How to Write the UC Activities List

At all nine UC campuses (Berkeley, Santa Barbara, UCLA, Riverside, Irvine, Davis, San Diego, Santa Cruz, and Merced), admissions officers learn more about how you spend your time outside of school via the UC app’s “Activities and awards” section. If this is your first application of the season, you’re probably wondering how the heck to approach this area. (And if you’re a Common App activities list veteran, you’re likely praying that I’ll tell you to just copy and paste what you already have.) In today’s blog, we’ll be covering all your burning questions—What should I write? Does order matter? Do I have to use every space?!—and reviewing plenty of tips and examples. So let’s dive in, shall we?

How many activities can I list on the UC application?

The UC application allows you to list up to twenty activities and awards. However, unlike the Common Application activities list, the UC application asks you to provide different information depending on how you categorize each activity. Here are the current six categories:

• Award or Honor (any items in your Common App Honors section can be included under this category)
• Educational Preparation Program (per the UCs: any programs that have enriched your academic experiences or helped you prepare for college)
• Extracurricular activity
• Other Coursework (per the UCs: courses other than those required for UC admission or that do not fit in UC’s A-G subject areas)
• Volunteering/Community Service
• Work Experience (jobs and internships both count)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your first step: Make a list of everything important you have participated in since ninth grade. This will include activities that you no longer do, that you just started, or that you only did for the summer (like research or a part-time job). Also, we highly recommend that you ask a parent to double-check; it’s incredibly common for students to forget an activity or two. (We’ve even seen students forget time-intensive activities like piano or soccer.)

Got your list? Before we start writing, let’s look at each activity category. The UC activities list word count varies depending on category, but is between 250-600 characters (approximately 40-100 words). They also include a number of brainstorming questions for each category.

Award or Honor 

Written Descriptions Required:

• What’s the name of the award or honor? (60 characters)
• What are the eligibility requirements for this award or honor? For example: How are award recipients chosen? How many people are selected to receive the award? Is there an application or nomination for the award? (250 characters)
• What did you do to achieve this award or honor? We’d like to understand what it took – on your part – to achieve this award. For instance: Were there multiple competitions that you had to participate in? How much time did you dedicate to winning this award? (350 characters)

Educational Preparation Program

Written Descriptions Required:

• Program Name (30 characters)
• Briefly describe the program. Think about the program’s main focus, your experience, and what you accomplished and learned while participating in the program. (350 characters)

Extracurricular Activity

Written Descriptions Required:

• What’s the name of the activity? (60 characters)
• What did you do? Think about your experience, and what you accomplished and learned. We’d also like to know if you’ve held a leadership role, which can mean more than just a title — it can mean being a mentor to others, acting as a point person in charge of a specific task, or taking a lead role in organizing an event or project. (350 characters)

Other Coursework

Written Descriptions Required:

• What was the course name? (60 characters)
• Briefly describe the course. What program or school offered the course? Also, think about describing the major themes or topics the course covered, as well as what knowledge or skills you learned. (350 characters)

Volunteering/Community Service

Written Descriptions Required:

• What’s the name of the organization, program, school or group you volunteered for? (60 characters)
• Please describe the organization, program, school or group. Consider what kind of work the organization does: What’s the reason the organization exists today? How does it help a certain community or population? (250 characters)
• What did you do? Think about your experience, and what you accomplished and learned while volunteering. We’d also like to know if you’ve held a leadership role, which can mean more than just a title — it can mean being a mentor to others, acting as a point person in charge of a specific task, or taking a lead role in organizing an event or project. (350 characters)

Work Experience

Written Descriptions Required:

• Where did you work? (60 characters)
• Please briefly describe the company or organization where you worked. Consider describing the industry, the size of the company or organization, or its main focus. (250 characters)
• What was your job title? (60 characters)
• What were your job responsibilities? (350 characters)

How to Write Strong UC Activities List Descriptions

First, let’s review the Golden Rule of College Admissions: they don’t know what you don’t tell them. Unless admissions officers are secret Legilimens, they have no actual clue what you spend your time doing, why you spend your time doing it, where you spend your time, whom you spend your time with, and when you engage in said time-spending activities…hey…that sounds familiar…

Who, What, When, Where, Why?

At the risk of sounding like a Busytown Mysteries episode (disclaimer: do not look this up on YouTube unless you want to hum a very catchy children’s song for days), who, what, when, where, and why are the questions to answer while collecting pertinent information for your UC activities list.

Consider:

• Who do you typically do this activity with? Who do you lead? Who are you mentored by? Who do you impact?
• What is/was your position? What are your responsibilities? What skills have you learned? What results have you produced? What honors or awards have you achieved? What assignments, activities, or projects have you completed?
• Where does this activity take place? Where have you traveled or lived as part of this activity?
• When did this activity take place? When did you start this activity? When did you stop doing this activity?
• Why do you participate in this activity? Why is this activity important to you? If you no longer do this activity, why did you stop?

Include numbers when possible, as that helps provide a sense of scope. Let’s add “How many?” “How often?” and “How much?” to our question list:

• How many club members did you lead?
• How many middle schoolers did you tutor?
• How many championships has your team won?
• How many pages was your research paper?
• How many customers did you serve in a typical shift?
• How often did you organize events?
• How often did you write for the literary magazine?
• How much money did you raise?
• By how much have you grown the club?

Let’s review an example…

What would all this look like for an actual student?

Let’s say Julia founded the science club at her school in tenth grade. When she started, the club only had two regular members, but over the years, she’s grown the membership to twenty students. It is Julia’s responsibility to plan meetings, during which she and other members conduct chemistry experiments. After each experiment, she leads a group discussion. Last year, Julia and a few other members also started conducting demonstrations at the local middle school. In addition, it is her job to handle administrative tasks, such as keeping an up-to-date list of club members and taking notes during meetings. Finally, she’s also responsible for cleaning the chemistry lab after each meeting.

Based on the category options available, Julia should classify Science Club as an extracurricular activity. Accordingly, she’ll need to respond to the following:

What did you do? Think about your experience, and what you accomplished and learned. We’d also like to know if you’ve held a leadership role, which can mean more than just a title — it can mean being a mentor to others, acting as a point person in charge of a specific task, or taking a lead role in organizing an event or project. (350 characters).

Position: Science Club founder and president.

Who: 20 other club members, middle schoolers.

What: Planning meetings, researching experiments, conducting experiments, leading group discussions about how the experiments went. I also take attendance and notes, and clean the lab. I’ve grown the club and expanded our reach to the middle school.

Where: Chem lab and middle school.

When: Since tenth grade.

Why: To help others develop a love of chemistry, since it’s what I hope to major in.

Julia’s UC Extracurricular Activity Description: Rough Draft

Now that we’ve organized our thoughts, let’s write a rough draft of this description. Here goes:

I started the club in tenth grade with two people and grew the membership to 20. I come up with the experiments we’ll be conducting during our meetings and then lead group discussions afterward. Last year, we started putting together demonstrations at the middle school. I also take notes, take attendance, and clean the lab. (325 characters)

How can we improve this? Let’s go through the following steps.

Tips for Strong and Concise UC Activities List Descriptions

• Clearly state your position(s) at the beginning of the description. For example, “Founder and President” or “Varsity Captain (11, 12), JV Captain (10).”
• Strengthen verbs. Choose precise, active verbs–they’ll save you space & make your descriptions more engaging and specific. For example, “come up with” could be replaced with “organized.”
• Include quantifiable impact (when possible). Remember, numbers are your friend—they provide readers with a helpful sense of scope. “Increased membership from 5 to 30” is more impactful than “Grew club membership.” “Led 30 students” communicates much more than “Led students…”
• Cut articles. Often, words like “a” and “the” can be trimmed without compromising clarity. For example, whittle “Planned the meetings” to “Planned meetings.”
• Don’t spell out numbers. Although you should typically spell out numbers under ten, avoid doing so on your activities list. You’ll save space.
• Use fragments. In creative genres, fragments are often used to convey emphasis, so they’re absolutely perfect for resumes and activities lists. They’re also excellent character savers. Compare Julia’s “I come up with the experiments…” to “Develop and research experiments…”
• Be selective. If space is a concern, do not feel the need to include minor tasks. In this case, Julia might choose to eliminate note-taking and lab cleaning.
• Avoid repeating information. Each entry will give you an opportunity to mark your years of participation. For that reason, within the description, you typically don’t need to mention when you started an activity unless you started it prior to high school. This is most often the case for instruments and sports, ex. “Have played piano since age 9.”
• Be mindful of tense. Use present tense if it’s something you still do. However, use past if it isn’t.

Ready?

Julia’s UC Extracurricular Activity Description: Final Draft

Founder & President. Grew club membership from 2 to 20. Develop and research experiments to conduct during weekly meetings. Lead group discussions about experiment results and future adjustments. Lead monthly demonstrations for over 40 students at a local middle school. (270 characters)

One more UC extracurricular activity example…

Original version: I was responsible for leading a group of 15 girls on weekly hikes. I planned the routes, collected essential supplies, and was responsible for safety measures.

Based on the tips above, let’s add detail. What was your position? Where and how long were the hikes? What concrete verb could we exchange for “was responsible”? In this context, what safety measures were you responsible for?

Revised version: Wilderness Leader. I led a group of 15 girls on monthly 7-mile hikes at Yosemite National Park. I planned the routes, collected essential supplies, and performed safety checks, such as monitoring drinking water and overall hiker health status. I’m certified in CPR and first aid. (279 characters)

Finally, fragmentize, eliminate articles, and check tenses: Wilderness Leader. Lead group of 15 girls on monthly 7-mile hikes at Yosemite National Park. Plan routes, collect essential supplies, and perform safety checks, such as monitoring drinking water and overall hiker health status. Certified in CPR and first aid. (259 characters)

Now, we can apply the same principles to an “Other Coursework” entry:

• Course Name: Principles of Digital Marketing
• Original Description: I took this course through South River Community College. In class, we studied content marketing, social media marketing, web analytics, and SEO. I completed and presented several projects and got an A in the class. (215 characters)
• Revised Description: Took course at South River Community College. Studied content marketing, social media marketing, web analytics, and SEO. Completed case study project on local ad company (shadowed for 10 hrs) & 15-page research paper on the impact of AI on digital marketing. Earned final grade of A. (283 characters)

And a “Work Experience” entry:

• Company Name: Sal’s Corner Mart
• Company Description: Sal’s is a small neighborhood market that sells food, drinks, and other items. It is run by a local family and has 10 part-time employees. 
• Job Title: Cashier
• Original Description: I work the cash register during my shift. I scan items, collect payment, and provide change for customers. When I’m not busy, I help restock shelves and unload new shipments. I am responsible for closing the store at the end of the night. (238 characters)
• Revised Description: Work cash register 3 nights/week. Scan items, collect payments, and provide correct change for 30+ customers per shift. Responsible for high level of accuracy, customer service, and closing procedures. When we do not have customers, I restock shelves and unload new shipments. (279 characters)

A cautionary note: don’t go wild.

Like Brennan Huff dubbing ketchup + mayonnaise “fancy sauce,” there’s no need to make straightforward stuff sound overly impressive. At best, you’ll sound whimsical; at worst, unhinged. Remember, like most humans, admissions officers know the basics of playing instruments, participating in sports, and working at Starbucks.

Compare these barista descriptions:

Version 1: Artfully combine steaming liquid with multiple milks and syrups. Well-versed in new employee management. Earn profits for a multi-billion-dollar company.

Version 2: Fulfill drink orders, manage cash register, provide courteous customer service. Serve 50+ customers per shift. Trained five new employees.

Stick to simple yet detailed–we promise it’s fine.

Do I have to use the whole character count? What about all 2o activity slots?

Nope! Don’t believe us? Here’s some advice from Robert Penman, the Executive Director of Undergraduate Admissions at UC Davis:

“More is not always better, right? That applies to the number of awards, activities, honors, and whatnot. It also applies to the way that you write the description. You don’t have to have full sentences. Bullet points are okay. Short statements are okay….You don’t have a lot of character count, so you really do need to self-edit and kind of get to the point. We’re not grading them for grammar, spelling, punctuation, or anything like that, but you do want to try to make it easy for the person reading the application to read it.”

So, take this as your sign from the powers that be to remove that one time you volunteered at a church picnic and the single meeting you attended for Chemistry Club. And if you’ve said everything you need to say in 150 characters, don’t be tempted to add filler to get to 350. Only include activities, experiences, and awards from which you’ve gained true value, and only share the most important details about those activities in your descriptions.

For reference, most of our students use between 10-15 slots.

What if I’ve already completed the Common App activities list? Can I use the same descriptions?

In general, yes. You do not need to bulk up your Common App activities descriptions if you feel that you’ve already communicated all pertinent information. However, an exception would be if you needed to use the Common App additional information section to expand on one or more of your activities or awards. In that case, we recommend maximizing the UC activities list word count before utilizing the additional information section.

Does the order of UC activities matter?

No. At the 2024 UC High School Counselor Conference, admissions officers shared the following: “The order of activities does not matter. Depending on the application reading tool each campus is using, it may rearrange the activities and awards differently from how your student chose to enter the information. The most important thing is that your student gets the information on their application.”

Final Thoughts – UC Activities List

Admissions officers want to hear about the activities that you find most valuable and personally fulfilling. As such, the trick is to spend the requisite time distilling your responsibilities and accomplishments into an application-friendly format. For each activity, focus on collecting and crafting salient information into information-loaded sentences to account for the UC activities list word count limits. You’ll be well on your way to a stand-out activities list.