The application wants ten things you did. You cannot remember half of them.
It is October, the first deadlines are weeks away, and the activities section of the application is open in another tab. It wants up to ten things, a title, an organization, and a hundred and fifty characters describing each one. You remember this year. Ninth grade is fuzzy: what you actually did, when, for how long, and who would remember it if anyone asked. So you are filling in the form from memory, on a deadline, instead of from a list you already had. There is a way to never do this from memory again.
Checked against the live activities page and Common App's own published guide to the Activities section. Requirements on this page last reviewed September 28, 2026. The product as it runs today, and Common App's own PDF guide, checked directly is always the source of truth.
Why the blank form is the hard part
Nothing about what you did freshman year was fake. You just never wrote it down anywhere that survived to senior fall. The season you spent at the shelter, the summer you built something with a neighbor, the year you kept a younger sibling’s team running: none of it disappeared, but the dates did, and the form wants dates.
And you are not filling this in once. A scholarship asks for a version of the same list next month, in its own shape, and a second college wants a slightly different one after that. Every time, you are remembering from nothing, which takes longer than the writing ever does.
The other way: keep it as you go
Add one thing at a time, on your own page, whenever it happens: a title, roughly when, and a line in your own words about what you did. It takes under a minute. It stays right there in this browser; add your email whenever you want, and it keeps across a new phone, a cleared browser, or the next school year too.
Then ask the adult who saw it to sign it: a coach, a supervisor, a teacher, whoever was actually there. They open a link on their phone, add their name and role, and they are done. Their name stays attached to what you did, so a reader is never taking your word alone.
When the application finally asks
Open your activities list and it is already in the shape the application wants: one line per activity, with a running character count under each sentence so you can see exactly where the hundred and fifty limit lands, and the adult’s name next to the ones they signed. Copy a line straight into the form, or print the whole list to work from on paper. Nothing here writes the sentence for you; every word is yours, clipped to fit, never invented.
See a finished one
Curious what a filled-in page looks like before you start your own? Here is an example, a sample page you can open with no account.
What this does not do
- It does not write your list for you. Every sentence is trimmed from what you actually typed, never composed for you. A shorter true sentence beats a longer borrowed one.
- It does not decide what a college does with your list. Different schools read applications differently, and this page makes no promise about what any one of them does with what you send.
- It does not compare you to anyone else.There is no score, no position, and nothing here measures your list against another student’s.
Frequently asked questions
What if I do not have ten things to list?
You do not need ten. List what actually happened. A shorter true list reads better than a padded one, and the page never asks you to reach a number.
Does an adult have to sign every entry?
No. A signed line has a second name attached to it, someone saying what they saw in their own words; an unsigned line is just yours. You decide what to add and who to ask for each one, and an entry stands on your page either way.
Can I still use my own resume or a counselor’s list instead?
Yes. This is one way to keep the facts straight before you need them, not the only way to apply. Copy a line into whatever format a specific application wants, or hand a counselor the same dated list to work from.
Do I need an account to start?
No. Add things to your list first, with no account. Adding your email later keeps the same list across your devices; it does not change anything you already wrote.
It is yours after this application too
A paper form disappears into a submitted application and that is the end of it. This does not. You hold the record, and it is still there for the next application, the scholarship after that, or a job you have not thought about yet. Starting your list costs you nothing, this fall or any fall after it.
See also: a finished example page · your first job with no experience yet · for the adult signing it