Last Updated on September 30, 2026
Quick answer: Hobbies in college applications help when they connect to the rest of your profile or reveal a new side of you. List meaningful hobbies in your activities section with specific details, write about them in essays when they show character or curiosity, and consider growing a hobby into a club or project with visible results.
Why Hobbies in College Applications Matter
As a high school student, you’ve likely spent a lot of time trying out different activities inside and outside of your school community. However, beyond these extracurriculars, you might have interests that you’re interested in, but haven’t actively pursued through a concrete club or initiative. These might seem redundant, but, if they either align meaningfully with the rest of your profile or show a side of you that might add a new layer, you might just be able to display your hobbies in college applications in a way that helps you get noticed as an impressive applicant.
Hobbies can include any activity you spend time on for fun, or a skill you hone that hasn’t necessarily transferred to your other activities, yet. While certain involvements, such as clubs where you hold a leadership role, or a community outreach activity that benefits the rest of your community, take up the majority of your time outside the classroom, there might be passion projects or interests you work on in your spare time. Hobbies might be relevant to your academic interests, for example, writing poetry in your free time as a prospective English major. Or, you could be a STEM student who has an interest in learning languages on the side. No matter where your interests lie, we’ve provided a few ways to take advantage of hobbies in college applications so that admissions officers can discover the depth of your profile.
Connect Hobbies to Your Activities List
One of the most straightforward ways you might be able to include your hobbies in college applications is through the extracurriculars that you already plan to put on your activities list. However, don’t add hobbies without careful consideration. It depends on if the activity aligns with the theme of your application. If your application persona is a screenwriter, it makes sense to include that you’ve made short films as a passion project. But if you enjoy playing basketball in your free time but you’re not applying as a student athlete and have no other athletic experience, you shouldn’t include it in your activities list. If a hobby isn’t relevant or doesn’t add anything meaningful to your profile, it can be read as stretching for additional activities.
Describe Hobbies With Specific Details
Harvard’s admissions office notes that it cares far more about the quality of your activities than their quantity, and that you can list up to ten activities without needing to fill every slot. [1] That means a hobby earns a place on your list only when you can describe it with specifics. Instead of writing “enjoy baking,” give the reader something concrete: how many hours a week you spend on it, what you have made or learned, and who else it reaches.
Before you add a hobby, ask yourself two questions. Have you spent real, sustained time on it? Does it show something about you that the rest of your application does not? If the answer to both is yes, it belongs on your list. For help phrasing each entry, see our guide to the Common App activities section.
Write About a Hobby in Your College Essays
The Common Application personal statement is a place to convey a story that is unique to you, and that helps the admissions officer understand what makes you exceptional in comparison to other candidates. If you worked hard on a project as a hobby that hasn’t found a place in the rest of your application, but you know it captures your essence as an applicant and person, and you put a lot of effort into a project or skill; you could very much write a 650-word essay about it. [1] Again, be very careful. If you just spend a few hours a month reading books, that isn’t worth an entire personal statement. However, if you’re interested in writing, and you spent your senior year working on a novel that has helped you reflect on your family identity or love for your town, that’s definitely worth mentioning in your personal statement. Admissions officers want the personal statement to demonstrate what a student can bring to their college that no one else can, if a hobby has truly defined your path of growth, or encompasses a central part of your personality, consider basing your personal statement on that hobby.
Write About It in a Supplemental Essay
A supplemental essay is another great place to discuss hobbies in college applications. Again, this might play out in different ways, depending on what the supplemental prompt is. Many colleges ask why you’ve chosen to apply to the school. If there’s a club or activity that relates to your hobby, it could be a golden opportunity to discuss how you’ve spent time honing your skill in the area and hope to participate. For example, while you may have only cycled as a hobby in high school, you might be excited to join a cycling club on campus.
Another type of supplemental essay that allows for you to reflect on a hobby is a prompt which asks you to elaborate on a part of you that you haven’t mentioned anywhere else in your application. This is an excellent way to show admissions officers a different side of you that they wouldn’t normally guess from reading about your intended major or viewing your activities and honors lists. One InGenius Prep student applying as a computer science major, with very STEM-heavy activities, wrote an essay about how he learned to play the guitar and overcame his stage fright. So, these essays provide students with an effective platform for highlighting a new side of them.
Share Creative Hobbies Through Arts Supplements
If your hobbies involve the arts, including visual art, music, dance, theater, architecture, and creative writing; you should consider submitting an arts supplement to the colleges that allow it. The arts supplement, sometimes known as the “arts portfolio” or an “additional arts form,” is a chance for students who’ve excelled in a creative or performance art to submit an organized sample of their work. [2] Instead of vaguely stating on your activities list that you spend your free time drawing or singing, submitting a portfolio or video clip can help explain the depth of your talent to the admissions officers. At some colleges, faculty may review optional materials such as artwork or music recordings, which helps admissions officers understand the level of your talent. [2]
If you are considering submitting an arts supplement, remember that students who have worked on their skills for years send in their work. If you’ve been significantly practicing your artistic hobby for years, definitely go for it. It’s one thing to be interested in an art form. It’s another to have spent hours, days, and years, learning and improving in it. If you believe that the time you’ve spent working on your art, music, dance, or acting outside your usual activities has paid off and you are one of the best, then submit an arts supplement!
Turn a Hobby Into a Project With Impact
Some of the most compelling hobbies in college applications are the ones students have grown beyond a personal pastime. If you have spent years on a hobby, think about how you can share it with others or build something around it. A student who loves chess might teach a weekly class at a local library, while a student who designs games for fun might publish one and gather feedback from real players. You could also start a club in high school so classmates can join you, or shape your hobby into a passion project with a clear goal and timeline.
Growth like this changes how admissions officers read a hobby. Instead of an interest you pursue alone, it becomes evidence of initiative, leadership, and follow-through. Keep a record of what you accomplish as you go, such as the people you teach, the events you run, or the work you complete, so you can describe your results accurately in your activities list and essays.
Add Hobbies to Your Resumé
Finally, submitting a resumé can be a way to include your hobbies in college applications. While some schools don’t allow any supplemental materials, there are schools that have an additional documents section that allows you to upload files, and many students use this as an opportunity to send their resumé. If you’re planning to do so, including your hobbies as a separate section can be a good idea, especially if they are unique and can help distinguish you from the competition.
It might not always be appropriate to include your hobbies in college applications. However, if your hobbies help illustrate you as a more nuanced candidate and help admissions officers gain a better understanding of the perspectives you can bring to campus, you should definitely highlight them in whichever component is most suitable, whether it’s your activities list, personal statement, or supplemental essay.
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