College Bound: Help your kids identify their passions

Hall, a long-time former high school teacher and administrator, has helped hundreds of kids navigate the college application process over the years. She's offering tips on Wednesdays for the next few weeks.

And today she's tackling the topic of activities. These days, college applications have room for kids to list 12 extracurricular activities. But Hall says it's not as much about quantity, as quality.

Kids should figure out what they're passionate about in the middle school and early high school years so they can pursue those activities and stick with them. Colleges are looking for depth of involvement and how passionate kids really are about that sport, group or art class, she said.