Ten slots. 150 characters each. This is where colleges learn what you actually do with your time, and it deserves far more care than most students give it.
The biggest mistake students make is treating the activities section like an attendance record. Colleges read it to get a sense of who you are.
Not just that you joined, but how you showed up. Hours, consistency, initiative, and the parts of the work you chose to take on.
What changed because you were there? Money raised, people helped, events run, members recruited, pieces performed. Name it and number it.
Leadership is not only titles. Training younger students, organizing rehearsals, or starting something new all count, with or without the word "president."
Admissions readers look for threads: interests that deepen year over year, responsibilities that grow, one passion feeding another. Let your list tell that story.
Before you finalize your descriptions, read the mission statements of the schools you're applying to. Notice the values each one emphasizes (leadership, service, creativity, community) and, where it's true to your experience, echo that language in your list. It helps admissions readers see the fit between who you are and who they're looking for.
Know the constraints before you write a word. Every field has a character limit, and the order you choose sends a message.
You can list up to 10 activities, and the order is yours. Put your most meaningful activity first. Admissions reads top to bottom, and the first two or three shape their impression.
Position or leadership role (50 characters), organization name (100 characters), and the description of what you did (150 characters). The limits include spaces.
Each activity asks for hours per week, weeks per year, and which grades you participated. Consistent, sustained time tells its own story, so be accurate, not modest.
Jobs, family responsibilities, caregiving, independent projects, religious life, and practice time all belong here. Not everyone has the luxury of 10 polished extracurriculars, and admissions knows it.
150 characters is about the length of this sentence and the one after it. Every word has to earn its place.
Led, founded, raised, organized, taught, arranged, performed. Never "was a member of" or "helped with."
What exactly did you do? Name the event, the piece, the program, the audience.
Dollars raised, people reached, members recruited, concerts performed, hours per week. Digits, not words.
What happened because of you? Growth, a win, a premiere, a tradition that now exists.
Drop "I" (it's implied). Skip full sentences and end punctuation. Use digits (15, not fifteen), symbols (& and $), and semicolons to pack in more. Abbreviate what admissions will recognize: hrs/wk, K-3, NYC. "Responsible for organizing" is just "Organized."
Same student, same activity, very different impression. Every strong example below fits within 150 characters.
Type a description below and watch the count. Verb first, numbers in, filler out.
Write one activity description. The bar fills as you type; if it turns red, start cutting.
Run every activity through this list. Tap each item as you go.
The essay and recommendations are waiting on the Materials page.