Tool
Fit a Common App activity into 150 characters.
The limits are 150 for the description, 50 for the position and 100 for the organisation. Most students overshoot, then cut the numbers, which are the only part a reader can check.
Nothing typed here is sent anywhere. The rewrites are fixed substitutions, not a model, so they never invent a claim you did not make. Keep the verb first, keep the number, and keep the outcome.
Questions
What people ask
How many characters does the Common App allow for an activity?
150 characters for the description, 50 for the position or leadership role, and 100 for the organisation name. Spaces count. There are ten activity slots, and the Additional Information section is not a place to continue an eleventh.
What should a 150-character description actually contain?
A verb, a number and an outcome. Lead with what you did, quantify it, and end with what changed. "Ran weekly coding clinic for 40 Class 9 girls; 12 entered the state olympiad, 3 placed" beats any sentence about being passionate about technology.
Should I use abbreviations and ampersands to fit?
Yes, within reason. Readers expect compressed writing in this section and will not mark you down for an ampersand or a numeral. What they do notice is a description that spent its characters on adjectives and had none left for the result.
Does this tool send my writing anywhere?
No. It runs entirely in your browser, nothing is stored or transmitted, and the shortening is a fixed list of substitutions rather than a language model, so it cannot add a claim you did not write.
For what belongs in the ten slots in the first place, see how to write Common App activity descriptions and how many activities you need.
Ten slots, and most lists waste six of them.
Send the activity list. You get a written review naming what to cut and what to build, free.