Should I ignore irrelevant extracurriculars?Answered
Hey! I am a high school sophomore and I recently found out about the importance of having e.cs follow in the same path.
I have already been starting to do so, building off activities I started in 8th grade and freshman year. However, I do have some extracurriculars that I tried out as a freshman (russian-speaking olympiad, tennis) , but they do not fall into either of the general themes of my other activities (study of political and social issues, writing).
So, my question is: should I list/mention extracurriculars and awards from activities that do not fall into the general themes of my other e.cs.
Thank you in advance for your feedback!
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3 answers
Hi, Russian-speaking olympiad and tennis sound like good ecs but if they don't fall into your spike or theme, I suggest you put them in your additional info. From what I have read, colleges like Harvard will not look at more than 5 activities and a few other colleges do that too. The reasons being limited time, extracurriculars done just for the sake of doing them and filling the 10 spots, and since we list them in order of importance it's highly unlikely the 10th ec of yours is something you're as passionate about as the first one on your list.
But the additional info? Not everyone fills that out and since your ecs seem kinda unique they will add on to your application. So do list them but in the additional info. All the best!
As a high school senior, this is my opinion:
10 activities on the Common App is A LOT of things to write about. You are right that it's good to have a "theme" for your college application. However, I don't think it's super possible or desirable to have all your activates be about your general theme. College want passionate/motivated/devoted people, but they also want people who are not entirely focused on just their area of interest. They want every student to: Be intellectually curious, empathetic, civically minded, etc. Therefore, you should probably include activities such as Russian Olympiad and tennis, even if they don't relate to your theme. Colleges don't want "renaissance applicants" who do everything and don't have passion, but it's often useful to show colleges that you're not just a one dimensional person, and having a somewhat diverse group of EC's can do that.
Again, this is just my opinion. Ultimately, it's your choice :)
Hi @LeftMostComet,
I think you can definitely list these towards the end of your Activities section as activities you are more involved in will be put first and more detailed, making it intuitive for a reader to see that you have both varied interests and a spike.
You should reserve your Additional Information section only for extenuating circumstances - more on that here: https://blog.collegevine.com/additional-information-about-commonapps-additional-information-section/
Hope this helps!
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Got it, thank you so much!