What counts as an activity
The Common App names family responsibilities, jobs, internships, volunteering, hobbies and sports as valid activities. Since 2026-27 the section is called "activities and experiences", and the form says outright that self-taught activities and ones outside an official group are welcome, from high school or later. That matters if your school offers few clubs.
How to fill in each activity
Each of your up to 10 activities on the 2026-27 Common App has three short text fields. The longest, the description, allows only 150 characters, so start with a verb and use numbers.
| Field | Limit | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Position or leadership, if any | 50 characters | State your role, such as "Founder" or "Team captain" |
| Organization, if any | 100 characters | The name of the group, company or project |
| Description, honors and accomplishments | 150 characters | Start with a verb and use numbers |
For each activity you also pick a type from a list and give hours per week, weeks per year, the grades you took part in (9 to 12, or after high school), whether it happens during the school year, school breaks or all year, and whether you plan to continue in college. An estimate is fine for the hours. The character limits come from the Common App's 2025 guide; no change has been published for 2026-27.
Example description:
- Weak: "I was a member of the robotics club and participated in competitions."
- Strong: "Led 6-person team building a line-following robot; placed 2nd of 40 at state olympiad; taught Arduino to 15 younger students."
The same pattern works for every kind of activity: a verb, what you did, and a number that shows scale. Each of these invented examples fits in 150 characters, with spaces:
| Activity | Description | Characters |
|---|---|---|
| Part-time job | "Worked 12 hrs/week at family bakery; ran weekend register, trained 2 new staff, planned orders a day ahead to cut morning prep time" | 131 |
| Family responsibility | "Cared for 2 younger siblings after school, 20 hrs/week: cooked dinner, helped with homework, walked them to and from school daily" | 129 |
| Volunteering | "Founded free online math tutoring for 30 public-school students; recruited 8 tutors and ran weekly sessions for 2 school years" | 126 |
| Independent project | "Built a recycling-pickup app with 2 friends; 300 downloads in our city; presented it to the city council environment committee" | 126 |
Responsibilities and circumstances
Since 2025-26 the section has two newer questions. The first asks about responsibilities that take 4 or more hours a week, such as caring for relatives, translating for your family or working in a family business. The second asks about circumstances, such as a commute of 60 minutes or more, no reliable internet or unstable housing. Both are checklists, and you may repeat something you already told elsewhere in the Common App.
If you help at home or travel far to school, this is where it goes. It explains how you spend your time.
Honors
Honors go in the Education section, in up to 5 lines, and are optional. The section is for academic honors from ninth grade (or its equivalent) on: national olympiads, school distinctions and academic competition results belong here. For each one you tick the grade and the level of recognition (school, state or regional, national or international). A reader will not know every competition, so make the title clear.
Need more space?
The Common App points to the additional information question in the Writing section, next to your personal essay. In 2026-27 it takes up to 300 words; until 2024-25 it was 650, so be wary of older guides.
What colleges value
The Common App says to focus on the activities that best tell your story, not on the number of them. Activities show your interests outside class and how you might contribute on campus.
- Depth: a few activities with years of commitment count more than many short ones.
- Concrete results: what changed because of you, in numbers.
- Order: list the activities that matter most to you first, as the form itself asks.