The Common App’s New “Activities and Experiences” Section

For the 2026–27 application cycle, the Common App has renamed its familiar Activities section “Activities and Experiences.” The wording may seem like a small interface update, but it sends an important signal: colleges appreciate knowing how students spend their time beyond formal clubs, titles, and awards.

Traditionally, many applicants have assumed that an activity “counts” only if it fits a recognizable admissions category: student government, varsity athletics, academic teams, organized volunteering, or a prestigious summer program. That assumption has always been too narrow, and the new label makes the broader intent more visible.

Common App’s own guidance tells students to consider family responsibilities, paid jobs, internships, volunteer work, hobbies, and sports when deciding what to report. It also advises applicants to select the experiences that best communicate who they are rather than trying to fill every possible entry.

That matters for students whose lives include commitments that do not come with an official title, a school adviser, or an award ceremony. Examples might include:

• Caring for younger siblings or an ill relative
• Working to contribute to household expenses
• Running a small freelance, resale, tutoring, or creative business
• Building software, making art, writing independently, or pursuing music outside a formal program
• Managing significant household responsibilities
• Participating in a faith community, cultural organization, or neighborhood effort
• Learning a skill independently and applying it in meaningful ways

None of these experiences needs to be dressed up as a conventional extracurricular. The point is not to make every responsibility sound extraordinary. The point is to describe it honestly and specifically enough that an admissions reader can understand its place in a student’s life.

Why the name change matters

“Activities” can imply optional, organized, after-school participation. “Experiences” is more inclusive. It acknowledges that students develop skills, character, interests, and obligations in many settings—at home, at work, online, in their communities, and independently.

This is particularly meaningful in an admissions environment where students do not have equal access to costly programs, transportation, school clubs, free time, or adult networks. A student who works 20 hours a week at a grocery store may have fewer opportunities to lead clubs at school, but their employment can demonstrate a strong work ethic and excellent communication skills.

The new framing does not mean colleges don’t value leadership anymore. Rather, it suggests that leadership can be demonstrated through initiative and responsibility, not just through a formal office. A student who coordinates care for siblings, trains new coworkers, or organizes a neighborhood project may have real leadership experience even without the title “president” or “captain.”

The revised section gives admissions officers a better opportunity to evaluate accomplishment in context. A transcript shows academic performance, essays reveal a student’s voice, and recommendation letters provide outside perspectives. Activities and experiences help connect those pieces by showing how a student spends time when no one is assigning a grade.