When to start filling out common app
How to Fill Out The Common App: the Application and Activities sections EXPLAINED!!
hey guys are you applying to college and
wondering ah how do I fill out the
government application if so this video
is for you what I'm gonna do is I'm
gonna walk you through how to fill out
the common application activity sections
specifically as well as just the general
kind of stuff and I'm also going to give
you some tips on the biggest mistakes
that students make when they fill out
the activities section so stay tuned
before we get too deep into things I
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further ado let's get into things I'm
here at the common application so after
you create an ID you get here to this
dashboard and we're gonna walk you
through kind of how this works and the
things that you have to worry about so
the first thing that I'm going to show
you guys on the common application is
right here under profile I'm not gonna
go through all this like personal
information stuff but what I am gonna
show you is kind of how it works which
is once you've filled everything out in
a particular section you're gonna get a
little green check on the right-hand
side which means that you've filled it
all out and if you haven't filled it out
that won't be there and you have to go
into it and explain everything okay two
things I want to quickly point out that
you shouldn't overlook there's this
little thing on scholarship information
and you can tell them if you want to
receive information from colleges about
financial aid and scholarships and then
there's also this idea of a fee waiver
if you think you might qualify you can
check this out and click on this and
that's something to you can talk to our
counselor about at school let's get a
family this is just about your family
it's basic stuff it shouldn't be that
hard this is about your education you
just fill this out it's all pretty darn
self-explanatory other secondary schools
if you didn't know what that means
that's high schools so that's what
secondary schools means so don't put
like elementary schools don't put your
middle school those no count colleges
and universities if you've ever taken
coursework at a college or university
you're going to say how many and then
there
going to give you the ability to fill
that in I think you can include if you
want like summer courses if they were
for credit so if you have any questions
of whether this counts or not what I
would do is talk to the people at the
organization where you took your program
and ask them if it's accredited with a
college or university that's kind of the
question you want to ask some summer
programs are some summer programs aren't
and even college now or like Community
College stuff that would go here grades
graduating class size current or most
recent your courses so you just fill the
stuff out if you don't know the answer
to these questions talk to your guidance
counselor at your school okay and then
honors you're going to say have you
received any honors so this is the first
part I'm going to start to talk about
where you can fit interesting stuff in
with your activities here's the deal my
role with the common application is you
don't want to repeat unless you have to
repeat so one of the first places that
you can start to put in your activities
is actually under honors you want to
maximize how awesome you've seen and so
in order to do that you don't want to be
repeating yourself over and over again
so you might even put something here
like National Honor Society even though
it's like an activity because it's kind
of more of an honor do you get what I'm
saying this could be also like honor
roll right now when I do honors and this
is just a general rule of thumb I always
like to say start with a thing that's
most impressive so if your first honor
is that you were like a presidential
scholar right because that's national
and you put that one first because it's
more impressive honor roll is gonna be
less impressive
because chances are as long as you had a
3.5 average you made the honor roll but
my point is is try to put your most
impressive honor first try to put your
least impressive honor last and remember
there are some things that you could
finagle into honors that otherwise might
be a dopey activity but it's also kind
of an honor and so that's a way you can
save some space in the activities
section to pack more in okay so let's
talk about community-based organizations
so this is actually a spot where you can
acknowledge that you had help from a
community organization or a program with
assistance in your application process
that could be something like and there's
these organizations do you see how they
have a list of
that could be something like the Boys
and Girls Club that could be something
like ah Quest bridge I know a lot of
students work with Quest bridge that's
probably one of the most common ones and
then you can fill in like whoever your
mentor is etc from that but I know a lot
of students who are confused by this and
they think they should put their private
tutor or something or their aunt and
like no don't do that that's silly
so and then you go to future plans you
can do your career interest and you can
also do the highest degree you intend to
earn I don't think schools are
necessarily too caught up in what you
think you want to do aspirationally but
it does provide a little bit of focus
especially if you're not claiming a
major on your college application of any
sort I will say and we'll talk about
this in a little bit that there are some
schools in which it is much more
difficult to get into a certain major
than another major and that might come
into a part of your strategy when you're
applying to schools so in terms of this
I would say just be honest so let's jump
to the activity section this is probably
the section that most people screw up
besides the essays when it comes to
filling out the common application again
I just really quickly wanted to hit on
in your profile that piece of Education
where you can look at a words because
that's a place where you can create
balance with your activities so I like
to just show you guys that show you how
you can use that
okay so activities basic gist of
activities activities tips number one
don't type directly in boxes use a
document and the reason to do that is
that the interface is really finicky and
like if you press back or you move your
cursor the wrong direction it like
deletes everything and it's super
unnerving and it drives you nuts I just
did it like four times and I felt like I
wanted to smash my computer so be sure
to not type directly into boxes use a
document remember you have a hundred and
fifty characters and if you don't know
how to check for characters if you're in
Microsoft Word you can go to tools and
word count if you're in Google Docs
there's also a word count feature that
you can find I'm sure you can find it
and then you also have fifty characters
for the description okay number two
maximize your words so shove things
wherever you can okay if you run out
there is additional information
in the essay section that you can use
okay number three tip number three is I
want you guys to be consistent and what
I mean by that is if you're saying flute
right and then I put the organization
that I played the flute in right then
I'm gonna be consistent if I do it in
the reverse order I'm gonna do it in the
reverse order if I do actress costumer
right flute piccolo player you get what
I'm saying if I'm gonna use a slash here
then I want to use a slash here are you
with me people I want to be consistent
okay
same thing with this if I'm just listing
stuff out if I'm going to use verbs I
want to be consistent with tense
so I usually recommend the past tense
right don't flip the present tense okay
so be consistent number four I want you
guys to put the most important stuff
first okay so that means more hours more
attention more passion and more
excellence
whatever has more of all these things
that's what you want to put first okay
and then number five I usually say put
low commitment stuff activities last
those are usually things like non
regular community service camps and
leadership programs am i telling you not
to put these on here absolutely not I
know some of you saw my activities that
colleges don't care about and you think
you shouldn't put them on your
application at all you should so that
they don't care about them at all it's
just that put the other things first
because they show more commitment and
put these little things last so not in
regular community service things that
are non-traditional maybe you help out
at your mom's shop or something or maybe
you teach private flute lessons to
random kids I don't know
so things that are non-traditional I
also will usually put down toward the
bottom and remember number six my tip
number six is think outside the box but
not too far okay and what I mean by that
by thinking outside the box but not too
far is it's totally cool if you have a
legit
an activity that doesn't fit into a
normal activity sort of thing like let's
say you are taking flight lessons and
learning to fly planes that's freaking
cool you should put it on your
activities but does that mean that you
should put down that you walk your own
dog no walking your dog is like not an
impressive activity and I don't really
want to see it now sometimes I also have
people who want to put that they like
attend a religious organization if
that's really important to you and you
feel like you're involved and you feel
like it's a community for you and you've
accomplished something within that
structure then feel free to put that
down if it's just attending something
like once a week I would definitely keep
it toward the bottom unless you really
don't have other activities and and it
just is a matter of like how involved
are you and how much of an impact have
you made right or are you just a passive
observer in that context so you can
think outside the box but not too far
outside the box and let's round this out
with number seven what's my last tip is
proofread one of the biggest mistakes
the students make on the activity
section of the common tab is that they
don't proofread these they have a bunch
of people give them input on their
essays and they have no one read the
activities the reason that you want to
proofread is one if you're an
international student a lot of the time
and even if you're a domestic student a
lot of the time activities don't
translate and what I mean by that is
that you cause something even if it's in
English right you call some activity or
school something and in America we don't
call it that or we don't have that
position or we don't have that Club I
don't know what your superstar Club is
you get what I'm saying I don't know
what these things are and then the other
thing too is make sure you give it to
other people so they can read it people
who don't go to your high school so that
it's not a bunch of jargon and what I
mean by jargon is a lot of high schools
have particular ways of saying things
they have particular clubs that are
called particular things I may never
have heard of your school's random Club
so make sure that you say things in a
way that we get what the heck you're
talking about okay and then my final
comment to you guys is always use the
additional information if you can
because this is an opportunity to add
more in I've had people put in whole
other essays if you have another awesome
essay I've had people explain more
activities whatever you want to do but
you have this box you should use it this
is your attempt to get into college you
have
a few extra words I recommend that most
people use it if you have the time or
you have the wherewithal and that's it I
hope you guys like this video if you did
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awesome videos and check out all our
other videos on college entrance I will
see you guys next time at super tutor TV
ciao for now
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