Extracurricular
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Examples of Extracurricular Activities from Top Admits
Real examples from Crimson Admits to Top Universities
Gabe G.
Harvard Graduate & Research Innovator
Summary
Of 349 Crimson students admitted to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, and other Ivy League and top-20 US universities in 2024/25 and 2025/26, 91% filled all ten Common App activity slots and 92% put a number on at least one activity. Four of the five complete lists below are anchored by an activity that began in grade 9. The page also reproduces 76 real entries from the wider group, sorted by category.
What counts as an extracurricular activity on a college application?
An extracurricular activity is anything you do outside required coursework, whether that's a club, a sport, a job, research, or an independent project. The Common App puts it more personally, asking for the activities and experiences that have meant the most to you in high school, and its own examples run from jobs, internships, and volunteer work to hobbies, sports, and family responsibilities.
The Common App renamed the section Activities and Experiences for the 2026-27 cycle, added fields for commitments that continue after high school, and made the 50-character position line optional. Each of the ten slots still gives you 100 characters for the organization and 150 for the description, then fields for grade levels, hours per week, weeks per year, and whether you'll continue in college. Admissions officers treat those slots as a record of how you spend your time when nobody is grading you.
Paid work counts, and so does a research project with no institution behind it. Responsibilities at home, like looking after younger siblings, have their own checklist on the form, and if they take real hours every week they can still fill one of your ten slots. Coursework taken for credit goes on your transcript.
How many extracurricular activities do top college admits list?
Nearly all top college admits fill every slot. Of the 349 Crimson students in the US and Canada admitted to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, or another Ivy League or top-20 US university in the 2024/25 and 2025/26 cycles, 317 (91%) used all ten, and the group averaged 9.3 activities.
With ten full slots the norm, the lists differ in the details they hold. Across the same group, 320 of the 349 (92%) quantified the result of at least one activity, and the average admit did so in 4.9 entries. Of the 299 students with capstone records, 32% had completed a formal capstone project, and 36% of the full group listed a published or under-review paper.
Pattern among Crimson admits, 2024/25 and 2025/26 cycles | Figure | Base |
Filled all ten Common App activity slots | 91% | 317 of 349 with Common App data |
Mean number of activities listed | 9.3 | 349 with Common App data |
At least one activity with a quantified result | 92% | 320 of 349 with Common App data |
Average number of quantified entries per student | 4.9 | 349 with Common App data |
Completed a Crimson-tracked capstone project | 32% | 95 of 299 with capstone records |
Listed a published or under-review paper | 36% | 127 of 349 with Common App data |
The capstone figure counts only projects tracked in Crimson's system, so the true share is probably higher. The paper figure is what students reported on the Common App, including work still under review, so the share with a paper actually in print may be lower.
Extracurricular activity examples by category
The 76 entries below come from 20 of the students who filled all ten slots, and most of them measure what the activity produced. Each one stays close to what the student submitted, with abbreviations spelled out, identifying names generalized, and a few details trimmed for privacy. Look as closely at how each entry is built (what the student did, how they did it, and what came of it) as at the activity itself.
Academic clubs and competitions
Activity | Position | Description | Grades |
USA Computing Olympiad | Competitor; self-taught programmer | Started self-study of Python, C++, and Java in 7th grade; reached USACO Gold; weekly study toward the Platinum division | 9-12 |
School math club | President; contest organizer | 4th place individual in number theory at PUMaC; 13th place team at HMMT out of 113; compete in HMMT, PUMaC, and NYML; arrange tutoring at libraries | 9-12 |
Science Olympiad | Wind engineering coach; competitor | Mentored 40+ middle school students in design and construction: one top-2, one top-20, and a team state qualification; competed in 3 events, twice top 10 | 10-11 |
School math competition team | President | Organized school AMC, CEMC, and state math league tests; ran practice sessions | 9-12 |
AwesomeMath | Summer program attendee | Took Algebra 3.5 and Number Theory 3, among the hardest olympiad-level classes offered | 9 |
North Carolina Governor's School | Scholar | 1 of 400 statewide; studied sociopolitical theory and STEM communication; created a "Mic Drop" elective teaching public speaking in STEM | 11 |
Yale Young Global Scholars | Attendee; speaker | Selected 8 of 150 for the speaker series, presenting to 150+ on food insecurity; research in STEM applications with a Yale mentor | 10-12 |
Research
Activity | Position | Description | Grades |
Albany Medical College myelin lab | Researcher | Ran 2 studies on protein expression, remyelination, and axonal regeneration; used western blot, ImageJ, and R; won at JSHS and a Regeneron award | 10-12 |
Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program | Research associate; first author | Researched physiological state inference from clinical context using multimodal deep learning; Strober Family Scholarship grant | 11-12 |
ML biomedical research with an Iowa State CS professor | Research team lead | 1st author on an accepted IJHSR paper; ML cancer biomarker study with PCA and TCGA data; awarded at 2 regional science fairs | 11-12 |
Pesticide effects on zebrafish, Stony Brook University | Author; researcher | Analyzed pesticide alternatives and their impact on humans and aquatic life; multi-year; on a preprint server and submitted to PSHSJ | 11-12 |
CERN CMS | Researcher | Designed and tested components; worked clean room shifts for the CMS upgrade; learned circuitry and microscope testing | 11-12 |
NJ Governor's School of Engineering and Technology | Scholar and researcher | Studied robotics, AI, nanofabrication, and physics; researched audio localization for search and rescue; accepted to the MIT IEEE conference | 12 |
UChicago Young Innovators in Climate and Energy | Participant and collaborator | Studied environmental policy at UChicago and Invenergy; published a literature review on air pollution and mental health in low-income communities | 11-12 |
Advanced neuroscience lab independent study | Computer music researcher and programmer | Programmed 6 Max/MSP music generation models using EEG data from an Emotiv headset; attending a 40-hour Stanford Max/MSP course | 9-12 |
NASA STEM Enhancement in Earth Science | Air quality intern; researcher | Analyzed NASA satellite data to assess emissions regulations on formaldehyde and PM1 pollutants; presented to a 500+ audience | 12 |
Arts and music
Activity | Position | Description | Grades |
New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic Orchestra | Solo and orchestra violinist | Selected 1 of 90 from 1,000+ for NEC's top orchestra; 6+ solo and 3 orchestra concerts a year for 3,000+ audience | 9-12 |
California Youth Symphony | Principal trumpet; pianist | Lead trumpet section and perform solos; 3 concerts a year with about 500 attendees each; MTAC Certificate of Merit State Honors 6 consecutive years | 9-12 |
Manhattan School of Music Pre-College | Piano student | Multiple awards in international competitions; studied theory and related subjects alongside private lessons; 7 hours of practice a week year-round | 9-12 |
Regional youth symphony | First chair violist | Played viola (NYSSMA level 6) in 3 concerts a year; quartet fundraiser concert raised $2,500+ a year for a local food bank | 9-12 |
Singer, songwriter, and performer | Independent artist | Released a song with 13K streams in 140 countries, press in 10+ blogs, and 78 playlist features; solo with school orchestra; 10+ local performances | 9-12 |
School Thespians Honor Society troupe | President | Ran weekly rehearsals (3x), competed in 12 theater competitions, acted in 8 shows, stage managed 38 shows for 50+ people | 9-12 |
School chorus | Singer; choir captain; concert organizer | First student to organize a choral concert with 40+ singers, selecting music and leading rehearsals for an environment-themed program; performed at Carnegie Hall | 9-12 |
Fiddle club | Violist; bodhrán player | Learned 40+ Irish and Scottish tunes on viola and bodhrán; performed in Scotland in April 2024; invited to the Edinburgh International Harp Festival | 9-12 |
Independent recording artist | Artist | Recorded and released two New Age albums in a home studio on all major platforms | 9-12 |
Community service
Activity | Position | Description | Grades |
Science in the Community Club | President | Led 90 volunteers running STEM celebrations for 250 students; created an in-class program in 4 elementary schools reaching 100+ students | 9-12 |
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Student Visionaries of the Year | Team lead | Led 24 members in raising $78K (most in school history); personally secured $30K in corporate sponsorships and $21K from donors | 9-11 |
Human Tech Project | CEO; co-founder | Organize and teach Raspberry Pi, Python, and amateur radio classes; 350 students in 4 years; mentor for science fairs; plan events with library staff | 9-12 |
Tune Therapy | Founder and president | Organized 15+ events for 100+ seniors and teens with singalongs and lyric analysis; interviewed therapists and participants for 5+ blog posts | 11-12 |
Miracle Foundation Youth Executive Council | President; co-founder | Led campaigns raising $120K ($30K directly); built an 800+ youth volunteer network; partnered with a state government to reunite 1,000 families | 10-12 |
School music collective | Performer; head organizer | Organized a $20K fundraiser performance for a children's hospital and 4 orchestra recitals; led the annual charity concert | 10-12 |
East Bay Sanctuary Covenant | Volunteer; office assistant | Created immigrant awareness posts; served as tech support; digitized 150+ case files; booked client appointments; compiled information for the legal team | 9-11 |
Student government and leadership
Activity | Position | Description | Grade |
County Commission on Women and Girls | Appointed member; mobility committee chair | Drafted and passed 2 resolutions providing girls free bus rides to career events and internship toolkits; services available to 9,000+ girls | 11 |
City youth commission | Chair; vice-chair | Passed motions for positive affirmation signage in a city park and extending commission term limits; directed a statewide video contest; led monthly meetings | 10-12 |
School district legislative council | Student representative | Proposed and passed changes to school budget and infrastructure for student-led initiatives such as a green campus; liaison to administration | 9-11 |
Student council | Executive board member | Led school-wide mental health workshops; organized a $70K+ fundraiser for custodians; created a breast cancer awareness week donating 300+ cards | 9-12 |
School chapter of the United Nations Association of the USA | Vice president; co-founder | Lead community events and weekly meetings on gender, food, and racial equity; plan events with a university chapter; attend leadership summit in D.C. | 11-12 |
Voter registration drives | Organizer | Run voter registration drives for high school students; registered over 100 students to date | 11-12 |
Experienceships Program | Director of nonprofit sector; advisory board member | Advised 50 students on internship readiness and placed them with 11 nonprofits; 100% placement rate; presented the program to 70 superintendents | 10-12 |
Journalism and media
Activity | Position | Description | Grades |
Public library newspaper | Founder and editor-in-chief | Edited 100+ articles; led a team of 50+; published digital and local content read by 150+ monthly readers | 9–12 |
School newspaper | Senior news editor | Write 8+ news articles a year; publish 8 editions a year (300+ readers); manage a 6-person news section: generate topics, research, edit 40 articles a year | 10-12 |
Wattpad | Online author | Publishing a novel in installments (10 chapters so far); 13.2K reads in 15 weeks, now gaining 200+ reads a day | 12 |
Semi-biographical novel | Co-author | 220-page novel; 460K free reads and downloads across B&N, Kindle, and WebNovel; marketed on social media (7M+ views, 1M+ likes) | 10-11 |
The Hill | Author | Published 8 articles analyzing issues affecting women: stigma, gender bias in AI, legislation for pregnant and nursing mothers, Latinx voters | 10-12 |
School newspaper | News editor; sports editor; writer | Edit 5+ peer articles per issue on school, economic, and international news, working one on one with writers; added a student spotlight section | 9-12 |
Athletics
Activity | Position | Description | Grades |
San Francisco Ice Theatre | Assistant coach; gold team captain | Lead 30 athletes in national and international competitions; national silver and bronze medalist; represented Team USA twice at Nations Cup | 9-12 |
Club soccer | Player | Train 3x a week for 1.5 hours plus 1 to 2 weekend games in season and extra fitness work; helped team win the regional division and reach the top 16 at 2023 nationals | 9-12 |
Varsity lacrosse, basketball, and field hockey | Varsity captain | 12 varsity letters across three sports; led lacrosse team to 2 state semifinals; 1,000-point club | 9-12 |
Regional high school figure skating team | Vice president; competition captain | Led 20 skaters from 14 schools to 2nd nationally among 135 teams; organized seminars, events, and free coaching | 10-12 |
Varsity football | Captain; starting center; assistant coach | Led daily line practices; raised $6K+ for uniforms and travel; recruited 30+ JV players; led weekly bonding and training; offseason mentor | 10-12 |
Cross country and distance running | Runner | 12th in U-20 at a state half marathon; #2 runner on the team; contributed to 2nd at league and 3rd at regional D3 championships; Coaches Award | 9-12 |
Varsity boys tennis | Varsity captain | Won school and district (all-conference 1st and 2nd team); grew the program to its largest membership ever (110+) | 9-12 |
Activism and advocacy
Activity | Position | Description | Grades |
VoiceWorks | Founder | Founded a global speech-access initiative; engineered adaptive tools for youth with disabilities; 1K+ reached in 4 countries; gave a TEDx talk on dignity | 9-12 |
HYPE PEERS campaign | Leader | Lead a Boston Medical Center-sponsored campaign; run social media to improve epilepsy awareness and reduce stigma | 10-12 |
Florida Young Democrats | Senate page; national committee representative | Aided senators in legislative sessions; drafted and argued a mock bill; advised the state board on endorsement and voting guides | 10-12 |
Ohio Justice & Policy Center | Policy and program intern | Prepared information used to lobby 12 state representatives on record expungement laws; researched for a University of Cincinnati law course on race and punishment | 11-12 |
Central and South Texas Red Cross | Youth communications director | Revived the blog (70K+ words); led creation of a humanitarian war training app; secured $13K in pro bono development; approved for use in all 400 courses | 9-12 |
Palo Alto Youth Council | Community leader; mental health advocate | Conducted and analyzed a mental health survey of 250+ teens; organized mental health events and campaigns; ran a session at a summit for 100+ | 11-12 |
NextGen Women Professionals | Founder; president | Connected 200+ girls from under-resourced communities with 15+ women professionals in STEM, law, and business; hosted 14 events | 11-12 |
Technology and engineering
Activity | Position | Description | Grades |
FIRST Robotics Competition team | Design co-lead; outreach lead | 100+ hours a year in CAD and assembly; trained 10+ teammates; ran 48 outreach events reaching 27K+ people; oversaw 9 youth robotics teams | 9-12 |
FIRST Robotics Competition team | Mechanical director | Lead a 20+ mechanical team and 60+ students in fabrication in place of adult mentors; teach CAD, mentor juniors, led team to the World Championship | 9-12 |
FIRST Tech Challenge league team | Captain; lead builder; lead coder | Lead robot design, building, and modification; coded the autonomous and controlled programs; direct team meetings twice a week | 10-12 |
FIRST Tech Challenge team | Software member; outreach co-captain | Chief programmer for autonomous code; 3D-printed parts in Fusion 360; mentored new members; top 5 at the 2024 FTC World Championship | 10-11 |
Rosencrypt | Creator; developer | Built an interactive detective experience with branching narratives on GitHub and Google Cloud Run; 42K+ lines of code | 11-12 |
Congressional App Challenge | App developer and ambassador | Designed award-nominated autism detection and waste management apps; served as ambassador; mentored 10+ aspiring coders | 9-11 |
UCSC Science Internship Program | Student researcher | Studied wireless technology with a PhD candidate; improved autoencoder performance with Python neural networks; continued the work after the program | 11-12 |
Entrepreneurship
Activity | Position | Description | Grades |
Smart Plastic | Co-founder and inventor | Invented a patent-pending food spoilage detector; scaled to 3,500 units in North Carolina and Asia; under $0.02 unit cost enabled rollout to refugees | 11-12 |
PitchPros Media | Founder | Ran Meta ads for clients with budgets up to $6K; generated 10K+ leads and 400+ new players across sports clubs; trained staff on lead follow-up | 9-12 |
teenagetraders.org | Founder | Designed and built a website teaching youth financial literacy and investing; 19K views; reached 3K+ students nationally at Title I schools | 10-12 |
Courserr | Project team lead; app developer | Built full-stack, open-source course catalog software; official high school partnership serving 1,200+ students; integrated feedback analytics | 11-12 |
YPC Labs | Managing director; East Coast director | Lead East Coast branches; run a competition with an $80K prize pool; created about 10 instructional videos; teach entrepreneurship and marketing | 10-12 |
Environment
Activity | Position | Description | Grades |
Climate Future Initiative | Founder and president; podcast host | Won a $900 grant to develop eco-workshops for 50+ students; implementing a net zero emissions school plan; eco-policy podcast with 10+ guests | 11-12 |
School EcoReps | Board member; co-leader | Organized a water-use reduction challenge, a switch to single-stream recycling, and an eco film festival; letter campaign to mandate environmental education | 11-12 |
San Diego Audubon Society | Field intern | Worked at a wildlife preserve on invasive plant removal, fire clearance, trail restoration, and student programming | 12 |
Culture and language
Activity | Position | Description | Grades |
Korean language school | Teaching assistant officer | Taught 20+ student classes in Korean; helped organize a community event with 1,500+ attendees; grew the TA program by over 15% | 9-12 |
South Asian Student Alliance | Co-chair | Organized affinity and alliance events; co-hosted meetings with other groups; led Diwali programming and a school-wide Holi event | 9-12 |
What do the activity lists of real Ivy League, Stanford, and MIT admits look like?
An activity list from an Ivy League, Stanford, or MIT admit usually fills all ten slots, and most of it ties back to one or two interests the student kept up for years. The five below belong to Crimson students admitted in the 2024/25 or 2025/26 cycle, and each one takes shape differently. Where the category tables show single activities, a complete list shows how ten of them fit together, and that's the version an admissions officer sees. School names, town names, and organizations unique to the student have been generalized. Every number, grade range, and time commitment is as the student submitted it.
Each of the five has an anchor, the one activity the rest of the list centers on. In four of them, the anchor is in slot 1 or slot 2, began in grade 9, and was still running in grade 12. The fifth added its anchor in grade 11. The anchor itself is what varies from list to list.
The multi-year research spike (MIT, Early Action, 2025/26)
This student's anchor is a wildlife project they ran entirely on their own. Over four years from grade 9, they collected 10 terabytes of field data in a city park system and developed AI models that recognize 58 individual Canada geese. Three more slots follow the birds offline: a regional wildlife center, a birding club they co-founded, and a petition that got the town to ban foie gras sales.
The second thread is machine learning, which turns up again in a university lab predicting drug cardiotoxicity and a Boston University RISE internship modeling heat on 3D chips, so one toolkit runs across three unrelated problems. The chamber orchestra they founded falls outside both threads, but the list still holds together. That matters at MIT, whose own application asks for up to four activities, because a list organized around two threads condenses to four without losing either.
MIT Early Action admit, 2025/26: Environmental Engineering
Research Intern
Boston University RISE Internship Program · 11–12 · 40h/wk
Built ML to predict heat maps on 3D chips, 10x faster than other methods; presented at RISE and 2025 MIT URTC; submitted to
Independent Researcher
Wildlife Management · Research · 9–12 · 7h/wk
Collected 10TB of data; built AI models identifying 58 individual Canada geese, replacing population-based tracking; presented at 2025 conference.
Scholar
MIT PRIMES Circle · Academic · 10 · 8h/wk
Studied computation theory; presented at the MIT PRIMES conference; published a summary paper on the PRIMES website.
Volunteer
Regional wildlife center · Service · 9–12 · 2h/wk
Launched fundraisers; donated 1K pads and 1K lb of grain; published 2 educational kids' books on birds and plants; cleaned parks.
Founder and Captain
National Science Bowl team · Academic · 10–12 · 1.5h/wk
Founded the school's first NSB team; led weekly practices to a 9th-place regional finish; expanded to form middle school teams.
Student Researcher
Iniversity computational biology lab · Research · 10–11 · 10h/wk
Designed a predictor of drug-induced cardiotoxicity with a biochemistry LLM, 5% better than current methods; presented at 2 top conferences.
Concertmaster and Founder
School advanced chamber orchestra · Music · 9–12 · 5h/wk
Led weekly practices to win gold rating twice in the state orchestra contest; performed at Carnegie Hall and Boston Symphony Hall.
Vice President and Petition Co-Lead
School animal rights club · Club · 10–12 · 1h/wk
Organized protests against products of animal abuse; petitioned and presented at town meeting to ban foie gras sales; town adopted the policy.
Program Coordinator and Math Coach
Math League · Academic · 11–12 · 1h/wk
Organized math league contests in 5 middle schools; led 10+ coaches teaching 30+ middle school students advanced math.
Co-Founder and President
Local birding club · Environmental · 11–12 · 1h/wk
Published monthly birding newsletters; grew conservation efforts through Cornell Lab of Ornithology programs.
The four-year leader with a late anchor (Stanford, Restrictive Early Action, 2024/25)
Slot 1 here is a website, and it didn't exist until grade 11. The student founded a mental health education platform with weekly articles and a podcast, put 16 hours a week into it, drew visitors from 40+ countries, and collaborated with NAMI and a teen talk line. The same two years included 15 hours a week of independent research on depression treatments, a summer capstone on electroconvulsive therapy, and, in grade 12, a Stanford clinical neuroscience program.
Underneath runs four years of leadership from grade 9: class president, program director for a Jack and Jill of America chapter, VP of community service for DECA, and varsity soccer captain. The anchor might only be two years old, but the hours are heavy and all on one subject, approached from three directions: public education, research, and clinical training. Stanford's admissions office says exceptional depth can reveal more passion than minimal involvement in a long list of clubs, and it describes intellectual vitality as widening your perspective and seeking out new opportunities. This list does both. The student was also admitted to Brown in the regular round.
Stanford REA admit, 2024/25: Neuroscience
Founder
Mental health education website and podcast Club · 11–12 · 16h/wk
Publish weekly tips, articles, podcast, and social media; visitors from 40+ countries; collaborations with NAMI, a library, and a teen talk line.
Neuroscience Researcher
Cambridge Center for International Research · 11–12 · 15h/wk
Produced an independent research paper on emerging therapies for major depressive disorder, focused on rTMS and psychedelics.
Program Director
Jack and Jill of America chapter · Service · 9–12 · 6h/wk
Led 49 teens to develop a calendar of 20 educational, service, and social events; organized food pantries and scheduled health screenings.
Neuroscience Student
Stanford Clinical Neuroscience Immersion Experience · Academic · 12 · 30h/wk
Designed a website and prototype company to assist youth with ASD through art therapy; selected for extension program on equity in medicine.
Member and Event Organizer
Church health and wellness committee · Service · 11–12 · 2h/wk
Host events promoting Black health; create PSA videos and promo media; expanded partnerships with Black organizations; grew event 50% in one year.
President
High school Class of 2025 · Student govt · 9–12 · 5h/wk
Plan class activities; raised $15K+; first class in 10+ years to afford an off-site junior prom; work with officers and administrators.
Capstone Researcher
Summer Institute for the Gifted · Academic · 11 · 40h/wk
Received 100% in Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine courses; developed capstones on electroconvulsive therapy and stem cells in cancer.
VP of Community Service
DECA · Career · 9–12 · 6h/wk
Organize 230 members in service events including a food drive with 704 lb donated; designed a recruitment plan for a regional business.
Varsity Captain
Girls varsity soccer · Athletics · 9–12 · 25h/wk
Lead workouts; communicate player insights to coach; run team bonding activities; received the 2023 team spirit award.
VP and Secretary
HOSA · Career · 11–12 · 2h/wk
Manage club communication and meeting records; helped grow club membership from 0 to 29 in its first year.
The single-field specialist (Harvard, MIT, and Yale, Regular Decision, 2025/26)
This student's anchor is policy debate, captained from grade 9 through grade 12, and there's no lab research or STEM anywhere on the list. Six of the ten slots are debate or journalism. What keeps that from looking like one activity repeated six times is the range of roles inside it: competing as a top-12 debater nationally, running research for a 120-person team, leading a nonprofit debate camp with 11 hired staff, coaching middle schoolers in an urban debate league, producing a current-events podcast, and editing the school newspaper. The other four slots are a litigation finance internship, food bank volunteering, tennis, and table tennis coaching.
The student applied in the regular round to Harvard, MIT, and Yale and was admitted to all three. Harvard's readers put real weight on initiative, looking for students who see something that needs doing and step in without being told. A debater who hired 11 staff to run a camp for 30+ underprivileged students is that kind of student.
Harvard, MIT, and Yale RD admit, 2025/26: Government and Policy
Captain, MVP, and Lead Researcher
School policy debate team · 11–12 · 16h/wk
Lead and organize 120+ debaters; run all research: Indigenous affairs, intellectual property, NATO, Arctic policy, climate; mentor 50+ students.
Executive Editor
School newspaper · Journalism · 9–12 · 12h/wk
Lead staff of 30+; oversee online news site; final editor on all stories; political columnist; support print layout and distribution.
Fellow
University of Michigan Debate Camp · Debate · 9, 11, 12 · 84h/wk
Top-12 debater in the country; awarded a $7K scholarship for the 7-week camp; ran demo debates and led research for 300+ students.
Litigation Intern
litigation finance firm · Internship · 11 · 10h/wk
Directed research on investment trends and case studies through portfolio risk assessment, court filing research, and data modeling.
Executive Producer
Current-events podcast · Journalism · 11–12 · 2h/wk
Edit, record, and script 10+ episodes on deportations, finance, US isolationism, Arctic permafrost, and Greenland resource extraction.
Volunteer
Regional food bank · Service · 9–12 · 4h/wk
Package, sort, and distribute 100,000+ meals; work with a Chinese-American volunteer group on food insecurity (33% above national average).
President and Board Member
Nonprofit debate camp · Service · 11–12 · 10h/wk
Organize and run a debate camp for 30+ underprivileged students; hire and train 11 staff; partner with a tutoring startup to prep students.
Varsity Player
School tennis team · Athletics · 9, 10, 12 · 14h/wk
Play line 2 doubles and line 3 singles; led a 6th-place conference finish.
Teacher and Volunteer Coach
Urban debate league · Service · 10–12 · 20h/wk
Prep and judge 10+ low-income middle school students; coordinate annual school tournament and season opener with 450+ participants.
Lead Volunteer Coach
Community table tennis program · Service · 9, 10, 12 · 35h/wk
Coach 30+ kids aged 6 to 13; lead warmups and drills; organize venue, schedule, and camp activities; advise parents on improvement.
The arts-to-science bridge (MIT, Early Action, 2025/26)
This student's anchor is four years of cello at Juilliard Pre-College, and the intended major is cognitive musicology. Much of the rest of the list mixes music with science. In a university biomechanics lab, the student designed a music-based cognitive test, and at a nonprofit for children with special needs, they lead weekly cello therapy sessions built around sensory regulation and cognitive engagement. Archery gets the same treatment: the student coaches it and created a mobile app that uses force-plate sensors to steady the balance of 10+ nationally ranked archers.
If your strongest activity is in the arts and you're applying to a technical school, this is the list to study. As MIT admissions puts it, "College isn't a costume party; you're not supposed to come dressed as someone else." This student's intended major shows up all over the list, and the lab test and the therapy sessions are cognitive musicology in practice.
MIT Early Action admit, 2025/26: Cognitive Musicology
Cellist
Juilliard Pre-College · Music · 9–12 · 10h/wk
Study with conservatory faculty; theory and ear training; perform 8+ recitals a year; learn 25+ pieces a year across solo, chamber, and orchestra.
Research Assistant
University biomechanics lab · Research · 11–12 · 3h/wk
Collected and analyzed biomechanics data; designed a music-based cognitive test protocol; presented findings at lab meetings with PhD researchers.
Scholar
Governor's School of New Jersey in the Sciences · Academic · 12 · 168h/wk
Studied neurobiology, human evolution, and cancer molecular biology; ran yeast protein extraction; co-wrote a 30-page psychology research paper.
Developer
Self-built biofeedback app for archers · Technology · 11–12 · 2h/wk
Built a mobile app integrating force-plate sensors and real-time biofeedback to stabilize archer balance; used by 10+ nationally ranked archers.
Coach and Archer
Archery school · Athletics · 9–12 · 3h/wk
Instructed 20 students aged 9 to 52 from beginner to advanced; created targeted balance, precision, and grouping exercises for lesson plans.
President
National Computer Science Honor Society chapter · Academic · 10–12 · 1.5h/wk
Organized biweekly meetings for 30+ members; launched 5 fundraisers raising $1K+; arranged 3 volunteering opportunities; inducted 30+ members.
Volunteer
Nonprofit for children with special needs · Service · 9–12 · 2h/wk
Led weekly cello music therapy sessions; facilitated sensory regulation and cognitive engagement activities; supported 5+ children.
Managing Editor
School newspaper · Journalism · 9–12 · 1.5h/wk
Edited 15+ articles per issue; released 4 to 5 issues a year; assigned editing roles; ran 4 writing workshops; wrote 1 to 2 articles per issue.
Program Management Captain
All-girls FIRST Robotics Competition team · Robotics · 9–12 · 2.5h/wk
Managed 9 subteam schedules and goals; developed a business plan for fundraising, outreach, and sustainability; team qualified for Worlds.
Team Leader
TEAMS engineering competition · Academic · 10–12 · 1.5h/wk
Led essay writing (5th of 80 in NJ); qualified the school for nationals for the first time in 20+ years; managed team logistics.
The humanities writer (Harvard, Restrictive Early Action, 2024/25)
This student's anchor is writing. Seven of the ten slots revolve around it, including teaching creative writing to 60+ students and publishing two books with a small press and 40+ pieces in journals. The four organizations the student founded or co-founded give the list its reach: an essay resource database used in 74 countries, a youth nonprofit partnered on 75+ projects in 40+ countries, a young writers' festival series with 240+ participants, and a music mentoring club with 700+ free coaching sessions.
The student was also admitted to Stanford and Yale in the regular round. Humanities applicants are sometimes told their activities are hard to measure, and this list answers with tangible counts of students, countries, sessions, and publications.
Harvard REA admit, 2024/25: Creative Writing and Journalism
Creative Writing Instructor
Community recreation program and tutoring academy · Club · 9–12 · 4h/wk
Taught 60+ students privately and in groups; developed a writing curriculum; students published in youth magazines and anthologies.
Published Author
Small press · Journalism · 9–12 · 2h/wk
Published 2 books (a memoir and a poetry anthology); 40+ pieces published in journals, magazines, and newspapers.
Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Online college essay resource database · Club · 10–12 · 1h/wk
Built one of the largest free databases of essay examples, tips, and techniques; used by thousands of students in 74 countries.
Founder and Director
Youth nonprofit · Service · 9–12 · 1h/wk
Hosted 30+ events with guest speakers for 300+ students; partnered with KIVA and OCEF on 75+ projects in 40+ countries; $2K+ raised.
Editor-in-Chief
School literary and art magazine · Journalism · 9–12 · 2h/wk
Led 35+ editorial and art staff; edited 100+ pieces for the annual print issue; created mini zines and a web series; hosted weekly workshops.
Participant
Iowa Young Writers' Studio and Kenyon Young Writers Workshop · Academic · 10–11 · 40h/wk
Workshopped poetry, prose, and plays in two selective summer residencies; wrote collaborative pieces.
Researcher
University faculty-mentored research program · Research · 9–12 · 2h/wk
Conducted individual research in behavior (using Arduino), entrepreneurial cognition, and computer science; competed in 6+ fairs with awards.
Founder and President
Interscholastic music mentoring club · Music · 10–12 · 1h/wk
First student-led music club spanning elementary, middle, and high school; free coaching for 100+ students across 700+ sessions; 2 concerts a year.
Co-Founder
Young writers' festival organization · Club · 10–12 · 2h/wk
Hosted 8 festivals for young writers with established authors and journalists; 240+ participants globally; built and maintained the website.
Web Editor and Writer
School newspaper · Journalism · 9–12 · 2h/wk
Hosted a monthly Teacher Talks podcast (20+ episodes); produced an alumni interview series; wrote 10+ published articles; edited submissions.
How do admissions officers evaluate extracurricular activities?
Admissions officers look for five things in an activities section:
• How long you've done it. The grade columns show this at a glance. They also expose any last-minute padding, activities tacked on late to sound more impressive, which officers are conditioned to recognize immediately.
• Whether your role grew. Put the progression in the position line (member, treasurer, president) so the climb is visible before the description starts.
• Whether it produced a result they can see. This is where numbers help most. "Raised funds for the team" reveals nothing, while "raised $6K+ for uniforms and travel" highlights the scale.
• How far beyond your school it reached. Reach means people outside your school building, whether that's 30 kids at a community program, a 500-person audience, or a town meeting that adopted your petition.
• Whether it fits the rest of your file. Several activities should clearly point toward what you say you want to study.
Applications get scanned quickly. At Brown, a first read of the entire file runs about six to eight minutes, and most elite admissions offices have no time to decode anything resembling a research abstract. Every entry has to make its case in 150 characters.
When students do metrics, that shows impact. Who did you affect? How many people? Who did you coordinate with? Then we can see that you didn't stay stuck in high school, that you had to actually go out of the comfort of yourself.
Ritz B
Former Cornell Admissions Officer
Local work often makes a stronger impression than international work. Faced with a two-week medical trip abroad, an officer knows it cost money and produced a line on the application. Four years at a regional food bank, or a mental health survey of 250 teens in your own town, points to a student who noticed a local problem and set out to fix it.
It's really the students who focus on local impact who we were able to say, this student is really going to contribute. That medical trip, you could easily take that same effort into a clinic in your community.
Mariama A.
Former Brown Admissions Officer
Do top colleges want well-rounded students or specialists?
Top colleges admit both. Harvard's admissions office says as much, describing room for "well-lopsided" students with "demonstrated excellence in one particular endeavor" alongside well-rounded ones. The lists above include students whose ten slots are concentrated in one field and students whose slots spread across research, music, and service. What every admitted list has in common is coherence. A reader finishes the list knowing what the student cares about and can point to the entries that prove it.
The debate specialist and the humanities writer both concentrate, and each spreads across very different roles inside one field. The debater leads a 120-person team, coaches middle schoolers, hired staff to run a camp, and produces a podcast. The writer publishes, edits, teaches, and organizes festivals. Between them, those roles cover leading peers, teaching younger students, managing staff, and writing for an audience. A list of ten debate tournaments would repeat one capacity ten times, and that's the pattern readers flag.
Stacking tall can be good to an extent. Normally, it's clear when we're like, this is too tall of a Jenga tower, we don't need this many pieces all stacked in one area.
Drew H.
Former Northwestern Admissions Officer
The difference between a spike and a stack
A spike is one field pursued through several roles: competitor, teacher, organizer, builder, writer. A stack is one role repeated across several venues. Both can fill ten slots, but only the spike tells a reader you can do more than one thing with an interest. Before you add a seventh math competition to a list that already has six, ask what a reader learns from it that they didn't already know.
How do you write a strong Common App activity description?
The strongest descriptions from this cohort of Crimson admits do three things in 150 characters, in order: what you did, how you did it, and what it produced. "Led 24 members in raising $78K (most in school history); personally secured $30K in corporate sponsorships and $21K from donors" is the template. The verb is specific, the method is named, and the result has a number and a comparison.
Weaker entries stop after the first step. "Trained and competed for the school team" describes a real activity as if the reader already knows what it produced. The tennis captain who wrote "grew the program to its largest membership ever (110+)" gave the reader something to hold on to.
The position line is still worth filling when you have a real title. "Concertmaster and Founder" or "Captain, MVP, and Lead Researcher" tells an admissions officer your rank before the description begins. Use the 50 characters to name a role only some people hold, and for an independent project, leave the line blank instead of inventing one.
Three habits from the cohort worth copying:
• Lead with a verb and skip the subject. "Led," "built," "raised," and "coached" open the strongest entries. "I was responsible for" wastes 21 characters.
• Put a number in about half your entries. The average admit in this cohort quantified 4.9 of them. Members, dollars, attendees, sessions, and rankings all count.
• Use semicolons to pack two or three distinct results into one line. A single result padded with adjectives takes the same space and tells a reader less.
Once the descriptions are written, order them. The Common App asks you to list activities in order of importance, so slot 1 becomes your answer to "what matters most to you," and the nine below it rank everything else.
When should you start extracurricular activities for college?
Start in grade 9, or earlier if you can. Four of the five students profiled above began their anchor activity in grade 9, and 35 of the 76 category examples started there too. Every entry carries its start grade, so an early start is visible at a glance.
Starting early doesn't mean knowing what you want to study. The Stanford admit above began with class government and a service organization in grade 9 and didn't found the mental health platform until grade 11. By the time the platform appeared, there were already two years of leadership supporting it. Pivots in grade 10 or 11 are fine when they build on something pre-existing. A list where everything starts late is the one to avoid.
We did value four-year activities over one- and two-year activities, because it showed consistency. But that's to say, try debate. If you like it, stick with it. If you don't, then try something else sophomore year.
Eddy C.
Former Yale Admissions Officer
Which extracurricular activities fit your intended major?
The extracurricular activities that fit your intended major are the ones that let you test the field before you declare it, like research, a competition, or a project in the subject. Each of the five admitted lists has four of them, and the rest of each list follows the student's other interests. Here's how that split looks.
Intended major | Activities that pointed at it in the admitted lists above | Activities that added range |
Environmental engineering | Independent wildlife AI project, regional wildlife center, birding club, animal rights petition | Chamber orchestra, chip heat-map ML internship, math coaching |
Neuroscience | Mental health platform, neuroscience research paper, Stanford clinical immersion, HOSA | Class presidency, varsity soccer, DECA |
Government and policy | Policy debate, school newspaper, current-events podcast, litigation finance internship | Food bank volunteering, tennis, table tennis coaching |
Cognitive musicology | Juilliard Pre-College cello, biomechanics lab, biofeedback app, cello therapy sessions | Robotics team management, school newspaper, computer science honor society |
Creative writing and journalism | Two published books, literary magazine, writing instruction, summer writing residencies | Youth nonprofit, music mentoring club, university research |
The activities in the middle column are what an officer checking fit hopes to find, proof that you explored the field before choosing it. The right-hand column matters too. An activity unrelated to the major, like years of piano turned into mentoring younger players, reveals another side of the student, and admissions officers value that layer.
Where can you find extracurricular activities?
Most extracurricular activities start in one of four places: a school club you join or found, a community organization that takes volunteers, a university program with an application, or a project you build yourself. Only the university program has a gatekeeper. Joining a club or volunteering takes little more than showing up, and founding a club or building something yourself, which 24 of the 76 category examples involve, takes a faculty sponsor or a laptop and a handful of people. What an officer weighs is what it went on to do.
For research, the usual paths are a selective summer program (RISE, SIMR, Governor's Schools, PRIMES), a cold email to a local university lab, or a mentored program. Crimson students also work with Indigo Research, a Crimson partner that pairs students with university mentors, and some of the published papers in the cohort started there.
National competitions such as USACO, Science Olympiad, and FIRST Robotics appear throughout the lists, and NSDA debate and Scholastic Art and Writing fill the same role in speech and the arts. Admissions officers weigh scope, so a national qualification counts for more than a school-level award, and some, like USACO, are free to enter. For research, Regeneron STS and JSHS both appear in the entries above, and Science Fair, a Crimson partner focused on research competitions, is where Crimson students find and prepare for that tier.
Frequently asked questions about extracurricular activities for college
What are the best extracurricular activities for Ivy League admissions?
There's no single best activity. What the admits above share is depth and results: something sustained for years, a role that grew, and outcomes a reader can measure, whether that's a national competition, research, or a project that reached people outside school.
Do you need ten extracurricular activities to get into an Ivy League school?
No, but most admits fill all ten slots. Of 349 Crimson admits to top-20 US universities in 2024/25 and 2025/26, 91% filled every one. Four years of activity usually produces ten entries. A list of seven entries with results still beats a list of ten without them.
Are extracurricular activities more important than grades?
No, grades come first. At Harvard, an estimated 80 to 85% of applicants are academically qualified, so a strong transcript earns your file a serious look, and your activities are a big part of what sets you apart.
Can a job or family responsibility count as an extracurricular activity?
Yes, and officers respect them. Twenty hours a week at a job or caring for a sibling says as much about your reliability as a club presidency. Describe it with the same specificity you'd give a research position.
Should extracurricular activities match your intended major?
Several should, and each of the five admitted lists above has four. Officers want signs you've tried the subject outside class, and the remaining slots can go toward other interests and strengths.
What if you only started meaningful extracurricular activities in grade 11?
Build depth in one or two things. Two activities with a result by the time you apply make a stronger case than six new memberships. Be accurate about the start grade, too, since readers check it.
Do summer programs count as extracurricular activities?
Yes. Selective programs with an application (Governor's Schools, RISE, PRIMES, Iowa Young Writers' Studio) appear across the admitted lists above. Pay-to-attend programs with no selection count for less, so the description should focus on what you produced there.
How Crimson students build these lists
Every list above started years before the application, with something the student cared about and then took further than anyone asked them to. Crimson strategists help students find the interest worth anchoring a list around and plan how it grows. The earlier that planning starts, the more room there is for a capstone project or one-on-one research with an Indigo Research mentor to reach a real result. Former admissions officers from schools like Harvard, Yale, and Brown then review each entry the way a reader will.
Crimson students have earned 716 acceptances to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT across the 2015/16 to 2025/26 cycles, including 176 in 2025/26 alone, and are 7.4x more likely than the general applicant pool to be admitted to the Ivy League and Stanford.
Crimson's Ivy League admissions consultants can review your activities list and show you where to take it next.
