Top Tips for Prioritizing Your Activities List for College Applications
If only your activities list could tell its own story! Think of it like a movie trailer for your high school journey—each line a new scene, building up to the big picture. For Alex, a high school senior passionate about environmental science, it’s important to arrange those scenes to make an impact. With diverse activities like volunteering at an animal shelter, playing on the basketball team, leading a recycling club, and working part-time at a local café, Alex has a lot to showcase, but no clear idea of how these all relate to environmental science. Let’s look at how to prioritize his activities for maximum impact.
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Tip 1: Start with Career-Aligned Activities
Colleges want to see that your interest in a major isn’t just a passing phase. For Alex, this means emphasizing activities related to environmental science at the top of their list. This shows commitment to the field and makes a strong first impression.
Example 1:
Before: “1. Volunteer at local animal shelter, feeding and caring for animals weekly.”
After: “1. President of School Recycling Club, led monthly initiatives to increase recycling rates by 25%, organized community cleanup events.”
Why? Though Alex’s time at the animal shelter is valuable, leading the recycling club directly ties into their interest in environmental science. It shows leadership, initiative, and a commitment to improving the environment.
Example 2:
Before: “2. Part-time barista at local café, developing customer service skills.”
After: “2. Intern at City’s Environmental Office, assisted in collecting and analyzing data for water conservation projects.”
Why? Although Alex’s barista job demonstrates responsibility, the internship at the city’s environmental office aligns directly with their intended major and shows hands-on experience in the field.
Tip 2: Show Progression and Leadership
Admissions officers love to see growth. For Alex, this means highlighting activities where they’ve taken on increasing responsibilities year after year. This could include a shift from member to leader in the recycling club, or even starting a new environmental initiative.
Example 1:
Before: “3. Member of School Recycling Club, attended monthly meetings.”
After: “3. Co-founder of ‘Green Teens’ Initiative, a student group that planted 50 trees in local parks and educated over 100 peers about climate change.”
Why? Moving from a general member role to co-founding an initiative shows Alex’s progression and ability to lead projects, even if it wasn’t a traditional club presidency. But remember — this should all be true. It’s unacceptable to lie on your application and over inflating roles is one of 4 of the most common mistakes you can make in the activities list.
Example 2:
Before: “4. Volunteer for Beach Cleanup Days.”
After: “4. Organized and led quarterly Beach Cleanup Days, recruiting 30+ volunteers and removing over 300 pounds of trash.”
Why? Transforming from a participant to an organizer emphasizes Alex’s leadership and impact, making it more appealing to admissions officers. To show progression, Alex could list all the positions he held: “Volunteer (10), Organizer (11)” where 10 represents 10th grade and 11 represents 11th grade.
On top of strategically organizing his activities, he also effectively writes strong descriptions using specific verb choices and highlighting measurable impact.
Tip 3: Balance Leadership with Other High-Impact Activities
Not every activity needs to be about leadership or strictly related to your intended major. Some roles can be included because they highlight Alex’s unique experiences or passion, even if they don’t tie directly to their intended major. Here, we balance those activities against the major-aligned ones by placing them afterwards.
Example 1:
Before: “5. Varsity Basketball Team, played as point guard for two years.”
After: “5. Varsity Basketball Team, improved team coordination as point guard and mentored younger players.”
Why? Basketball doesn’t connect to environmental science, but it highlights teamwork, dedication, and mentoring skills. It’s worth including because it adds depth to Alex’s profile without overshadowing their environmental efforts. Because it comes after those environmental-related activities, we can relate how Alex might bring his teamwork and communication skills over to his field.
Example 2:
Before: “6. Barista at local café, served customers and managed cash register.”
After: Removed from the list.
Why? As Alex’s other activities provide a stronger narrative and alignment with their goals, the barista role, though valuable, might be left out. This allows room for activities with more relevance or impact, like the internship or volunteer work.
College counselors can often be divided into two camps when it comes to quantity vs. quality. But like most things, the activities list isn’t black or white. You’ll often have to strike a balance between quantity vs. quality and know when to leave an activity off your college application.
Alex’s Final, Prioritized Activities List
Let’s see how Alex’s activity list looks after prioritizing, focusing on major alignment, leadership, and a balanced presentation:
President of School Recycling Club: Led monthly initiatives to increase recycling rates by 25%, organized community cleanup events.
Intern at City’s Environmental Office: Assisted in collecting and analyzing data for water conservation projects.
Co-founder of ‘Green Teens’ Initiative: Planted 50 trees in local parks, educated 100+ peers about climate change.
Organized Beach Cleanup Days: Recruited 30+ volunteers, removed over 300 pounds of trash.
Varsity Basketball Team: Improved team coordination as point guard, mentored younger players.
Left Out: Volunteering at the animal shelter (though it’s a great experience, it’s less relevant), and the barista job (demonstrated responsibility, but doesn’t add as much to Alex’s story as responsibility has also been clearly demonstrated through his other activities).
Alex’s final list now reads like a story that shows their dedication to environmental science, leadership and impact, and teamwork. Prioritizing activities helps paint a clearer picture of their strengths and passions, making it easier for admissions officers to see what makes them unique.
Clarity often comes from the decision to remove things, not add them.