HOW TO FILL OUT THE COMMON APP ACTIVITIES SECTION!!!

HOW TO FILL OUT THE COMMON APP ACTIVITIES SECTION!!!
In today's video, I discuss my tips for tackling the activities section on the Common Application!
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I’m an 18-year-old kid and a freshman at Yale University studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. I’m an amateur filmmaker, professional magician, and avid student. This is my life.
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[@JoshBeasley]

Thanks for watching guys! The SAT prep videos are coming tomorrow so stay tuned! Comment down below what you thought!

[@zacharyjamessamoila2855]

Thanks for all your work on KZbin. It really helps me

[@ral2585]

Josh! What if you listed an activity that you don't intend on pursuing in University? Even if you excelled at that in school. Do you recommend to still list in?

[@l.s.2578]

Josh Beasley What do you do if u do more than 10 activities?

[@MCRHN]

Can you do a video about the Honor section?

[@xsun9582]

Josh Beasley a

[@user-qi2tn9oh1k]

You know, it's so awesome to have someone like you to really reach out and lend a helping hand to those seniors currently going through the stressful college application process! Thank you so much!

[@JoshBeasley]

Thanks for the support! It's great to see that my videos are helping people!

[@dukebozikowski3801]

@@JoshBeasley HELP!!! I entered my activities but the check mark won't show up and I am unable to submit my application.

[@zhangjason10]

that feel when you dont have to narrow down your list cus u dont even have a list

[@PSL09]

:( relatable

[@nickallbritton3796]

Same

[@John-lf3xf]

you are screwed. bad for you, but good for me :)

[@DivineSeaDragon]

John Landon Miller dickhead

[@josh.c36]

@@John-lf3xf dude people like you are why this world is messed up

[@ArnoldSetiadi]

Thanks Josh! This goes to show that you don't need be involved in any CRAZY extracurriculars or win any EXCEPTIONAL, national awards to get into the Ivy League! It showed your genuine interest, passion, and commitment; that's all that matters. Wish me luck, applying to Yale SCEA this year!

[@JoshBeasley]

Thank you so much! That is exactly the point I'm trying to get across. Good Luck with you application process!!!

[@diegocalderon2308]

AsianArnold did you get in

[@nat3321]

Did you get accepted?

[@katerennadahelali7838]

yes he did. check his channel.

[@momonz7656]

I’ve been watching these videos since I was a little try hard freshman and now I’m actually here filling all this out. Never thought this day would come. Thanks a million Josh!

[@cindyxu6436]

Can't believe that I watched this as a rising sophomore and now I'm a junior finally starting to put together her Common App!!

[@joeychenr]

Cindy Xu I’m a rising junior watching this 😂

[@rebeccax1431]

Sophomore here :)

[@wonderlandsfoodie]

Why did you not list magic in your extracurriculars??

[@atticusmbav]

Incredibly useful, thank you so much for posting this… I started on my application and got really confused about how to describe my activities in such a short amount of space and this really cleared things up for me!

[@victorsotocastro8191]

Hey Josh, this is a pretty old video but I actually watched this in 2017 while in high school before applying to colleges and now I'm entering my senior year in undergrad. I don't know why this was recommended to me again, but it was nice to still see you're still uploading. Congratulations on finishing school and helping a first-gen lad get into college.

[@samahshahed3123]

Just found your videos and wanted to say a quick thank you! I'm an international student planning to apply to Yale this year and your videos are helping so so much. Thanks Josh:)

[@madara2897]

Josh you beast! This video was an extraordinary help, and undoubtedly a major factor in me getting into Columbia. Keep doing what you do idk why you're not more famous.

[@Smokie_bear9896]

“You should have 15-20 extracurriculars in your list. Me: have 5. big oof

[@terry_tamali]

You're doing a great job inspiring high-school students, Josh!

[@zoegast103]

i know this video is from forever ago but seeing your bsa role made me really happy. im a freshman and my town just started a bsa-G Troup to which im a founding member. i am current scribe and i hope to one day rank eagle!

[@Jordan-xq5rk]

“15-20 activities”

[@crazyforcats19]

You probably had more than you first thought. It's not just school clubs. Sports, jobs, volunteer positions, church or other religious groups, Scouting, and other activities outside of school count too.

[@flakron2489]

@@crazyforcats19 well in my country there are no such things as school clubs soo im screwed

[@CutsiePie_]

@@flakron2489 Start some! Colleges love it when you take initiative!

[@flakron2489]

@@CutsiePie_ mate, there are no such thing like school clubs in my country

[@CutsiePie_]

@@flakron2489 I realized you said country and not school, sorry. What country ate you from, if you're able to share? There are some schools I know that don't do clubs, but students start them.

[@adamvermillion6037]

this was really well put together and it gave me a ton of confidence going into my common app, thank you so much!

[@computerfraudandabuseactof43]

and I'm like: "Tennis Ball Hitter, JV Tennis"

[@rebeccax1431]

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 just put player lol

[@rubellite7841]

LMAOO SAME

[@AK-vr4mm]

😂😂😂 online course position: person sitting on the chair

[@alexandritta23]

I'm a senior, so you're being a LIFE SAVER!

[@willsonbasyal7883]

Thank you so much bro! Your videos are so helpful, and you look cool. Keep it up!

[@kaylo-3608]

This video legit helped me out so much lmao. Thanks for helping me out through filling out my common app!!! I had no ides what I was doing haha

[@parulsingh2073]

Thank you so much for making this video! It helps make a really daunting task easier to go through step by step :)

[@mqmq777]

Hey Josh this is soo helpful!! Thank you for sharing:))

[@allenmasih4563]

The music in the beginning of ur vedios is awesome !

[@starrk6966]

omg this was so much help you explained this better than my counselors

[@michelemagni2501]

So helpful thank you! Do you recommend filling out the “optional” additional essay at the end?

[@ArvindRajan]

Dude this video helped so much thanks so much!!!

[@zuha1154]

this was so helpful. I ended up adding 8 activities.

[@maq1492]

thanks a lot man. this was great video

[@cyandanjou5520]

this is sooo helpful. currently working on my applications!

[@JoshBeasley]

Thanks!

[@DoItSoonTutorials]

any update?

[@josecarlolemus9928]

Thanks!! This is very helpful

[@bestsattips5245]

Amazing job bro!

[@elijhaawesome]

Thanks for your content!

[@anjalishah4168]

Hi, can you explain how you calculated your hours spent per week and weeks spent per year? thanks

[@chester14rw]

very helpful. thank you

[@tariqmarouf600]

Man, you are great.

[@maya_mouch]

Hi! Thank you for uploading this video! When did you begin applying for colleges? Did you begin the summer after your Junior year (on college websites) or did you begin the first semester of your Senior year?

[@yazanzamel3039]

Thank you Josh!

[@JoshBeasley]

Of course! Thanks for the support!

[@brundhaaa]

This actually gave me a lot of ideas thaannnkkkkssssssss

[@batmuncries7113]

Awesome!

[@wonderlandsfoodie]

Hey josh! I am wondering for example, your activity of being President of NHS, were you president in 10th, 11th and 12th? I’m not sure if I am only President of this club for one year but participated in more than a year what I should do!

[@melarbi]

Very helpful video! I do not understand the Post Graduate checkbox. What is it for?

[@arseniykan]

Can I include a one-time experience such as a summer school or a mission trip in my EC list?

[@sanderutayisire2294]

Thank you for your video

[@jasonngwa9151]

Sick intro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@iamgrant]

What if we are not sure of a certain position. I am a senior and am not sure if I am going to be Captain for my senior year of basketball. Should I put it anyway?

[@supernaturalsimmer3395]

Awesome and very helpful videos! I have a few questions though. Let's say I have been practicing swimming for three years of High School and I have been taking Spanish classes/course 2 times weekly for four years of High School, do I add these as activities? And I'm not from the USA so there's nowhere a place to take the SAT,what do I do? Thanks! 😀

[@ambience320]

Thanks josh

[@JoshBeasley]

I gotchu

[@erinrenzi3610]

helpful video! do you always want to say yes when it asks if you intend to participate in the future?

[@GS-oz3se]

For an activity like music that you do in and out of school, should you include the class period for your hours per week? Or only out of school hours?

[@bailey1053]

What do you do if you played a varsity sport and you also played travel sport. Should you list them separately?

[@WestonMurdock]

As someone who moved high schools, what advice do you have for handling that on your application? I attended a public high school for my freshman and sophomore years, and am now at an academically focused residential high school entering my senior year after transferring for my junior year. The extracurriculars offered at my residential high school are very different from my old one, so I'm not sure how to explain that on my application. In particular my largest commitment at my old school was marching band, which isn't offered at my new school, although I've continued my other band related activities. There are also some clubs that I wasn't able to participate in during my junior year, but plan on participating in my senior year, and I'm worried about how colleges will perceive that, although I genuinely want to get involved in the activities, but either didn't know about them or couldn't fit them in my junior year. Finally, I haven't participated in any academic honor societies because my new school doesn't offer any, reason being that the school itself bases admission largely on academics, so nearly everyone there could qualify for one, rendering them somewhat useless. Do I need to explain that and these other things somewhere on my application, or should I just let my application and activities speak for themselves? Sorry for the long questions, there's just a lot of things to get overwhelmed with when dealing with moving schools.

[@topmysteryexpert1276]

nice work bro

[@hunterfagan6272]

When i put down the years that I participated in a sport, should i put down senior year, even though i havent sign up yet because the season hasnt started?

[@gidi5779]

Great video! I have a question though. As an international student in central europe, outside activities, are fairly rare, especially in grades 9 and above (I suppose because of a different culture and school organization) and definitely not something I paid too much attention to - not even mentioning clubs, school organized activities or voluntary hours, which are practically non-existent. What would you recommend wrinting in the activities section? Do internships during holidays and working on my graduation thesis qualify as activities? More generally, what is the exact purpose of this section. To see how the student spent his free time or to extract the interests and character of the student i.e. an opportunity for the student to show off? Thank you in advance!

[@ThrtLvlJuke]

also, if I only did Nat. Spanish HS and Nat. Science HS my sophomore year, should I put that?

[@shivaniparepally]

Hey Josh! Thanks for the video. So in my application I have 3/4 really big stand out activities and like 3/4 other small ones (I did win awards but nothing like national level) is it okay to include those as well? I did spent alot of time on them too

[@rachelm9514]

GOD BLESS

[@kunibeasley1210]

Good video... A credit to the family name!!!

[@indyat.8450]

you know u have a solid list of extracurriculars- see that sir, that is where you are wrong

[@jeanlaguerre6455]

About if you have 3 strong avtivities and strongly excels in them?

[@Majestic469]

What if I have an activity that not a lot of people know what it means. How can I explain what the activity is in short space?

[@markcork9606]

How do you indicate (or do you need to?) if for example you were an officer in a club one year but not others? I was VP only my junior year, but in the club three years.

[@JC-rl6ln]

Should I put internship experiences in the activities section as well, or do they go in the additional information section?

[@zelani3370]

Hi, I don't know if you'll be able to answer, but I am a French high school student and I wanted to know if I could put my participation in a optional English class when I was in middle school. It was organized by the school and we had to pass a test in order to get in.

[@mksaintsfan]

How did you decide what order to put the activities in?

[@marqluxe.]

can i add cooking in activities?

[@zelani3370]

Are we allowed to put activities that we do by ourselves? For example, I am learning Korean at home, but I am not taking classes, does that count?

[@venkatpranayreddy8742]

Hi while applying to university (we need to show bank statement?)

[@lon3w0lf29]

Hi, I was wondering if I should separate school soccer and club soccer. I know that they are the same but, the reason why I am asking this is because my years of involvement, awards, and participation are completely different. So based on that, should I separate them?

[@serenitybeats1677]

A lot of my classmates do a bunch of clubs like prom committee, environmental club, French club, student government, etc, is it bad to do all of this? Because I am only a track and field athlete and focus on that combined with academics

[@cindyxu6436]

Hi Josh, just have a quick question. Should internships and academic summer programs (for college credit for ex.) be put in the academics section or would that go on a resume?

[@KarloStacruz]

THANK YOUUUU

[@mw7185]

Josh: how early can I start the commonapp.org application ? Do I have to wait til Aug 1 ?

[@mikehawwke]

Hey Josh I made websites and mobile apps . How should i put it on common app

[@squishygugu7666]

When should i start working on common app??

[@zuha1154]

how do colleges verify these activities. For example, if i found a club, wouldnt the uni need certificates? also, in football and basketball ive been to many tournaments in the past 2 yrs but i havent received all the certificates. does that matter?

[@sincerelydami]

Your videos are so helpful. I admire your consistency. But sometimes the background music makes it hard for me to focus on what you're saying

[@d.t5119]

Hi there, i notice all your activities are being done consistently every week, if i have done something once maybe twice, can i put it up there as well?

[@SR-bs9ez]

Hey Josh, I have some awards that I won in interschool Competitions which were extracurricular-not academic in nature but were one time things and did not require weekly participation or anything. Should I list them in the activities section? If not, where then ? I'd be very grateful if you could let me know. Thanks.

[@lukethomas6131]

Thanks for replying to my last comment Josh! Also, can you list the awards you put down in your commonapp? Im not too confident because I only have a few community service awards, NHS, and honor roll.

[@JoshBeasley]

The only major awards I had was National AP Scholar and Eagle Scout. I was worried about my awards too, but you'll be fine :)

[@Amelie-ks2em]

In high school I had a music scholarship so the majority of my clubs were orchestras and choirs. Is this bad ?

[@valatwoofers730]

if awards were judged awards won during competition on a robotics team can they be listed as awards? my son has a very long list of these kinds of awards 9-11th grade so far. some are state championship awards. the team has been just 2-5 team members so he has played a key, hands on role in winning the awards.

[@4everdry503]

You're videos are so helpful! My question is if I held a leadership position in 10th, 11th and 12th grade for the same club, but they were different positions each year, where should I differentiate between each position I had each year? Or should I only list the highest?

[@4everdry503]

*your

[@JoshBeasley]

You list all of your leadership positions, and then you mark the years that you participated in the club in general. I hope that makes sense.

[@4everdry503]

Yes, thank you!

[@ThrtLvlJuke]

Can hobbies count as ECs? I compete in speed cubing which is separate from school of course, could I still put that?

[@TheScienceBiome]

ofc

[@skewd2528]

@@TheScienceBiome ey I love making music and I post it on this youtube channel. Can that be an extracurricular? Will it look.. like I'm advertising my youtube channel?

[@celiartp9939]

@@skewd2528 everything you spend you time in is an extracurricular

[@babrielle]

Thank you for this amazing advice! It has eased a fair amount of stress. I am currently working on my applications for 9 schools, and the EA deadline for 4 of them is coming up😬

[@gauravvasnani2031]

sameeee

[@diegocalderon2308]

Good video

[@JoshBeasley]

Thank you!

[@lawrencefroymovich34]

I've had this question about college applications for a while, but do you know if there's a way to put a resume in place or in addition to the common app activity section?

[@ConquerCollegeAdmissions]

Hi Gentoo! Some schools will ask you to upload a resume, but the Common Application won't ask you for a resume!

[@inayam5399]

nova represent

[@Paula-gt6hx]

Did you submit any recordings of you playing the violin? Is that necessary?

[@kelechionwuzurike4830]

I wonder if STEM would count as an activity?

[@heyyou1198]

I am heading into my sophomore year of high school. I'm not looking to go to an ivy league school but I still want to go to a good school (BU is my top choice at the moment). Freshman year I had health issues and missed the majority of my first semester. Semester 2 I was in school more regularly but I only had 1 extra curricular that year: JV Tennis. This year I am a lot healthier and I'm going to be doing skiing, tennis, model UN, a few other smaller clubs, regular volunteer work, and I did a mission trip and I do 1 each summer. My grades were all A+ to A- but I was unable to take honors classes. Will colleges understand that?

[@JoshBeasley]

Yes they will, you can mention it in the extra info section too if you feel like it

[@hening2212]

I have less than 5 activities due to my current high school extras system that doesn't allow students to make a new club or organization and it sucks cos i really want to participate in somekind of public speaking extras or writing club which i spent most of my time on at home. i feel like my application won't be that interesting. what do i do now:(

[@shravanr8264]

Hey Josh! I've organized and hosted a "Talk On Entrepreneurship" where we invited interested students from schools nearby and had an entrepreneur talk to them. We didn't charge a fee for entry and funded everything with sponsors. Is it going to help my application?

[@EG-ge7lz]

Yes, but you won’t be able to mention you in the activities section since it is so limited. You should lowkey mention it in the essay.

[@osiohanu8166]

What song was playing throughout the video

[@Fanstachetic]

You averaged 30-40 hours per week on extracurriculars in 10th grade? How did you find time to sleep??

[@aryavirsangwan6837]

Hi, josh! I’m a eighth grader who will soon run a marathon at the age of 12( I skipped a grade) Is this a valuable extracurricular?

[@stevenstamkos8099]

I'm only a freshman but this was an extremely helpful video thanks! And if you are a writer of your very own blog, can u put that as an activity?

[@JoshBeasley]

Yeah, i would definitely put that as an activity, that could be a cool essay topic too ;)

[@enakshideb3165]

This was really helpful! Out of curiosity, do you happen to play any instruments?

[@lukethomas6131]

When you list "Timing of Participation" as "All Year", does that mean that you participated in these activities in the summer as well? Confused because some of your "All Year" activities took place during the 36 weeks of the school year

[@JoshBeasley]

You're presented the choices of "During School year" , "During school break", or "All Year". The activities that I listed all year did have meetings/practices during the summer.

[@reeyabharadwaj3934]

Hey josh! So I was the head girl of my school(for two consecutive years), which is equivalent to being the student body president. Do you think that would help? Also, where do I put that? Thanks for the help!

[@360wheelz5]

What did you get into?!