You’re staring at a blank screen. The Common Application is open in another tab, and that little "Activities" section is mocking you. It looks so simple. Just ten slots. 150 characters for the description. But honestly, it’s the most stressful part of the whole process for a lot of students because it’s where you have to prove you’re a real person and not just a collection of test scores.
People obsess over these. They think they need to have founded a non-profit in a third-world country or cured a rare disease to get into a Top 30 school. That's just not true. Admissions officers at schools like Stanford or UChicago aren't just looking for "world-class" achievements; they're looking for context. They want to know what you do when no one is forcing you to study.
The struggle is that most common app activities examples you find online are boring. They’re generic. "Member of National Honor Society." "Played Varsity Soccer." "Volunteer at soup kitchen." If your list looks exactly like every other kid in your zip code, you’ve got a problem. You need to frame what you actually do in a way that shows impact, initiative, and—most importantly—personality.
Why Your "Boring" Activities Actually Matter
Let’s get one thing straight: working a shift at McDonald’s or taking care of your younger siblings counts. In fact, it often counts more than a "pay-to-play" summer program at an Ivy League campus. Why? Because it shows grit.
Admissions experts like Rick Clark from Georgia Tech have been vocal about this for years. They want to see what they call "institutional fit." If you spend twenty hours a week flipping burgers to help your parents pay rent, that tells a story of responsibility and time management that a fancy internship (that your uncle got you) never could.
Don't ignore the "small" stuff. Maybe you’ve spent three years teaching yourself how to repair vintage film cameras. Or perhaps you're the person who organizes the weekly Dungeons & Dragons sessions for your friend group. These are legitimate common app activities examples because they demonstrate consistency and leadership in a niche environment.
🔗 Read more: Why Everyone Is Obsessed With Brussel Sprout Appetizer Recipes Right Now
The Art of the 150-Character Description
You have almost no space. It's basically the length of a tweet from 2014. You cannot waste words. Instead of saying "I was responsible for helping the coach set up drills and making sure everyone had water," you need to use punchy, active verbs.
Think: "Coordinated logistics for 40-man roster; managed equipment distribution and led warm-up drills for regional championships."
See the difference? It's about data and action. If you tutored, don’t just say "tutored kids." Say "Improved math literacy for 5 middle-school students, resulting in a 15% average grade increase over one semester." Numbers give your claims legs to stand on.
Common App Activities Examples That Actually Work
Let's look at some real-world categories. Not every student is an athlete, and not every student is a mathlete. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle, doing a weird mix of things because we’re humans.
1. The Family Responsibility Angle
This is the most underrated category on the entire Common App. If you spend your afternoons picking up your little brother from school, making him snack, and helping him with homework because your parents work late, that is an activity.
- Description Example: Managed daily childcare and academic support for sibling (age 8). Handled meal prep and transport 20hrs/wk. Developed patience and time-management skills.
2. The Self-Directed Project
Did you spend the lockdown learning how to code in Python? Did you start a garden in your backyard? Did you write a 50,000-word novel for NaNoWriMo? These show "intellectual curiosity," which is a massive buzzword in admissions offices right now.
- Description Example: Self-taught Python via Harvard’s CS50. Developed a custom Discord bot to automate study group reminders. Iterated code based on user feedback from 50+ peers.
3. The "Standard" Club with a Twist
If you’re in Key Club or NHS, so is everyone else. To make these work as common app activities examples, you have to highlight a specific project you led.
- Description Example (Key Club): Spearheaded "Books for All" initiative. Collected 1,200+ donations for local Title I schools. Negotiated storage space with town library and managed 15 volunteers.
The Problem With "Resume Padding"
Admissions officers can smell BS from a mile away. If you joined six clubs in the first semester of your senior year, they know exactly what you’re doing. They call it "point hunting."
It is infinitely better to have three activities that you’ve done for four years than ten activities you started three months ago. Longitudinal commitment is the gold standard. It shows you don't quit when things get boring or hard. If you’ve been in the choir since freshman year but never became the president, that’s still valuable. It shows you’re a reliable team player. Not everyone can be the captain, and colleges know that a campus full of "captains" would be a nightmare to manage.
Categorizing Your List: The Tier System
While the Common App doesn't officially "rank" your activities, your order matters. You want your "heavy hitters" at the top.
- Tier 1: National or international recognition, major leadership roles, or significant time commitments (20+ hours a week).
- Tier 2: Regional honors, varsity sports, or long-term community service with measurable impact.
- Tier 3: School-level clubs, minor awards, or hobbies that show a specific interest.
- Tier 4: One-off events or clubs where you were just a member with no specific contribution.
If you have a Tier 1 activity, put it at slot number one. Don't make the admissions officer hunt for your best stuff. They spend about six to eight minutes on your entire application. Make it easy for them to see your value quickly.
Dealing with the "Hobbies" Category
Can you put "Weightlifting" or "Baking" on your Common App? Yes. Absolutely.
But there’s a catch. You shouldn't just list it if you do it casually once a month. If you've spent four years meticulously tracking your macros and progression in the gym, hitting a 300lb deadlift, that shows discipline. If you’ve mastered the art of sourdough and started a small side-hustle selling loaves to neighbors, that’s "Entrepreneurship."
Everything is about how you frame the effort.
Specific Verbs to Use (And Which to Avoid)
Stop using the word "helped." It’s weak. It’s vague. It sounds like you stood in the corner while someone else did the work.
Instead, use:
- Orchestrated
- Facilitated
- Advocated
- Surpassed
- Implemented
- Mentored
- Revitalized
If you "helped clean up a park," you "Restored local ecology by removing invasive species and managing waste disposal for a 5-acre public space."
Kinda sounds better, right? It’s not lying; it’s being specific.
What Happens if You Don't Have 10 Activities?
I’ll let you in on a secret: most successful applicants don't fill all ten slots.
If you have six really strong, meaningful activities, don't go hunting for four more just to fill the space. Adding "Spanish Club Member (12th Grade)" when you only went to two meetings actually dilutes the impact of your stronger entries. It looks desperate.
Focus on the quality of your common app activities examples. A student who has deep involvement in three things often looks more attractive than a "dabbler" who has ten shallow involvements. Colleges want specialists just as much as they want well-rounded students. They want a "well-rounded class," which is actually made up of a bunch of "pointy" students who are experts in their own little worlds.
The "Impact" Test
Before you finalize an entry, ask yourself: If I hadn't done this, what would be different?
If the answer is "nothing," you haven't described it well enough. If you were a member of the debate team, and you mentored three novices who eventually won a regional round, that is your impact. If you worked at a grocery store and were trusted to train new hires, that is your impact.
Admissions officers are looking for "evidence of future success." The best way to predict if you’ll be a leader or a contributor on their campus is to see where you’ve already done it in your own community.
Practical Next Steps for Your Application
Don't just start typing into the portal. You'll run out of characters and get frustrated.
- Open a Google Doc. List everything you’ve done since the summer before 9th grade. Everything. Even that weird week you spent volunteering at a cat cafe.
- Group them. See if any activities can be combined to show a bigger narrative.
- Draft the descriptions. Aim for exactly 150 characters. Use abbreviations like "w/" or "&" if you need to, but keep it professional.
- Audit for variety. If all 10 of your activities are "Sports," you look a bit one-dimensional. Try to find one that shows a different side of you, like a hobby or a part-time job.
- Get a second pair of eyes. Ask a teacher or a friend—someone who doesn't know every detail of your life—to read the list. If they can’t tell what you actually did in an activity, rewrite it.
Your activities list is essentially a movie trailer for your life. You want to show the best scenes, the most intense moments of growth, and leave them wanting to "see the movie" (read your essays). Stop trying to be the "perfect" candidate and start being the most interesting version of yourself. That’s how you actually get noticed in a pile of 50,000 applications.