Writing About Extracurriculars in Your College Essays

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.