Common App Activities Section: How to List Research (2026-27 Guide)
Hinksey Labs
8 min read
You've finished a research project, written a paper or taken part in a research programme. Now comes a practical question: where exactly does research go on the Common App?
For the 2026-27 cycle, research can appear in several parts of the application, depending on whether you're describing the work itself, an award it won or a publication. Here is how to enter it, field by field. How to tell the story behind it is covered elsewhere - in our extracurriculars playbook, the guide to extracurriculars and the Grade 12 stage of the extracurricular roadmap. This post is the form.
Where Does Research Go on the Common App?
Most high school research belongs in the activities section of My Common Application, which for 2026-27 has been renamed Activities and Experiences. Research projects, research programmes, internships and independent investigations all belong there.
Research can also appear in other parts of the application:
- Activities and Experiences: the project or programme itself.
- Honors, in the Education section: academic awards or distinctions the research earned.
- Additional Information, in the Writing section: important project details that don't fit anywhere else.
- College-specific supplements: research abstracts, papers or portfolios, where a college asks for or accepts them.
You don't need a separate activity for each stage of the same project. Doing the research and writing up the paper can usually go in one entry.
How Many Activities Can You List on the Common App?
Up to ten. The activities section is where all of your extracurricular activities go, and Common App's guide to approaching the activities section is clear that this "doesn't mean that you need to enter ten" - it asks you to focus on the activities that best tell your story, "not on the number you're reporting."
The same guide suggests family responsibilities, a job, an internship, volunteer work, hobbies and sports as things worth listing. So a research project doesn't have to compete with a list of clubs: it sits beside whatever else genuinely filled your time.
How Do You Fill Out the Common App Activities Section?
Every activity entry has the same fields. Common App says the character limits have not changed for 2026-27, but the Position/Leadership field is now optional.
| Field | Limit | What to enter |
|---|---|---|
| Activity type | Dropdown | The closest category |
| Position/Leadership | 50 characters (optional) | Your role, such as Independent Researcher or Research Assistant |
| Organization name | 100 characters | Your programme, school, college or other affiliation - or that the work was independent |
| Activity description | 150 characters | What you investigated, did and produced |
| Participation | Checkboxes | The grade levels you took part in, and when in the year |
| Hours per week | Number | Your average weekly hours |
| Weeks per year | Number | How many weeks you worked on it |
For the activity type, pick the closest category in the dropdown - for most projects that is Research, or Science/Math or Academic where one of those fits better. If nothing fits, Common App says you can choose Other Club/Activity and use the position and description fields to explain.
For an independent project, don't invent an institutional affiliation. Say plainly that the work was independent.
How Do You Write a Common App Activity Description?
Common App's own label for this field is "Activity details, honors won, and accomplishments". You don't need your full research title or abstract. Use the space for three things: the research subject, your contribution and the outcome. For example:
"Interviewed 15 small-business owners on rising rents, coded their answers, and wrote a report on which costs they cut first."
Leave out anything another field already records, such as your hours. Common App's sample entry drops the time spent for exactly that reason.
Common App Activities Section Examples
Six hypothetical entries - three for research, three for business activities. Every one fits the limits, counting spaces: 50 characters for the position, 100 for the organisation and 150 for the description.
Example A: Independent Business Research
- Activity type: Research, or the closest fit
- Position: Independent Researcher
- Organization: Independent research project
- Description: Surveyed students on brand loyalty, analysed purchasing behaviour in Excel, and produced a research report on consumer preferences. (131 characters)
Example B: Mentored Research Programme
- Activity type: Research, or the closest fit
- Position: Student Researcher
- Organization: Hinksey Labs
- Description: Investigated how AI advertising affects consumer trust; analysed campaign examples, evaluated findings, and completed a research paper. (135 characters)
Example B applies only to a student who actually did that work through Hinksey Labs. In every case, the description should reflect your real responsibilities and outcomes.
Example C: A Paper That Was Published
- Activity type: Research, or the closest fit
- Position: Independent Researcher
- Organization: Independent research project
- Description: Studied how tariffs changed sourcing for US toy makers; built a cost model and wrote a paper, published in a student research journal (2026). (141 characters)
In a real entry, name the journal itself rather than "a student research journal" - The Hinksey Review, for example, or one of the others in where high school students can publish research - and keep the journal's name short enough to fit.
Example D: A Student-Run Business
- Activity type: the closest fit, or Other Club/Activity
- Position: Founder
- Organization: Self-employed (online used-textbook resale)
- Description: Bought and resold used textbooks online; tracked margins in a spreadsheet, tested two pricing models, and reinvested profits in new stock. (138 characters)
Example E: A Part-Time Job With an Analysis Project
- Activity type: the closest fit
- Position: Sales Associate
- Organization: Riverside Hardware
- Description: Served customers and restocked shelves; analysed six months of sales data to flag slow-selling items, and the manager cut 40 reorders. (134 characters)
Example F: A Club Founder Who Ran a Research Project
- Activity type: the closest fit, or Other Club/Activity
- Position: Founder and President
- Organization: Business Research Club, Lincoln High School
- Description: Founded an 18-member club; led a survey of 240 students on part-time jobs and presented findings on pay and hours to the school principal. (138 characters)
In E and F the names are placeholders: use the real name of your employer or school. If you're thinking of starting a club like F's, how to start a business research club walks through it.
How Do You Report Research Hours and Dates?
The section asks when you took part and how much time you committed. A student in a 12-week programme such as Hinksey Labs' Research Scholars, with two live hours a week plus about three of independent work, would enter:
- Participation: the grade level and timing that match the cohort
- Hours per week: 5
- Weeks per year: 12
These are illustrative figures, not targets. If your schedule varied, Common App says it is "alright to give your best guess", so report a reasonable estimate of the time you actually spent researching, analysing, writing and finishing the work.
Where Do Research Awards and Publications Go?
The Education section has room for up to five academic honors. For each one you give its title, when you received it and the level of recognition (regional or national, for example).
If your research won a competition or an academic distinction, list it there - for example, "1st Place, Regional Student Research Competition", or a placing in a business essay competition, such as "Finalist (Top 10), Hinksey Labs Business Essay Competition" - Hinksey's top 10 finalists receive an official certificate of achievement.
A finished paper or a publication is not an academic honour in itself. Mention a publication in the activity description, as in Example C, or give the details in Additional Information.
Use the paper's accurate status: published, accepted, under review or submitted. Don't describe an unpublished paper as a publication. If you're still working towards one, our guide to getting research published in high school explains the steps.
Should You Use the Additional Information Section?
Additional Information, in the Writing section, gives first-year applicants an optional space of up to 300 words. The limit was cut from 650 words in 2025-26, and Common App lists no change to it for 2026-27.
Common App itself points students there when an activity needs more room than its description allows. You might give the full research title, a short account of your method, publication details, or your specific part in a group project.
You don't need to repeat your activity description or use all 300 words. If the activity entry already explains the project, more text may be unnecessary.
Is the Challenges and Circumstances Question the Place for Research?
No. It is a separate optional question, up to 250 words on the first-year application, for challenges or circumstances that affected your application and achievements - access to a quiet study space or reliable internet, family obligations such as caregiving, community disruption and similar. Use it if circumstances like these limited what you could do, research included. Describe the research itself in Activities and Additional Information.
Can You Upload Your Research Paper?
There is no general research-paper upload in a Common App activity entry. Some colleges accept research through supplements of their own, and those usually sit outside the Common App: MIT's Research Supplement goes through SlideRoom, Harvard takes uploads in its applicant portal, and Yale's STEM Research Supplement form appears in its status portal only if you said on your application that you intend to submit one. At Stanford, which does not take research papers as an upload, your activities entry and Additional Information carry the work. Check each college's questions under My Colleges and its admissions website before you submit - which colleges accept research, and how they weigh it has the detail.
Final Checklist Before You Submit
- Your research appears in the right section.
- Your role and organisation are accurate.
- Your description fits the 150-character limit.
- Your participation dates and hours are realistic.
- Awards and publication statuses are represented correctly.
- Any additional research materials follow the individual college's instructions.
The Takeaway
Listing research on the Common App is mostly about putting the right information in the right field. Activities and Experiences explains the work. Honors records the recognition it earned. Additional Information adds context when it is needed. College supplements handle anything more, where a college accepts them.
You don't need to fit an entire research paper into 150 characters. You only need to say what you actually did.
Form details here were checked against Common App's own guidance for the 2026-27 cycle in October 2026. The examples are illustrative.
If you're still planning your first research project, the playbook covers routes into independent and mentored research across business, AI, economics and other fields: Read The Hinksey High School Research Playbook
