Tufts Blogs

There are many different components of your application: Your transcript, your personal essay, your supplemental essays, the letters of recommendation, and all those other questions you have to answer in the application itself. One section that might seem as though it doesn't require much effort to fill out is the extracurricular section: a list of the activities that you’ve engaged in during high school. As a result, some students rush through this section, or don’t give it as much thought as they do their essays. I’m here to help you slow down and really take your time as you fill out the extracurricular section in order to ensure you’re giving yourself credit for the time and energy that you’ve put into your commitments!

When we’re reviewing your extracurricular activities, we’re trying to get a sense of how you engage with your community, what you value, how you collaborate and/or lead, and how you've made an impact during high school. Here are some categories to consider as you craft your extracurricular list:

• Jobs/Research/Internships — These can be part-time during the school year, full-time over the summer, or anything in-between! This could also be helping out consistently at a family business, working with a community-based organization, working at a business you helped start, working in a lab, or interning with a local company.
• Athletics and School Clubs — These are always great to include, and be sure to highlight if you have any leadership roles within those clubs or teams. If you're listing a lesser-known club (maybe you founded it!) be sure to include an explanation of its purpose and your impact. We get asked a lot if we have “preferred” school activities/clubs—we don’t! We want to see you engaging within your school, exploring your interests, and getting experience with collaboration and leadership, so this will naturally look very different for different students.
• Music/Performing Arts/Visual Art — If you have a strong interest in these areas and are pursuing them through formal lessons, rigorous practice/self-instruction, or through larger arts organizations or companies, let us know.
• Volunteering and Religious Service — Involvement in community service initiatives (through school, a faith community, or a local outreach organization) can be one way you demonstrate your concern for others and desire to do good for the world. 
• Family Responsibilities — Your family is part of your community! If you’re dedicating significant time and emotional labor to supporting them, that’s great to share. This could include translating documents for family members, maintaining responsibility for siblings, helping care for grandparents, and more. 
• Independent Projects — Do you have a big project you’re working on that is taking up a ton of your time? Maybe you’re translating a book into your second language, maybe you’re building a robot in your basement, maybe you’re making a large-scale art piece, maybe you’re writing a one-woman show—all are good things to tell us about!

Some things that don’t quite meet the mark are things that most people are doing in their spare time—things like basic chores (taking out the trash, doing the dishes), casual hobbies (reading, watching tv, playing video games), or doing your assigned homework. It’s when those activities go above and beyond those levels that you can include them in the list. Don’t be afraid to add context to activities, and let us know if there was something preventing you from engaging in activities—maybe an injury kept you out of sports for a couple of years or maybe you live in a rural place with limited options for extracurricular engagement. Whatever your specific circumstances are, you can elaborate in the Additional Information section if you feel the need. 

A final piece of advice is to review your list once you’ve finished and put the activities that are most important to you at the top of the online application—we see these first, and getting a sense of what is most important to you (and likely where you’re dedicating the bulk of your time) is a helpful way to start understanding your interests and community engagement. Good luck, and don’t forget to take your time!