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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Found this online.

It’s vital to approach your activities section as a whole, at least at the planning and organization level. By this we mean curating your activities in a way that shows development of who you are. There should also be some kind of overarching thematic connect that speaks to your passions, ambitions, and key strengths.

The ranking of activities is just as crucial as the activities you select. If your activities are all over the place thematically and in the wrong order, admissions committees will have a much harder time distinguishing you from the crowd.

Most students find that the chronological strategy works best to organize this section. Ideally, your activities have evolved and become more sophisticated or advanced over time. For instance, starting out with a beginner’s martial arts class early on, and placing in a tournament later on, and so on.

If you were student council president your senior year, for instance, you’ll want to anchor that toward the end of your activities. Similarly, for a part-time job you maintained throughout all of high school, place it at the top of your list and work toward the present as you move on. The Activities section doesn’t include a designated space for dates, but this is exactly why ordering your activities can be helpful in providing a sense of narrative and development.

However, there’s a big caveat to this: always start with the most notable activity/activities first, and then move into chronological order. Many students miss this critical instruction provided at the top of the Activities section:

“Please list your activities in the order of their importance to you.”

The logic for this is obvious: grab their attention and then finish painting your picture. Additionally, this will establish a lofty accomplishment at the outset and then provide a clear sense of the steps taken to arrive there. If your biggest achievement is a youth internship with Facebook, start there and then lay out the steps you undertook to become skilled in computer science or programming.

Let’s take the example of one of our students, Ashley, to understand how to select and rank activities.

Ashley has a passion for chess, and was President of her high school’s chess club. She also won first place in the Ohio under-18 state-level chess tournament. Additionally, she has YouTube channel about chess strategies that has over a 1000 followers. Her other key interest is in music, and she plays the harp in her high school orchestra. She also tutored students in harp-playing. She worked as a sales associate at her local indie music store and was promoted to assistant manager in her junior year. In addition to this, she’s a member of other school clubs like Nature Club, Foreign Film Club, Music Club, and so on. So, which of her activities should she pick? How should she rank them? Let’s take a look at a correct and incorrect example of the list of activities Ashley can include:

Incorrect example:

President of High School Chess Club
Lead Harpist in High School Orchestra
Member of Nature Club
Member of Foreign Film Club
Member of High School Music Club
Learnt Basic Mandarin in Mandarin Club7
YouTube Channel “No Mess in Chess” with 1000+ followers

Correct example:

1st Place in Ohio Under-18 Chess Tournament
YouTube Channel “No Mess in Chess” with 1000+ followers
President of High School Chess Club
Lead Harpist in High School Orchestra
Tutor at Whistles Musical Academy
Assistant Manager at Mystery Tunes
Sales Associate at Mystery Tunes
Member of High School Music Club

Can you see why the second example is a more successful example of a Common App Activities section?

The former example does not focus on her most impressive activities and simply reads like a list of clubs she participated in, or like a high school resume. She doesn’t even mention her winning first place in the state level chess competition and omits her work experiences altogether. On the surface, it seems she has ranked the activities in order of importance. But there isn’t any logic to the flow from one activity to the next. This list is not likely to stand out to the admissions committee or properly communicate Ashley’s strengths.[/quote]

What if her winning 1st place in the state chess tournament was from her freshman year rather than junior year? Should she still list it at the top of activity lists? [/quote]

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