Besides listing a student’s accomplishments, college applications give hopeful candidates the opportunity to tell universities about themselves, to tell a story to admissions officers about their academic journey and scholarly potential. One of the core elements of the college application is a student’s extracurricular involvements.

Whether you’re a senior anxious to submit the perfect application to your dream school or an underclassman looking to get a head start on college application prep, the following tips will be useful to your college application process wherever you are in your high school journey.