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Admissions knows you lead a busy life, both in and out of school, and this standard supplemental essay type is an opportunity to elaborate on your most meaningful or prolonged extracurricular involvement. Colleges have the expectation that you will be an active contributor on campus, and your past participation is a window into your future initiative.
While the activities section of the Common App allows you to list up to ten activities and describe each one in 150 characters, the Activity Essay is your chance to dig into that transformative volunteer experience or summer job in a more thorough and revealing way—an additional spotlight on you and another chance to showcase your voice and personality.
Let’s take a look at some Activity Essay prompt examples below so you have a better sense of what you might expect:
Georgetown: Briefly discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved. (1/2 page, single-spaced)
University of Florida: Please provide more details on your most meaningful commitment outside of the classroom while in high school and explain why it was meaningful. This could be related to an extracurricular activity, work, volunteering, an academic activity, family responsibility, or any other non-classroom activity. (250 words)
UT Austin: Think of all the activities — both in and outside of school — that you have been involved with during high school. Which one are you most proud of and why? (Guidance for students: This can include an extracurricular activity, a club/organization, volunteer activity, work or a family responsibility.) (40 lines max)
A strong Activity Essay will go beyond anything you have included in the activities section of the Common App, cementing your uniqueness through specific examples and anecdotes. As soccer captain, did you not only lead on the field, but also apply your graphic design background to refresh the team uniforms? You will want to demonstrate leadership and initiative while also reflecting on personal growth and lessons learned, indicators that your involvement in this activity changed you for the better.
Admissions loves to read about students who embrace a journey of self-improvement and insight. Did you spend a year helping to take care of a sibling when a parent was sick and discover a wellspring of patience? No matter what you choose to write about—from working as a stage hand to a lifeguarding at the beach or interning at an art auction house—you’ll need to convey passion and commitment. It is also important that your involvement shows an impact on others or the community. This doesn’t necessarily translate to you winning the award for Best Sustainability Project, but if you received a thank you card from the mayor for cleaning up the creek, this is the place to mention it.
Students often ask us, “Which activity should I pick? The one I’ve done for four years, or the one I’ve done for four months?” Our answer is: it depends. The Activity Essay prompt is frequently framed around the qualifiers “meaningful” or “proud of,” and it’s possible that the activity you find most significant in this context isn’t the one you’ve been a part of the longest. You also have the opportunity to differentiate yourself.
The summer you spent as an oyster farmer, making significant contributions to local aquaculture, might be a more memorable choice than your three-year stint as a member of your school’s mock trial team in which you didn’t hold a leadership position. You’ll want to think carefully about choosing the activity you write about, whether you’d like to focus on hands-on involvement or commitment over time (ideally the activity you choose will incorporate both!)
Again, details are everything and go a long way toward convincing your reader that the activity you selected is meaningful to you. Rather than bragging about awards and accolades, demonstrate through sincerity and storytelling that you are an active participant. Remember: people lead in different ways, and quiet leadership counts! Maybe you empower others by organizing guest speaker events for your diversity club. Perhaps you prefer to create choreography rather than perform it yourself. You needn’t be the one holding the mic to demonstrate impact and can still showcase valuable soft skills like teamwork, communication, and problem-solving in a behind-the-scenes role.
Don’t repeat language verbatim that appears in your Common App activity descriptions. The Activity Essay is a place to dive a bit deeper and take the reader with you while you share more about your concrete experiences in a creative way.
Even if you were forever changed by that one afternoon you shadowed a podiatrist, admissions will be evaluating your hours-long activity alongside someone else’s four-year leadership role in marching band.
You want to make sure that the activity you select gives you ample opportunity to demonstrate not only how you were changed, but also how you affected others.
Our advice is to avoid buzzwords and overused phrases like “results-oriented leader” or “outside-of-the-box thinker.” Your essay should sound personable and authentic, and compelling storytelling arises from specific language.
We love an opportunity to recycle! Our suggestion is to write the longest Activity Essay first and then cut it down, which is always easier than trying to expand on what already feels complete. Make sure you pay particular attention to the language of each specific prompt. There is a difference—even if it is a subtle one—between being asked to write about your most meaningful activity and the activity with which you have been most involved; you’ll want your recycled answer to reflect that difference. This might be as simple as mentioning why it’s “meaningful” or might require crafting a couple of sentences that make clear how you define “most involved.
We at College Essay Advisors have been guiding students one-on-one through the Activity Essay writing process for school-specific supplements for over twenty years. We take a holistic approach to these essays, considering each student’s application package as a whole while helping them select and write about an activity that is meaningful to them while revealing more about their role and contributions.
Our Advisors accommodate each student’s scheduling needs to virtually brainstorm, draft, and revise winning Activity Essays. It’s incredibly important to us that each student’s voice is preserved, and we pride ourselves in helping students write successful essays that differentiate them from similarly qualified applicants. For more information, submit a contact form and/or review our one-on-one advising services.
You can, particularly if the question includes the option to write about “family responsibility.” However, if you choose to write about a club you’ve participated in all four years of high school, we would expect that activity to also show up on your Common App activities list.
Leadership takes many forms, and not all of them are official. Maybe you mentored a younger student or volunteered in a capacity that intersects with a meaningful research project. If you still helped organize and collaborate with others, and you grew as a person, it’s worth considering your involvement in an activity in which you didn’t hold a leadership position.
Typically, the activity essay prompt will ask you to focus on a singular significant activity. Less is more in this case, and writing about multiple activities will only serve as an indicator that you didn’t follow directions.
Your perspective is unique, and to highlight that, use specifics. Don’t just say you found it meaningful to write for your school’s newspaper; talk about the interviews you conducted with local refugee families for the Features article on immigration, for example, or the all-nighter the whole team pulled to make a publication deadline and share a relevant story with your readers.
