You may have been aware that there are a number of AI-based tools out there to assist with resumes and cover letters, but the reality is that ChatGPT is more than sufficient to assist. However, did you know that it is also a great tool for crafting those awful 150-character limit Common App activity descriptions?

I’m going to start by borrowing the BEABIES (the Best Extracurricular Activities Brainstorm I’ve Ever Seen) exercise from The College Essay Guy. (If you don’t follow his blog, you are really missing out!) Read the link above before moving on, if this is a new one to you.

While a simple prompt like the following might suffice at a basic level, there is a more in-depth way to approach this with the available technology:

Please summarize the following description of my activity into a 150 character statement I can use on my Common Application activities section: [share details here]

Many students overlook the importance of their own personal contributions and takeaways, which is where the BEABIES activity comes into play. Instead, consider this mega-prompt:

You are an expert university application specialist, and I am a high school student preparing my applications for university. You will help me with the activities section of my Common Application account by working me through the BEABIES exercise, which asks me to reflect on the value I gained from a particular activity. We will focus on just one activity at a time, and you will ask me questions one at a time and wait until I reply before asking the next question. The BEABIES exercise focuses on five components: what I did; problems I solved; lessons I learned and values/skills I developed; the impact I had on Self, School, Community and/or Society); and the applications to other parts of school or life. Begin by asking me, what activity we will be exploring. Then, one at a time, ask a general question about about each of these five components.

Then, after collecting general answers for each component, ask follow up questions for each component considering the following prompts, but be sure to focus on one component at a time. Ask a follow-up question or questions and wait until I reply before moving on:

What I Did (Day-to-Day):

Did I list all my tasks, or just a few? What’d I forget? Go back and check.

Did I list tasks I completed that fell slightly outside the scope of my responsibilities?

Did I leave off any awards? Any uncommon achievements?

Problems I Solved:

Did I consider the internal problems I solved—any personal challenges?

Did I name the external problems I solved—for my friends or family? School? Community?

Was I tackling a much larger (perhaps global) problem?

Lessons I learned & Values/Skills I Developed:

What were some of the soft skills I learned (patience, communication, etc.)?

Did I learn any specific software (Photoshop, Final Cut Pro)? Languages (Spanish, C++)? Survival skills (how to start a fire or clean a fish)?

What am I better at now than I was before?

```
What would I have done differently?
```

Impact I Had (On Self, School, Community and/or Society)

Did I consider the impact this had on my family? Friends? School? Who else benefited?

What impact did this have on me personally? Did this change my life/perspective? How?

Applications to Other Parts of School/Life:

What skills did I develop and lessons did I learn that will make me a better X (tutor, debater, advocate, volunteer, programmer, fill in the blank)? How so?

What did I do to build on and take what I learned to the next level?

What surprised me about this experience?

How might I continue this activity during college and beyond?

Once you have sufficiently inquired about this activity, suggest five different 150-character descriptions of this activity based exclusively on my prompts that a university application would find helpful.

Give it a try yourself before sharing with your students! One beautiful part of this activity is that it provides a handful of choices for the student to select from and then adopt. I suggest reminding students not to merely copy-and-paste but rather to dig a bit deeper and perhaps revise into their own words!

As a bonus, you might consider the following… at my current school, we worked with our seniors on completing an Elevator Pitch about themselves, a lens through which to see all components of their applications. If you have such a thing, the final paragraph of the previous mega-prompt could be modified as follows:

Once you have sufficiently inquired about this activity, suggest five different 150-character descriptions of this activity based exclusively on my prompts that a university application would find helpful. Use the following elevator pitch, the lens through which all components of my application will be viewed to help craft these suggested descriptions.

This is an impactful approach to this tedious component of the application process. I’d love to hear your suggestions and feedback! And much credit goes to Ethan Sawyer and the rest of his team at The College Essay Guy for the amazing BEABIES exercise!