Applying College Well: Highlighting What You’ve Accomplished

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Extracurricular activities, community service, and work experience are important ways to demonstrate your passions, initiative, and leadership skills. Depending on exactly what your activities are, however, the typical college application form can make it hard to fully convey your strengths. Most forms, including the Common Application, have a small grid that asks you to list each of your activities, the years when you participated in them, and the number of hours per week and weeks per year you spent on them. The grid also asks you to fill out any positions held, honors earned, or athletic letters awarded for each activity.

The space is small, however, and it may be hard to do your activities justice so briefly. The solution is simple. You can create your own supplementary form that presents the same information in a more user- and reader-friendly way. If the application form is adequate for your needs, however, you don’t have to produce a separate activity sheet. Use one only if you need it, and certainly don’t include one if the instructions specifically tell you not to do it. Some colleges are very clear that they don’t want extra materials like a résumé, but others are OK with it. Some forms, including the Common Application, request that you complete the application grid even if you submit a separate activity sheet.

If you do prepare a separate activity sheet, keep it short—one or two pages if possible—and follow the general format used on the application itself. Use the extra space you now have to write two or three sentences that capture the essence of your involvement in each activity if it is not obvious from its name. Be sure to note “see separate activity sheet” on the application form so that the reader will know to look for it. An easy-to-read activity summary can be a valuable addition to a college application. Just be sure it is compact, neat, and clearly identified by your name and social security number.

If you submit your application online, you may have to send in your activity sheet by regular mail. Attach a note requesting that this supplementary information be added to your application file.

Special Talents

Students seeking admission to selective drama, art, music, theater, or dance programs are expected to audition or submit portfolios and CDs for review. These programs vary widely in their intensity and selectivity. Many liberal arts colleges and research universities have strong arts programs as part of their regular curricular offerings. In addition, a number of schools specializing in the performing and visual arts offer degrees in the arts as part of an arts-focused liberal arts program. And some highly specialized schools, known as conservatories, have as their sole mission the training of professionals at the highest level. Programs vary widely in their requirements for admission, so you should check into specific requirements as early as possible. The beginning of junior year of high school is not too early to begin to prepare.