Of course, these activities take place in the midst of your taking the most challenging academic courses available at school and getting A’s in practically everything.

Having said all of the above, it’s also important that you try to keep some kind of balance in your life. You don’t want to burn yourself out before you get to college.

B. WHY AND HOW TO USE THE ACTIVITIES RESUME
Having a well thought-out activities resume makes filling out your college applications much easier. First, it helps organize the many pieces of information you will need for various parts of the college applications, in particular the activities grids.

Second, it enhances your ability to find a theme or focus for the applications, which in turn, helps you choose good topics for the application essays.

Third, any person who you ask to write a letter of recommendation should be given an activities resume including:

• Your high school counselor

• Teachers who are completing Teacher Evaluation forms

• Other people who write letters on your behalf

High school counselors and teachers have dozens of recommendations to write. Because they are responsive to so many student, even at smaller, private schools it is difficult for them to know details about students or know about your activities during all four years of school. Therefore, anything you can do to make their job easier – including providing them with a resume – will be greatly appreciated. Your presenting recommenders with an impressive, well-organized, easy-to-read resume can only have a positive effect on what they say in their recommendation forms and letters.

adMISSION POSSIBLE® TIP! Some college applications indicate exactly what they want in a resume. Be sure to follow their directions carefully. As men- tioned may times before, admissions offices don’t like when you fail to follow their instructions.

Other uses for the activities resume include:

• As a supplement to the Activities Grid on a college application. Virtually all colleges ask you to fill out an Activities Grid. This is a critical part of the application. While an activities resume should never be used as a replacement for completing a grid, you can use it as an addendum. Some students use the Additional Information space on the Common Application for this purpose. Other students ask one of their recommenders to include a copy of their resume as a part of the recommender package.

• As a give-away to a college admissions person interviewing you. What better way of “breaking the ice” with an interviewer than to arrive with an impressive activities resume. Not only will this give you something to talk about, but the resume will help you to leave a lasting positive impression on the person.

• As an attachment to a thank-you note after a meeting or interview with an admissions officer, college coach, or other college person. Whether you meet an admissions officer at your school or at a large gathering in a hotel off-campus, it is always useful to get his/her name and email address so that you can send a follow-up thank you note. Attaching your resume is a perfect way of reminding the person who you are and what you have done.