<p>This is slightly embarrassing, but I have to ask it.</p>
<p>So I admit that I play[ed?] computer games when I was younger... like when I was a freshman I played a lot over the summer. xDD Anyway, my mother thinks that it would be a good idea to put this on my college application, to show that I don't study 24/7; however, I do not think that it would you know, give a good impression (personally I find it sounds desperate and probably really nerdy that I put it there). I mean, colleges would not assume that good grades=study 24/7, would they? Because that is definitely not me.</p>
<p>Anyway, what I am asking is, since I definitely want a second opinion, do you think that I should put this online gaming thing into my application, or omit it completely?</p>
<p>(For more background... a lot of my "extracurricular" stuff is centered around math/math competitions, which does create a kind of stereotype, but still...)</p>
<p>hell no, don't put it. video games are NOT a good thing to put. they'll think you just wasted away your summer doing something useless. omfg no never put video games.</p>
<p>LOL yeah I'm basically on the same page as you; I just wanted to make sure.</p>
<p>I did also take a class that summer though; it wasn't like I didn't do anything productive. It's just that my mom thought it would not look too good for my only activities during 2 of my summers to be taking summer classes. (does that look bad?)</p>
<p>Blah, sorry to keep asking ?s... but okay, I showed this to my mom, and she still does not buy it, because I am apparently not being specific enough, and I really want to settle this with her... D:</p>
<p>So, to be more specific, I played Neopets (yay, hahaha), and created/led a guild for a summer, which had over 250 members. I created a guild website and activities, which I led through the summer.</p>
<p>My mother claims that this shows leadership skills.</p>
<p>Y/N? D;</p>
<p>(gosh this is quite embarrassing for me, sorry)</p>
<p>^^ lol don't worry, there are plenty of people here guilty of it. =p</p>
<p>It does show leadership to an extent, and it might be something to mention somewhere on the app, but only if you have extra space. Just make sure to focus on the stuff that will have more weight. For the most part, though, you probably wouldn't mention it.</p>
<p>I understand the arguement your mother is trying to put forward, but it's too hard to put something like that into a meaningful context, one where an admissions officer won't simply write it off as overzealous hyperbole. I know where she's coming from and I understand why she would want you to at least consider putting that on your application - I've played online games before, and I know how much work people can put into that kind of stuff, organization isn't easy. But unless you have hard numbers to show for it, my personal rule of thumb would be if there was a flow of real money involved or not, then it's not worth putting on the application because it will just be seen as fluff.</p>
<p>Tell her not to worry about colleges thinking you are studying all the time if you don't list every extracurricular thing you did. I think they'll safely assume you took at least a 15 minute break for meals and got into the sunlight at least a couple times a week.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Tell her not to worry about colleges thinking you are studying all the time if you don't list every extracurricular thing you did. I think they'll safely assume you took at least a 15 minute break for meals and got into the sunlight at least a couple times a week.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Not unless colleges see like 500 hours of CS (community service, counterstrike, get it?)</p>