Quiz: Are your students choosing the best activities for their applications?

I created this series of questions to help students reflect on the activities they choose to support their university applications in a more dynamic way.

1. If you did the same activity (for example, volunteering at a shelter) over three summers, does it count as one or three activities?

Answer: one activity

This shows how activities should be portrayed in applications, and also implies that consistency over time is important. 

2. The highest leadership title you’ve achieved (for example, ‘president’ rather than ‘vice president’) is always better. True or false?

Answer: False

This is a good opportunity to advise the students that activities are about more than titles, because admissions officers will always look beyond the label to see what was done with that conferred position. I tell students that even if they took on a lower leadership position, if they can demonstrate significant outcomes during their tenure, this is actually more preferable than a higher leadership tenure with few accomplishments.

3. I need to be well rounded to be a good candidate. True or false?

Answer: False

Some say the well-rounded student is a myth and instead observe that universities want well-rounded classes.

Although talking about well-rounded candidates is not a bad way to encourage students to think beyond just their academics, it may lead to a group of students who ultimately end up engaging in similar activities to one other. Instead, encouraging students to find their “spike” (see activity strategy number five) is probably a better way to stand out among a group of qualified applicants.

4. Babysitting counts as an activity. True or false?

Answer: True

Students are surprised to find out that babysitting and other seemingly mundane activities can count as an activity for their university application. If babysitting was a meaningful and substantial part of their high school years (perhaps they have a younger sibling they are close to, or found babysitting a great part-time job at which they excelled) it can be included in an application.

5. Preparing for a competition counts as an activity. True or false?

Answer: Depends

This is a little trickier, because it seems like an externally driven activity. However, if there were real gains in skills and substantial time spent, there are ways to put it on an application, especially with applications that focus on the academic development of a student (such as the Ucas personal statement). Any external validation (such as awards) conferred would serve as further acknowledgment of meaningful time spent.

6. All universities require activities. True or false?

Answer: False

If your students are mainly geared towards US universities, they might be surprised that the answer to this is false. But Australian universities assess students entirely on academic grades, and even if universities in other regions require activities, they may not place as great an emphasis on them as US universities do.