When is an Extracurricular Activity Not an Extracurricular Activity

Maybe this will be helpful to those applicants who are working on their resume.  Maybe this will prove comic relief for parents, teachers, guidance counselors or other readers of my blog.  Maybe this will sound like a repeat of one of my older blogs regarding extracurricular activities.  Maybe I’m just getting a bit tired of resumes that are stretched too far.  In either case, as application reading season has gotten underway, I’ve been reminded once again of how desperate some applicants are to look like they are involved.  Remember, don’t tell us what you think we want to hear.  Tell us who you truly are.  Don’t over exaggerate or fill in blanks with hobbies where extracurricular activities should be.  In case you think I’m over exaggerating, here is a short list of “activities” (and I use that term loosely) we’ve seen printed on extracurricular resumes that are likely either made-up or more hobby-ish in nature.

1. Bird watching
2. Weightlifting
3. Commissioner of a fantasy football league
4. Spontaneous Challenge Club
5. Math Team Musical
6. Clowns Against Drugs
7. Curator of a school’s website
8. President of Theoretical Thinkers
9. Living Historian
10. Alice Reliving Wonderland
11. Frequently participate in school-sponsored events

Additionally, remember that filling in all blanks is neither necessary nor expected.  In order to make their list look more complete, some applicants confuse awards with activities; remember there is a separate section for awards.  Thus, honor roll should be listed under awards and not under extracurricular activities.  It’s about quality, not quantity.  In fact, some people stretch out one activity over four blanks to make their list look more full (example: they list their fall musical on one line, their winter drama on the next line, the spring play on the third line and Drama Club on the fourth line when in reality, those could likely be listed as one activity).

Additionally, for those applicants who do stick to true extracurricular activities, be mindful of the hours per week and weeks per year you are listing.  And give us some credit.  We are pretty sure French Club is not 52 weeks per year.  We also think twice when every activity listed is at least 10 hours per week or more (including traditionally weekly-meeting type of activities like honor societies).  In fact, I saw one applicant who claimed that extracurricular activities took 180 hours per week (never mind that there are only 168 hours in a week).

So do tell us what you’re involved with and how you contribute to your school and greater community but don’t go overboard.  These over exaggerations are great fodder for blogs but do not generally help an applicant gain admission.

– Wendy Livingston