Common App Changed How Students Report Activity Hours. Here’s What Families Need to Know.

If your senior works 10 hours a week during the school year but 40 hours a week over the summer, what should they put on the Common App?

Forty.

That may sound wrong if you’re used to averaging a student’s weekly commitment across the year. But the Common App’s current Activities section asks students to report “Hours spent per week during busiest time.”

That wording matters.

And because we knew families were going to run into this exact question, we asked an admissions representative from Georgia Tech directly.

What Georgia Tech told us

During a recent admissions presentation, we asked:

“Common App now says to input hours during students’ busiest time. If a student works full time in the summer but during school is part time, would they report 40 hours then?”

Georgia Tech’s Ashley Brookshire confirmed:

“Given the change in Common App’s instructions, we are expecting students in this instance to report their peak hour commitment.”

She also explained that it would be helpful for the student to provide additional context about that commitment either in the activity entry or, when appropriate, in the Additional Information section.

That’s an important clarification for families filling out the 2026–27 Common App.

So what does “busiest time” actually mean?

It means exactly what it says.

The Common App is asking for the number of hours the student spends on that activity during the period when their involvement is highest, rather than asking families to create an artificial weekly average that may not accurately describe the activity.

Consider a student who works at a local restaurant:

During the school year: 10–15 hours/week
During summer and school breaks: 35–40 hours/week

Their busiest-time commitment is approximately 40 hours per week.

Reporting 40 hours isn't exaggerating the activity if the student actually works those hours during the busiest portion of the year. It's answering the question the Common App is asking.

The important part is making sure the rest of the entry provides enough context that an admissions reader understands the pattern.

Why averaging can actually make an activity less accurate

Imagine that same student works 40 hours per week for ten weeks during summer and 10 hours per week during much of the school year.

A family might be tempted to calculate an annual average and enter something like 16 or 18 hours.

But now an admissions officer doesn't see either reality particularly well.

They don't see that this student essentially held a full-time summer job, and they don't see that the student maintained a part-time job while attending school.

Both pieces tell you something meaningful about the commitment.

The better approach is to answer the field as written and then use the limited space available strategically.

For example:

Hours/week during busiest time: 40

Then the activity description might naturally include language such as:

Works part-time during school year; full-time during summers/breaks.

Now the reader understands what 40 means.

This doesn't mean every student should suddenly report huge numbers

This is where accuracy matters.

“Busiest time” is not an invitation to find the single craziest week a student ever had.

If a student normally volunteers three hours per week but once spent 25 hours helping with a special weekend event, we would not automatically treat 25 hours as representative of the activity.

Likewise, tournament week, tech week for a musical, a weeklong service trip or one unusually busy fundraiser shouldn't necessarily become the number used to characterize months or years of participation.

The number should represent a legitimate peak period of the student's normal involvement.

Summer employment is a perfect example. A student may consistently work full-time for several months every summer and consistently work part-time during the academic year. Those are two established patterns, not a one-week anomaly.

What about weeks per year?

Don't forget that Common App also asks students to report how many weeks per year they participate.

That number should also reflect the student's actual participation, not just the weeks when they were working at their peak schedule.

So a student who works throughout the year should not report only the ten summer weeks simply because those are the weeks when they work 40 hours.

The activity may appropriately show:

40 hours/week during busiest time
52 weeks/year

with the description explaining that the schedule varies between full-time summer/break work and part-time school-year work.

Those fields are telling different parts of the story.

When should you use Additional Information?

Usually, you don't need to turn this into a paragraph.

If a few words in the activity description make the schedule clear, that's often enough.

Something as simple as:

PT during school year; FT during summers/breaks

can provide the necessary context while preserving valuable characters for the student's responsibilities, accomplishments and impact.

Additional Information becomes more useful when the time commitment is complicated enough that the activity entry genuinely can't explain it clearly.

The goal isn't to explain every fluctuation in a student's schedule.

The goal is to make sure the application is accurate and easy to understand.

And that's really the bigger lesson

Common App gives students very little space.

That makes every field matter.

Hours, weeks, activity order, position titles and descriptions aren't just data-entry questions. Together, they give an admissions reader a quick picture of how a student actually spends their time.

A student working 40 hours per week during the summer while maintaining a part-time job during school has made a substantial commitment.

The application shouldn't accidentally hide that because someone thought they were supposed to average the hours.

Before your senior hits submit

Read the Activities section one more time exactly as Common App has written it.

Don't automatically use an annual average because that's how you filled it out for an older sibling. And don't inflate a number based on one unusually busy week.

Report the student's legitimate busiest-time commitment, then add context when the schedule varies significantly.

Sometimes one small wording change can completely change how an application should be completed.

And this year, “during busiest time” is one worth noticing.

Want experienced eyes on the application before your senior submits?

The LaunchPoint Common App Quick Check is $19 and gives families a high-level readiness review of the Activities section, Personal Statement and Additional Information section, if used.

We’ll flag what’s working, what may need attention and the #1 thing we’d address before submission.

Turnaround is 24–48 hours after we receive the required documents.

Clarity first. Strategy always.