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How to Write a Great Extracurricular Activity Essay: Complete Guide + Examples 2024

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If you’re applying to selective colleges, chances are you’ll be asked to write about how you’ve spent your time outside of school.

While these questions are sometimes worded differently (see examples below in the FAQ), they generally sound something like this:

Tell us about one or more of your extracurricular activities. 

In this post, I’ll share some practical tips for how to write about your extracurricular involvement in your college essays. But first, answers to a few commonly asked questions.

Q: Why do so many schools ask about extracurricular activities?

A: Simply put, they’re a great way to learn about the skills/qualities/values/experiences you’ve had that (and this is important) you haven’t already described in your personal statement. 

Q: Do I really have to write it?

A: If a school asks for it, yes. If a school makes it optional, probably still write it. Why? If you don’t, it’s a missed opportunity. And also because you have this really great step-by-step guide in front of you that’s gonna’ show you how to crush it.

Q: What are some supplemental essay prompts that can be considered “extracurricular activity essays?”

Here are a few you might see:

  • “Briefly discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved.” (Georgetown University)

  • “Please briefly elaborate on an extracurricular activity or work experience of particular significance to you.” (Amherst College)

  • “Please provide more details on your most meaningful commitment outside of the classroom while in high school and explain why it was meaningful. This could be related to an extracurricular activity, work, volunteering, an academic activity, family responsibility, or any other non-classroom activity.” (University of Florida)

And while some prompts don’t mention the word “activity,” the techniques in this post can still help you answer prompts like these: 

  • “Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.”  (The University of California Schools)

  • “Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.”  (The University of California Schools)

  • “What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?”  (The University of California Schools)  

Ready? Let’s do this.

How do I decide which extracurricular activity to write about?

My answer to this is simple: Complete the BEABIES exercise for the activities you’re debating writing about and see which one yields the best possible content.

For the sake of argument, let’s say there are four types of extracurricular activities:

  • Passion Projects (something you love and would do for free even if it didn’t help your chances of getting into college)

  • Rockstar Achievements (those in which you’ve won something or held a leadership position)

  • One Hit Wonders (things you did once)

  • I’ve Played Piano for 14 Years But I Hate It (something your parents have made you do since you were a kid and you’re either too nice or too afraid to tell them you don’t want to do it anymore, or maybe you kinda still like it but don’t love it)

So which one should you write about?

Okay, ideally, your passion project is the one you’ve turned into a Rockstar Achievement. If so, write about that.

But what if you have to choose? What if you’ve been a part of both:

  • something very personal that has a strong WHY component (passion project), and

  • something less personal that has an impressive WOW (rockstar achievement)

Which do you write about?

In general, if your rockstar achievement has...

a) earned you recognition

b) demonstrated your leadership potential, and

c) required you to shoulder some real responsibilities.

...then I’d say write about your rockstar achievement.

Why? A couple reasons:

The first, kind of superficial reason is this:

Readers are zipping through your application at a pretty good clip and while they are somewhat interested in who you are (which is what I think your main personal statement is for) they’re also interested in what you’ve done. Don’t leave out that second part.

Here’s an example:

If you’re choosing between your passion for listening to different kinds of music, for example, and the time you won Nationals in ACADECA, consider writing about winning ACADECA.

Why else should you do this?

If you’ve put in hours and hours of work prepping for and winning ACADECA and you don’t write about it, that’s what in the college admissions world we call a missed opportunity. Or, what they call in Vegas, leaving money on the table.

Here’s an exception! What if you have to choose between either:

  • a.) that time you won a small award in something you didn’t care a whole lot about, or

  • b.) a passion project that’s really cool and that makes you stand out?

What if, for example, you won a Certificate of Merit in the 9th grade for playing violin and you’re still in the orchestra but it’s not a really big deal to you because your REAL passion—the thing that keeps you up ‘til 3am—is your passion for constructed languages. That’s right, making up your own language. (This is a real example, by the way.)

WRITE ABOUT CONSTRUCTED LANGUAGES

For reals. That’s ‘cause constructed languages are the bomb. Actually, I never really knew there was such a thing as ConLang, as the cool kids call it, until one of my students wrote an awesome essay about his passion for constructed languages.

So, in short, opt for the passion project if it’s something really cool and geeky. And by geeky I mean something that you know so much about that when someone mentions it you start talking really fast and start using arcane vocabulary that makes people go, “Wha?”

And unfortunately, your 1,000 hrs spent building up three Level 90 Warriors in World of Warcraft doesn’t count as a “WOW” project. Unless you started a WoW club that held a fundraiser for victims of epilepsy and donated the money. 

Finally, here’s a question I get a lot:

Student: But what if I’ve already written about my most impressive extracurricular activity in my main personal statement or in another essay the school is receiving?

Me: Then write about your second most impressive extracurricular activity.

Click here for more tips on how to write an extracurricular essay without rockstar achievements.

How to Structure Your Extracurricular Essay

When it comes to your extracurricular activity essay, you’ll either describe a challenge or series of challenges you’ve encountered and overcome, or you won’t. I’ve developed a structure that works for each case.

The first is what I call the “Powerwall” approach and it works well for students who have addressed or overcome a challenge through their extracurricular activity. 

The second is called the “Uncommon Connections” approach and works well for students who are not writing about a challenge they’ve encountered through an extracurricular activity. 

But heads-up: you don’t have to pick an approach right now. In fact, don’t yet. Read through both techniques and see which might work better. 

The Narrative Approach (aka The Powerwall Exercise)

This approach works particularly well for: 

  • Any extracurricular essay about overcoming a challenge

  • Any volunteer or community service essay

  • Any social issue essay, for example that asks “What are you interested in?” or “What’s one problem you would like to solve?”

This structure was inspired by an article written by Andy Raskin that analyzes a pitch Elon Musk gave on the Powerwall. What’s the Powerwall? It doesn’t much matter for this exercise, but it’s basically a better, more eco-friendly battery. Here’s Raskin's take on Musk’s pitch:

“Musk’s delivery isn’t stellar. He’s self-conscious and fidgety. But at the end, his audience cheers. For a battery. That’s because Musk does five things right that you should emulate in every pitch you ever make to anybody.”

While reading Raskin’s article I realized (because I’m the College Essay Guy and this is where my brain is half the time) Musk’s approach could easily be applied to a wide range of extracurricular essay topics, so I adapted the structure, added a step, and created an approach that will help you map out a challenges-based extracurricular essay in about ten minutes. Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Identify the problem. 

Describe the challenge you were (or are currently) facing. The problem could be something global, like an environmental issue, or something more local, like a lack of creative opportunities in your high school.

Step 2: Raise the stakes. 

Help us understand: Why was (or is) overcoming this challenge important? What might happen if this problem went (or goes) unchecked? 

Step 3: Describe what you did. 

Tell us the specific things you (or you and your team) did to solve the problem.

Step 4: Clarify your role. 

Describe your particular involvement. Why were (or are) you crucial to the project or club’s success?

Step 5: Share the impact you had, lessons you learned, or values you gained. 

Provide specific evidence that gives us a sense that your work mattered. I’ll show you some ways to do this in a minute.

Think that’s too much to do in one essay? 

Behold. An essay that does it:

The Catalyzing Creativity Club

I live in the suburb of Los Angeles, California, known to its residents as the bubble. It has the perfect weather, location, and schools. As amazing as it sounds, however, growing up in La Cañada Flintridge has its drawbacks: the community pressures adolescents to achieve success through mainly academic means. While this approach isn’t necessarily wrong, it can be difficult, particularly in my high school, to thrive in a creative and imaginative way.

Sophomore year, my friends and I began to wonder, What if the teenagers of La Cañada had greater opportunities to express themselves. To pursue their creativity. To follow their dreams.

That’s when we decided to start the Catalyzing Creativity Club. 

Founded two years ago, the Catalyzing Creativity Club (C3, for short), provides students in our community the opportunity to pursue their passion and aspirations outside the classroom. 

Some of our opportunities include: a yearly music festival for our community’s young aspiring musicians that showcases local talent to the masses and scouts; a technology expo, which allows students to be rewarded with funding and demonstrate their coding abilities to prospective companies; recording sessions for aspiring musicians, photo-publishing competitions, and a variety of guest speakers ranging from nineteen-year-old college seniors to millionaire entrepreneurs. In addition, we have a blog for aspiring writers to publish their work and are holding a shoe drive for underprivileged athletes. 

As vice president of finances for C3, I work to ensure we can fund these activities. I handle our bank account, fundraising, and organize the event planning. Moreover, I make sure that C3’s activities and finances are approved by and follow the guidelines of my high school. This role is crucial, as we work to achieve non-profit status. 

Even though C3 is only a few years old, I believe it is already making an impact in the community. As we grow and the opportunities we provide become more popular, our hope is to inspire our peers to follow their dreams and burst the La Cañada Flintridge bubble. (332 words)

Brief Notes and Analysis of this Essay

  1. Check out how the third paragraph is basically a straightforward listing of the club’s accomplishments. This was pulled directly from the bullet points of his BEABIES exercise. (See above for more.) It works.

  2. Notice how specific he gets in the fourth paragraph where he clarifies why he was essential to the club’s success. Doing this helps us understand that he was more than just a passive participant who showed up to meetings. 

  3. Another potential use of your extracurricular essay is to expand on something you only mentioned briefly in your personal statement. In this case, the author mentioned in his personal statement that he’s “a numbers guy” and the fourth paragraph in this essay expands on why numbers are meaningful to him. 

  4. If he’d had more room, he could have potentially expanded in the final paragraph on the club’s impact, describing specific ways the community changed, or personal lessons learned. But again, not every essay has to be perfect (and not every element has to be included) in order for this structure to work. 

Here’s another wonderful, imperfect example that uses this structure:

Earthquakes

Last year, nearly 600 earthquakes hit my hometown of Reno in a ‘swarm’. Although the magnitudes of these quakes ranged from 2.5 to 3.7, the constant fear and anxiety of impending doom rose in the community. A disaster is unprecedented and unpredictable and, in our community, we always acknowledged their occurrence elsewhere but never fully admitted that a large-scale catastrophe may happen at our doorsteps.

Recognizing this unspoken apathy, I decided to take a step beyond my school club and get involved in the community chapter of the Reno Red Cross Disaster Cycle Services team. As I was learning the basics of preparedness i.e., general earthquake and fire safety drills, I realized that if disaster were to strike, the majority of people in my community could not confidently say that they are prepared. As part of the DCS committee, it is my goal to increase the confidence of as many youth and families as possible.

During my training, I accompanied volunteers during the Home Fire Preparedness Campaign, where we installed and updated smoke alarms and detectors in over thirty low income households in the Reno area, free of charge. I began teaching the “Pillowcase Project” in local elementary schools, leading workshops in and instilling the importance of disaster preparedness for the youngest of children.

Representing DCS on the Youth Executive Board for our local chapter, I also led a Youth in Disaster Services Seminar, where we trained young adults in CPR Certification as well as basic Shelter Fundamentals.

Through my work with the Red Cross, and in my interactions with survivors and rescuers who assisted during Hurricane Katrina, I’ve come to discover how teaching even just small preparedness procedures to individuals can help save entire communities.

The impact of disaster services reverberates throughout our communities, both at home and internationally. It is a selfless, necessary job in which youth, as the future generation of an ever-changing disaster prone world, must take urgent action.

Brief Notes and Analysis of this Essay

  1. As you can see, this structure can work for either local, more personal problems (as described in the “Catalyzing Creativity Club” essay) or larger-scale problems (as described in the “Earthquakes” essay).  

  2. These two examples are similar in that the middle includes specific, straightforward details pulled directly from the “What I did” column of the BEABIES exercise.

  3. The elements of this structure can be used in whatever order makes sense for your story. In this essay, for example, the author chose to conclude with a “Why now”/ Raise the Stakes moment to provide a call to action that creates a sense of urgency and helps us understand the importance of her work. I appreciate that this puts the focus not on the author, but on the value of the work she is doing and, while this may feel counterintuitive, her decision to draw attention to her cause actually draws me to her as a college applicant even more. Why? She’s saying, “It’s not about me—it’s about the work we’re doing.” And that’s something I want in a leader.

All right, enough analysis. Time for you to get to work.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Brainstorming and Writing a Narrative (Challenges-Based) Extracurricular Essay

Step 1: Complete the BEABIES Exercise. 

This will take you 15-30 minutes and provide all the content you need to write your essay. 

Here’s a tip: The more time you spend working on this chart the easier it’ll be to write your essay. Students who spend 10 minutes on this exercise will have an outline; students who spend 20 minutes or more will have all the content they need to write their essay.

Once you’ve completed the BEABIES exercise…

Step 2: Choose a problem. 

Decide which problem you want to use to start your essay. Some more examples from past students: 

“Our campus was divided into separate social groups...” 

“Our music program was at risk of being shut down...” 

“We didn’t have adequate sports equipment…”

“A hurricane had recently flooded our nearby town and we wanted to help…”

“Maternal mortality rates were extremely high in the community where we were working…”  

Draw us in. Get us to wonder how one might solve this problem.

Then:

Step 3: Raise the stakes.

Help us understand why this problem was/is important to solve. Why do we need to act now?

Step 4: Tell us what you did about it.

This content will come directly from the first column of your BEABIES exercise. As I’ve said, if you spend some quality time thinking about your bullet points, you’ll have all the content you need for this section. 

Step 5: Tell us why you were/are crucial to the project or club’s success.

Many students skip this step, but it can be useful in helping us understand your particular gifts, skills, and strengths. Consider: 

  • Did you draw on knowledge you’d gained elsewhere (like your musical talents, or your love of research)? 

  • Did you learn to do something brand new for this project (like coding, for example, or how to ask local business owners for donations)?

  • Imagine your team was a team trying to pull off a heist in one of those action movies (not literally, but go with me). What was your special talent that qualified you to be there? Were you the visionary, inspiring the team to dream bigger? Or the team parent, sending reminder texts and making sure everyone was eating enough?   

Step 6: Show us the impact.

While this is perhaps the most important part of the extracurricular essay, many students struggle to articulate the impact of their work. And it’s no surprise—even nonprofits and large organizations struggle to articulate the impact of their work. Here are some ways to think about impact: 

  • Numbers (Ex: “In the past year, club membership has tripled” or “We raised over $1,200 to buy new books for the library!”)

  • Anecdotal evidence of impact, or quotations (Ex: “We’ve received numerous requests to return next year” or “Last week, a first-year student named Elena wrote me an email to say, ‘Thank you for making a difference in my life.’”)

  • Personal impact (on you, the author) in the form of lessons learned, skills gained (Ex: “I have come to better understand the pervasive, damaging effects of white supremacy culture.”) It’s especially interesting to note if these skills transferred to other areas of your life (Ex: “The facilitation skills I learned through my work with the Gay-Straight Alliance helped me communicate more effectively with my soccer teammates.”)

Once you’ve brainstormed these elements, you should have everything you need to write your essay. 

FAQs for an Extracurricular Essay Based on a Challenge

Q: How do I know if my challenge is a “good” challenge?

A: If it’s clear, specific, and compelling then it’s probably a good one. But if you’re not sure, ask someone. If you don’t have someone nearby, ask yourself, “Would this make an interesting news segment or documentary short?” And if your challenge/problem isn’t compelling enough on its own, that’s what the “Raise the stakes” part is for—tell us why it matters.

Q: Do I have to include every single element of the Powerwall structure in order for the essay to work? 

A: Not necessarily. Note for example how the “Catalyzing Creativity Club” essay doesn’t include a “Raise the stakes” moment and the “Earthquakes” essay doesn’t include an “Articulate the vision” moment, yet both essays work well. Use the elements that make sense for your story; don’t use the ones that don’t.

Q: Do I have to focus my extracurricular essay on a challenge? 

A: Absolutely not! Here’s how to write your essay if you have NOT faced a challenge (or don’t want to feature one in your essay). 

The Montage Approach
(aka The Uncommon Connections Exercise)

I happen to think that the difference between a boring essay and a stand-out essay is this:

 

Boring essay: 

common topic

common connections

common achievements

common language

Stand-out essay: 

uncommon topic

uncommon connections

uncommon achievements

uncommon language

 

By “uncommon connections” I mean the values people don’t normally or immediately associate with the activity you’ve named. Another word I use for uncommon connections is insights.

And I know what you’re thinking: What if I don’t play an obscure instrument, or my most important extracurricular activity and achievements are somewhat common?

Don’t worry. That’s what this guide is for.

How to Stand Out on Your Extracurricular Essay If Your Topic and Achievements Are Common

If you have no uncommon topic or achievements, it’s all the more important to make uncommon connections related to your values. Why? With a common topic and common connections (i.e. basketball taught me hard work and discipline), you’ll likely blend in. Instead, you want to generate insights others won’t have thought of. How? There’s a game for that!

The UC* Game  

*Uncommon Connections

First, pick a cliché topic that you might use for an essay. The more cliché the better.

Football, you say? The mission trip? Awesome, let’s do both.

Step 1: Brainstorm the cliché version of your essay. 

First, tell me what the typical football or mission trip essay will focus on. How? Take a look at the Values Exercise and list some cliché values that you think the typical essay would focus on.

  • A cliché connection for [football] would be [teamwork, responsibility, hard work, etc.] 

  • A cliché connection for a [mission trip] would be [helping others, hard work, passion, etc.].

You get the idea. 

Step 2: Come up with 3-4 uncommon values.

Next, brainstorm values that might not normally be associated with football or a mission trip.

Examples: 

  • An uncommon connection to [football] might be [resourcefulness, healthy boundaries, critical thinking, etc.].

  • An uncommon connection to [a mission trip] might be [serenity, accountability, practicality, etc.].

If you can find one uncommon connection you can find two, if you can find two you can find three, and if you can find three then you have enough content for a 350-word essay. Here’s how to develop your content:

Step 3: Tie the value to a specific example from your life.

Describe one specific example of how you’ve developed or explored that value through that activity… and maybe even applied it to other areas of your life.

Example: Football has made me a better reader.

As a cornerback, I meticulously and systematically scan the offense, looking for nuances in formation before the quarterback snaps the ball, all in a matter of seconds. It’s not unlike annotating a novel. Finding the subtle complexities in my rival teams’ spread offense has not only led me to intercepting a pass, but has given me the skills to fully digest, for example, Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, where the smallest, and at first glance, almost unnoticeable details, add to an intricate story that I wouldn’t appreciate in the same way had I not been able to notice those details in the first place.

See how that makes for a more interesting football essay? 

uncommon value (critical thinking) + application elsewhere (English class) = win

Once you have a list of 3-4 uncommon values and examples of how they’ve manifested in your life...

Step 4: Decide on an order for your details and write a draft.

I recommend chronological order, as it’ll make transitions easier. Then try a draft. It doesn’t have to be perfect the first time, just get something down on paper.

Only have 30 minutes? Take a look at this post to turn around your mediocre EC activity essay in just a half hour.

How to Turn This Exercise Into an Essay

Check out the example below, for which the author brainstormed these values: beauty, culture, social change, family, helping others, language.

Santur

Do re fa mi, re do fa mi, re do sol fa mi re mi re. Have I completely lost it? Should I be locked up in a mental hospital chained to a chair? No. Then what are these utterances coming from my mouth? Music.

I have devoted thousands of hours of my life to playing the santur, a classical Persian instrument that originated in the Middle East. Some people think I'm strange: a Persian redheaded Jewish teenager obsessed with an ancient musical instrument. But they don’t see what I see. My santur is King David’s lyre: it can soothe, enrapture, mesmerize.

The santur also allows me to connect to my culture and Persian heritage, and to visit Iran of the past, a culture rich in artistic tradition. Sometimes I imagine performing for the king in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the santur sounds echoing through the Seven Hills of Jerusalem.

Today, some Americans view Iran as a land of terrorists, but when I play the innocent of Iran, the educated, the artists, the innovators, come to life. Iran is not a country of savages; it’s Kubla Khan’s fountain, an abundant source of knowledge and creativity.

Finally, the santur represents one of my remaining links to my grandfather. In the last few years of his life, Baba Joon did not know me as his grandson. Alzheimer’s slowly took over his brain, and eventually he could not recognize me. Baba Joon grew up with the music of the santur and my father plays it in his car every day, so when I play, the music connects all three generations.

In December I’ll be releasing my first album, a collection of classical Persian pieces. Proceeds from the album will go toward Alzheimer's research, as I hope to play some small part in finding a cure for the disease. My teacher is one of only a handful of santur teachers from Iran, and I sometimes wonder if the santur will soon become extinct, like the seven thousand endangered languages which may soon be gone.

Not if I have anything to say about it. 

(350 words)

— — —

But you might be wondering: “Ethan, do I have to use uncommon connections? Can’t I just tell the reader about what I’ve done and learned?” 

You can! In fact, here’s an essay that does just that: 

The Straightforward (But Specific!) Switch-Side Policy Debate Essay

Through switch-side policy debate I not only discuss a multitude of competing ideas, but also argue from both sides of widely disputed issues. By equipping me with Protagoras’ antilogic and Dissoi Logoi, switch-side policy debate has provided me with a forum to cultivate a diversity of intellectual perspectives that has informed my own intellectual growth.

I strive to give others the same opportunity for intellectual stimulation. Over the past two years, I have helped expand my debate team from a struggling club of 15 to a force of over 100 debaters, leading my team to place first in our debate league. As team President, I teach new debaters fundamentals in communication theory while facilitating formal and informal debates. Playing a dual role as instructor and competitor has allowed me to establish debate as a lasting forum for discussing ideas at my school.

The lessons I learned as both a leader and debater have helped me to succeed beyond my debate circles. Inside the classroom, I possess the openness to consider the views of others and the courage to voice my own opinions. Having been elected to student office four times, I have used these skills to sell my ideas to the student body and earn its vote. More importantly, debate has taught me how to transform these ideas into concrete actions. As the current ASB Vice President, I have used the managerial and communication skills I developed as a debater to spearhead a school wide sustainability campaign that spanned issues concerning water scarcity, ecology, and campus beautification.

Similarly, the lessons I learned in debate will be instrumental in my future work as an entrepreneur and engineer, both of which require the capacity to approach problems critically and clearly articulate complex ideas. Continuing to develop these skills will be crucial if I am to become a competitive member in the future marketplace of ideas.

(313 words)

Brief Notes and Analysis of this Essay

  1. This essay uses what I call the “firehose” approach. It’s a straightforward account of this student’s accomplishments and the lessons he has learned. Does it feel too braggy? Maybe, since culturally we sometimes recoil when folks too boldly or plainly state their achievements. But maybe not, as I really appreciate how he connects each accomplishment (“Having been elected to student office four times…”) to lessons he’s learned through debate (“...I have used these skills to sell my ideas to the student body and earn its vote”). 

  2. I also appreciate how this essay weaves together different parts of his application, describing both his role in the classroom and his work in student government. In this sense, debate ends up being a thematic thread that connects many parts of his life. 

  3. Also note that, while a few of the connections he makes are somewhat uncommon (e.g., debate taught him managerial skills and how to transform ideas into concrete actions), many of his values are somewhat common, like how debate has taught him courage and openness. And the essay works. One thing that I think prevents his essay from sounding cliché is the specificity of his language throughout the essay.

How to Write a Super Extracurricular Essay (That Works for Multiple Schools)

You might have realized that several of the colleges on your list have essay prompts that ask about your extracurricular involvement.

You might have also realized “Hey, wait a minute, I talked about basketball/band/Boy Scouts/MUN in that other essay. Is this the same essay?”

It might be. Many colleges word their extracurricular essays a bit differently, but at the heart of things, they just want to know what you’re spending time on outside of the classroom.  

To help save students lots of time, I recommend that they write a Super Extracurricular Essay: an essay that that can work for multiple schools essay requirements.  

I have a longer, step-by-step guide for writing a Super Essay, which I recommend reading if you’re finding yourself drowning in supplemental essays, but here’s the short version:

  1. (5-20 min) Choose an extracurricular activity that will work for several prompts listed on your Essay Tracker. (This is basically a spreadsheet that lists all of your required supplemental essays. You can download a template on tab 2 of the document here.) Not sure which topic will work best? The BEABIES will help you flesh out potential topics.

  2. (2 min.) Copy and paste all the prompts that your topic could work for at the top of the document you'll be writing your essay on.

  3. (25 min.) Decide on a structure—Narrative or Montage—and either complete the Powerwall exercise or play the Uncommon Connections Game.

  4. (25-50 min.) Write the darn essay.

Seven Tips for the 150-Word Extracurricular Activity Essay

Some colleges have much shorter word limits for their extracurricular essay. That can be tricky to tackle, as it asks you to communicate a lot of information in just a few words. 

Here’s a great example, followed by some tips: 

Journalism

VIOLENCE IN EGYPT ESCALATES. FINANCIAL CRISIS LEAVES EUROPE IN TURMOIL. My quest to become a journalist began by writing for the international column of my school newspaper, The Log. My specialty is international affairs; I’m the messenger who delivers news from different continents to the doorsteps of my community. Late-night editing, researching and re-writing is customary, but seeing my articles in print makes it all worthwhile. I’m the editor for this section, responsible for brainstorming ideas and catching mistakes. Each spell-check I make, each sentence I type out, and each article I polish will remain within the pages of The Log. Leading a heated after-school brainstorming session, watching my abstract thoughts materialize onscreen, holding the freshly printed articles in my hand—I write for this joyous process of creation. One day I’ll look back, knowing this is where I began developing the scrutiny, precision and rigor necessary to become a writer.

Tip #1: Value content (information) over form (poetry). Space is limited here, so make sure the reader understands what you’ve done and what you’ve learned. Notice how, in the example above, a lot of the content probably came from the first column of the BEABIES: (i.e., “What I did”).

Tip #2: Use active verbs to give a clear sense of what you’ve done. 

Check out the active verbs in the essay above: writing, delivering, editing, researching, re-writing, brainstorming, catching, polishing, leading, holding, knowing. 

Tip #3: Consider telling us in one good clear sentence what the activity meant to you.

Examples: “I’m the messenger who delivers news from different continents to the doorsteps of my community” and “I write for this joyous process of creation” and “One day I’ll look back, knowing that this is where I began to develop the scrutiny, precision and rigor necessary to become a writer.”

Okay, that’s three sentences. But notice how all three are different. (And if you’re gonna include three, they better be different.)

Tip #4. You can “show” some, but not too much.

Example from the first line: “VIOLENCE IN EGYPT ESCALATES. FINANCIAL CRISIS LEAVES EUROPE IN TURMOIL.”

And later: “Leading a heated after-school brainstorming session, watching my abstract thoughts materialize onscreen, holding the freshly printed articles in my hand…”

The first one grabs our attention; the second paints a clear and dynamic picture. Keep ‘em short!

This essay uses the montage approach and does not name a specific problem. If, however, you’re using the “Powerwall” structure from above  and want to adapt it for the 150-word essay...

Tip #5: Consider starting your essay with the “problem.”

In fact, probably name the problem in the first sentence. Then, in the second sentence, say what you did about it. Why? Word count.

Tip #6: Don’t forget to include specific impact, even if it’s brief.

Read the ending again:

“I helped ease the work of the nurses and doctors, while delivering medicine and smiles to dozens of patients. I may not have directly saved any lives, but I’d like to think I helped.”

Tip #7: Write it long first, then cut it.

Both these students started with 250-300 word statements, then they trimmed ruthlessly. In my experience this tends to be easier than writing a very short version and then trying to figure out what to add.

Five More 150-Word Extracurricular Essay Examples I Love

Here are a few more examples to get you inspired. 

Note that the authors of these didn’t give them title, but I’ve given them generic titles to make referring to them easier and to break up the text on this blog post.

Photography

Developer, one minute; stop bath, 30 seconds; fixer, two minutes. Under the red beam of safelights a new photo comes to life, a carefully crafted compilation of dark shadows, light skies, and all the greys in between. 

I’ve spent many hours exploring photography using film cameras, pinhole cameras, plastic cameras, Polaroids, digital cameras, and disposables. I scour antique stores for old cameras to experiment with and learn from. As a result of my passion for photography, I have become one of my school’s photographers, responsible for documenting school events and teaching younger students darkroom techniques. Making decisions in the darkroom about contrast filters and apertures has made me more confident in my ability to make choices quickly. I also use my photography to advance social justice causes by drawing attention to issues such as unattainable standards for women’s bodies. (139 words)

Activism

In eighth grade, I created an art piece addressing a stereotype I had faced and posted it online, encouraging my friends to do the same and hashtag it #StereotypeProject. The drawing snowballed into a viral movement, gathering the attention of over 1,000 youth artists worldwide, each contributing their own stories and drawings. The Stereotype Project has since grown, extending into local schools and calling on the next generation to stand strong against the biases they face due to race, gender, sexual orientation, mental illness, and more.  In a time of increasing youth activism and reminders of the potential we have as young revolutionaries, the Stereotype Project is a channel for creative expression, unity, and a means of imparting a positive impact on the world. Our website continues to be live and accept submissions: stereotypeproject.org. (136 words)

Hospital Internship

Upon applying to Irvine Regional Hospital, I was told there were no spaces for Junior Volunteers. After securing additional recommendations, however, I reapplied and was finally accepted and assigned Front Desk duties, where I delivered flowers, transported biopsy samples to labs, directed visitors, and answered nurse requests. Unfortunately, the hospital was shut down due to lack of funds, and hundreds of workers became unemployed, including me. It was distressing to experience the effects of a declining economy. When Kaiser Permanente opened, my applications were also initially rejected. But by requesting an interview, I proved my qualifications from past experiences and was specially assigned to Medical Surgery instead of the Gift Shop. I answered patients’ requests, administered patient surveys, organized wound documentations, filed records, delivered blood and urine samples, assisted nurses with check-ups, stocked supply carts, updated dietary needs with doctors, and discharged patients safely. (146 words)

Summer Job

Regular Dog: $1.49. Jimmy’s Famous: $1.89. Twenty-five cents for cheese. Bologna’s out. Milkshake machine’s broken. Refill sweet tea.

As cashier at Jimmy’s Hot Dogs, I was everything but the cook. After day one, my hair stood straight and old southern ladies sympathetically asked oh honey, is it your first shift? I wanted to cry.

But, an hour before closing, Nondas, the cook, checked the register. He smiled and said “Luci Lou, you the best.” Stress forgotten, we danced around the kitchen in celebration, talking about his brothers in Greece, World Cup soccer, and grilled fish.

After that, I didn’t feel alone. I had Nondas. I had the regulars. And I had the southern ladies to back me up. Jimmy’s taught me to value the people that make a job worthwhile. To focus on the positive when there’s soccer to be watched and perfectly grilled fish to be eaten. (150 words)

Sports

Two years ago I won the Coach’s Award without ever stepping on the volleyball court. How? Sophomore year, a stress fracture prevented me from practicing, but I came to every practice and game to encourage and laugh with my teammates. At the end of the year, I won the award based on my positivity.

The subsequent year, I transferred schools and tried out for volleyball. Due to MHSAA rules, I couldn’t play because of the transfer, but I could practice. I never missed one, worked hard, and acted as team manager. So guess what happened? I won the Coach’s Award again, this time from a different coach. Again, without ever having set foot on the court.

While I’m not sure I’ll play D1 or D2 sports, I know for sure that one of my favorite activities ever is being positive and I plan to continue it at Michigan. (148 words)

25+

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