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UBC  /  Essays  /  Prompt 3

UBC: Activities and accomplishments

50-500 words (500-2,100 characters)

Describe up to five activities or accomplishments you have pursued, such as clubs, volunteer work, athletics, the arts, employment, or family responsibilities.
What it’s really asking

UBC wants a concise, honest inventory of how you actually spend your time and what you have achieved, including unglamorous things like a job or caring for siblings.

Why they ask it

This is your evidence base. It shows the shape of your commitments and follow-through. UBC values sustained, meaningful involvement, so genuine responsibilities count as much as titled leadership roles.

Three ways in
Count the invisible work

Include the unpaid, often-overlooked work, like caring for family or a part-time job, that UBC explicitly welcomes but many applicants leave out.

Add one detail each

For every item, attach a concrete result or marker of trust so it reads as more than a label.

Choose depth

List five things you genuinely did rather than ten you barely touched.

✕  Weak opening

“I have been involved in many extracurricular activities throughout high school, including several clubs, sports teams, and volunteer organizations.”

✓  Strong opening

“Three afternoons a week I coach a U10 girls' soccer team; the rest of the week I cook dinner for my two younger siblings while my parents work late shifts.”

✦ Annotated example · Five activities, plainly told. Written by EssayLens to teach, not a real applicant’s essay. Tap a highlighted line →
1. Family responsibility, weekday afternoons, 3 years. After school I pick up my younger brother, who has autism, and stay with him until our parents finish their restaurant shift around ten. I handle his dinner, his routines, and the meltdown that comes most Tuesdays when his schedule changes. It is the most demanding thing I do and the least visible on any transcript.12. Debate club, novice coordinator, Grades 10-12. I compete, but my real work is running the Saturday workshops that teach first-year debaters how to build a case. I have coached roughly thirty novices; four have since outplaced me at regionals, which I am stubbornly proud of.23. Part-time job, grocery cashier, weekends, 18 months. I run a register and train new hires on the self-checkout floor. The job pays for my transit and phone, and it taught me more about defusing a frustrated stranger in ninety seconds than any class has.34. Self-taught piano, 5 years, no lessons. I learned from videos and a secondhand keyboard with two dead keys. I am not performance-ready and never auditioned for anything. I play because it is the one hour a day that belongs only to me, usually after my brother is asleep.45. Community kitchen volunteer, Sundays, 2 years. I work the intake table, helping people locate the right form, bus route, or service. About 200 hours total, though I have stopped counting because the number was never the point.5Across all five, the common thread is not a theme I chose on purpose. It is that each one puts me beside someone who needs the next step found for them, and I am usually the one who finds it.6
  1. 1Leads with the caregiving role, which UBC explicitly invites and which many applicants hide. Naming it as 'least visible on any transcript' frames it honestly without inflating it.
  2. 2Quantifies impact with a concrete number and an honest, slightly self-deprecating detail ('outplaced me'), showing investment in others rather than a trophy count.
  3. 3Includes paid employment with a clear, unglamorous reason (it pays specific bills), which reads as authentic and grounded rather than resume-padding.
  4. 4Admits a limitation ('two dead keys', 'not performance-ready') and gives a private, non-achievement reason, signalling the genuine reflection UBC rewards over polish.
  5. 5Closes the list with a service role tied to a value, and the line 'the number was never the point' quietly pushes back against achievement-list thinking, matching what UBC says it looks for.
  6. 6A short synthesizing line ties the list together and surfaces a genuine pattern, demonstrating self-knowledge rather than five disconnected resume bullets, while keeping within the same activity-list voice.
Stuck? Start here
  • What do you do every week that you would never call an 'extracurricular'?
  • Which of your commitments has a number attached (hours, people, months)?
  • What have you stuck with the longest, and why?
Before you submit
  • Does it include real responsibilities, not just titled roles?
  • Does each item carry a specific detail or result?
  • Is it five genuine things rather than a padded list?

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