more into what your passion is. And that’s the part that we want to ensure is really coming alive.

Through your extracurricular. So just wanted to add on, um, to everything that Anna just shared. And so with that, um, we’re going to move into our questions and answers. So how it’s going to work, um, as I shared at the beginning of our webinar, there’s a Q and a tab that is on your dashboard. We’re going to ask that you use that to submit your questions.

I will read your question out loud and then Anna is going to have opportunity to answer it. I’ll paste it as well into the public chat so that you can see it at any time. If you feel like I can’t see that Q and a tab, try exiting out of the webinar and reentering through the custom link that we sent you through your email.

Okay. So with that, we’ll jump into our first question. Um, and these questions that we’re asking, you know, right now are questions that came up in the, um, when participants registered for this webinar. Okay, so first question is, how can I demonstrate leadership in my current activities?

Anna: That’s a great question.

Um, I love that the student is already recognizing the importance of leadership and that that’s something that admissions officers are looking for. Uh, I think. The most traditional way is to have a leadership role in an organization. So to run for president, secretary, et cetera, someone on the board of the club.

Um, but I, I think there are a lot of ways to demonstrate leadership. Without having that title. And I think, uh, regardless of your title in every description. So on the extracurricular list, you know, you fill in the info, the name of the club, number of hours, et cetera. And then. There’s just a blank box where you get a limited set of characters to describe your participation.

That is where students should highlight their leadership role. And by highlight leadership, I mean, focus on if you’ve seen, um, tips for resume writing, like when you’re filling out the bullets, they always say to start with an action verb and to be specific. So instead of saying, um, I don’t know, like, Uh, attended fundraising events or something, it would be much stronger to say, I co led or helped facilitate, organized 12 fundraising events, raising X amount of money.

Uh, the more specific you can be, the more believable it’s going to be, the more authentic it looks. And it highlights what you’ve done. actually done, which shows leadership. Please don’t miss opportunity to highlight that there because the character limit is so short. It’s really not the time to describe.

In depth what the organization does, especially if it’s something like glee club, debate club, theater, things that admissions officers know, like, we all know what those are, so there’s no need to spend time saying like, attended debates at local high schools, they know that’s what debate club is, tell us how many you went to, tell us if you won any any recognition, stuff like that.

If you helped organize any events for the club, highlight your leadership in that way.

Lonnie: Thank you. Absolutely. Um, try not to keep it general. This is your time to shine. And so talk about those really unique aspects that directly You know, are correlated to you versus just explaining, you know, what the actual activity is, um, that’s what’s going to help you really stand out, um, and highlight your, your leadership.

Okay, so our next question is, um, this is referring back to something that was mentioned in the webinar. And so you mentioned that it was helpful to write your personal statement essay during the summertime. Couldn’t agree even more, um, with that suggestion that you may, Anna. Um, so is this, is that also true with your intended major essay?

Anna: I love this question because it shows a lot of initiative. Um, I imagine they’re talking about a supplemental essay that some schools might have, or they ask you to say, why do you want to study psychology or whatever? Um, yeah, if you know the answer. And you have the time, the more you can get done over the summer, the happier you’re going to be senior fall.

Um, absolutely. If you think there’s something you’re going to experience senior fall, or let’s say you, you write the essay, and then something happens senior fall, that is really relevant, that either, Deepens your interest in that major or maybe shifts it a bit. You could just edit the essay, right?

Because writing it junior summer is not sending it to schools. They won’t even let you submit it that early. So 100 percent go for it. I love it.

Lonnie: Yes, yes, if you can carve out that time in the summer to do your personal statements, um, and write your intended major essay. You definitely will be set up into a good place entering your senior year, but, you know, you don’t even have to have it completed ready to submit.

You can at least have a really solid draft and then you can use the early part of your senior year to refine it before you press submit. Um, okay. So our next question is, does and I apologize if I don’t say this correctly. Um, does Coursera count as an extracurricular and should I also add my completed certifications in the award section?

Anna: Good question. Um, if folks aren’t familiar, I’m vaguely familiar with Coursera. I believe it is an online opportunity to take courses and earn a certificate in a certain topic, um, that passes my rule, right? Which is you spending time that’s not legally mandated. And that’s not scrolling TikTok. It’s building up your, your knowledge, your interest.

So I absolutely think it counts. What I would want to strategize with the student is how, like, how to frame it, where to put it, um, it might, if you fill the extracurricular list with other things, maybe you mentioned the Coursera in an essay somewhere. If it’s on your correct extracurricular list and you’ve taken multiple, I would probably consider putting them all under one activity.

So it doesn’t look like you’re trying to just fill the section and you could probably title it something like self study and then be really specific in the description about what that self study involved, how much time, what certificates you earned. Um, that would be my, my first advice without. Being able to speak to the student more directly.

Yes.

Lonnie: Okay. Thank you. Our next question. It says, can I start a new club or initiative that reflects my passion and interest?

Anna: Heck, yeah, that sounds like a great idea. Um, it’s especially if that’s missing, right? If you if you go to your guidance counselor and you say, I, I really interested in, um. Where’s the local chess club?

And they tell you there isn’t one. Then I think a really great follow up question is how can I start one and if you do that, make sure you mention somewhere in that description box again that you were the founder of the club, um, and, you know, Be specific about how, how that went, how many students joined, et cetera.

Lonnie: Okay. Our next question is how can I effectively document and showcase my accomplishments in my activities?

Anna: Yeah, I think I again, I think this comes back to being really specific in your, in your descriptions. Um, we have sophomores and juniors here with us. So. You know, as you, as you’re living your lives, doing your extracurriculars, uh, if you think of it, to just jot down, um, the things that you accomplish in each club, that’s going to make your job a lot easier come senior year when it’s time to write it all up.

Cause trust me, it’s easy to forget just how much you have done. For any given extracurricular. So, um, in that, in that section, you, you do not need to use full sentences. You don’t need to worry about grammar. Well, it needs to be, I say, don’t worry about grammar. You don’t need full sentences. It needs to be like, comprehensible, but just focus on verb, verb, verb.

This is what I did. This is what I did. And being really specific. If that’s not answering the question, please submit another one. Um, because maybe I misunderstood.

Lonnie: No, I think you answered it pretty well. Um, our next question is I heard the Common App refreshes on August 1st. Deleting some information you filled out.

Should I still fill out the Common App? Maybe before. Prior to August 1st.

Anna: Um, I think I think that’s why we suggest that you Start the common app as a, what did we even say?

Um,

yeah, I, so you can certainly make a profile like January as a junior and see everything. I wouldn’t enter everything until your fall of senior year. Um, and even my seniors, I, I make them write all of their info in a separate document. And then when they’re ready to submit, it’s a copy and paste situation because too many things can go wrong with anything online.

So I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t fill it out until senior fall and you’re ready to apply, but you can have it all written in a separate document that’s backed up and, you know, all of that. Good Internet, uh, integrity things.

Lonnie: Okay. So with that, you all can please continue to still ask your questions because we still have time in a webinar to answer them. But I want to take a moment just to share with you all more about the work that we do here within CollegeAdvisor. So, you know, so. Speaking about, you know, understanding or finalizing your extracurricular activities.

Um, thinking about, you know, how do you create your personal narrative and what schools do I apply to and what’s a likely school, what’s a target school. It can feel rather, you know, overwhelming. You know, for students just like yourselves. I mean, Anna have been through the process and we completely understand it.

It can feel overwhelming. Um, and that’s why, you know, our team here at CollegeAdvisor, we have over 300 former admission officers and admission experts that are ready to help you in your family navigate the college admission process in one on one advising sessions. We’ve already helped over 6, 000 clients in their college journeys.

After analyzing our 2021 through 2023 data, we found that CollegeAdvisor students are 3. 6 times more likely to get into Stanford University, 4. 1 times more likely to get into Vanderbilt University, and 2. 7 more likely to get into Harvard University. And that’s just a snippet of some of the results that we’ve been able to accomplish.

Um, Increase your odds and take the next steps in your college admission journey by signing up for a free 45 to 60 minute strategy session with an admission specialist on our team using the QR code that you’ll see on the screen during this meeting. You’ll receive a preliminary assessment of your academic profile, along with some initial recommendations, and at the end, you’ll also learn more about our premium packages that we offer that will pair you with an expert who can support you and all the things that involve successfully applying to college and increasing your odds of admissions.

And that concludes building your college list, adding your essay. Looking at your extracurriculars, identifying if there’s any gaps and opportunities that may exist. So I highly encourage you to please scan that QR code and just set up a time to meet with our admissions specialist. Okay, so with that, we are going to the next step.

Jump back into the second half of our questions and answers. And so our next question reads, and I know this was shared in the presentation, but we’ll still reiterate it. Um, can my teachers, um, or activity advisors provide letters or recommendations that highlight my involvement in achievements?

Anna: Yes, a hundred percent.

And I think, I think there’s a lot of opportunity in those letters, the recommendation that students don’t often think of. So I’ll give a personal example. When I was applying to law school, I was looking back at my undergrad transcript. My grades, my freshman year were not as strong as they were the rest of my time there.

So I wanted to strategize how to address that in my application. I decided instead of trying to fit it into my personal statement, I would ask my advisor who knew me when I was a freshman, saw that I was working three part time jobs that included overnight shifts, that it was a struggle to make it to 8am class that I was like, he saw all of that.

And so I asked him if you’d feel comfortable addressing that in my letter. So I never had to mention it in my application. The same applies for anything that you want included in your application that you don’t have room for or that you don’t want to address yourself. So if there’s a certain, you know, uh, achievement, That you, you feel like you, or impact you’ve had on a club that you want to address that’s not fitting anywhere else in your application.

Totally appropriate to ask your teacher to write about it. And I often think it’s helpful to the teach, to teachers if you mention, like give them a short bulleted list of things that they could reference. Um, if they want to, because they are seeing hundreds of students, right? And I said earlier, it’s hard for us to remember for ourselves the impact we’ve had.

Imagine how hard it is for teachers. So, I think not only is it appropriate, I think it can be really helpful to the teacher and make your letters that much stronger.

Lonnie: Okay. Alrighty. So that actually was our final question for this webinar. I don’t see any more questions. Oh, wait, one just popped in. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Um, should you include. Sports that you were just, um, on varsity. Should you include sports that you were just on junior varsity, JV, or versus sports you were on varsity? So should we put junior varsity? Should we include varsity? What’s the strategy for that, Anna?

Anna: Great question. Uh, Believe the Common App is pretty explicit when it says it wants you to submit extracurriculars you’ve participated in during high school.

So yeah, if you have, if you’re on a JV team during high school, absolutely. Include that, right? They’re not going to turn their noses up and be like, Oh, they weren’t varsity. No, they’re going to look at that and see, Oh, look, they were really involved. They were on a team. We know students develop a lot of important skills through teamwork and through sports.

So 100%. I would include that. all sports activities from high school, regardless of level.

Lonnie: I agree as well. Okay. Well, thank you so much for submitting that question. Um, so with that, you all, thank you, Anna, for sharing and presenting, um, this topic on finalizing your extracurriculars as a high school junior.

And lastly, As you will see on here, there’s only one more webinar that’s left for the month of May. So tomorrow we have a webinar that we’re doing. However, every month we have a great list of webinars that are all geared towards supporting you through the college application process. And so we highly encourage you to continue to participate in our webinars.

And ask your questions, um, because you know those questions can be helpful for another student. And so we look forward to seeing you in one of our future upcoming webinars. And so with that everyone have a great day and thank you Anna again for presenting on this topic.

Anna: Thank you Lonnie. Thanks everyone.

Lonnie: Thanks.