<p>I'm making an activity sheet for college, it looks nice i have a good amount of conventional employment, some meaningful ECs etc, but I want to know if I should include that I was for a few months the CEO of my own business that with minimal effort on my part netted a few thousand dollars (profit, gross tons)</p>
<p>What i did was, I had contacts with LAN and computer cafe owners from the USA and Asia that bought games, and other software in bulk (legally) from the publisher/developers at a hugely discounted rate.</p>
<p>Most of this stuff didnt have clauses against reselling, so I legally bought this software from them then resold them online at my website at marked up rates, but still rates less then most normal software sites, used paypal for transfers and made clean, legit money. I still have my customer feedback site up and its almost all posistive. </p>
<p>I learnt how to deal with customers, even when they were wrong, rude, or obnixious, how to advertise myself with a minimial budget, how to deal with a complex web of suppliers etc.. i cannot overstated how much work it took for a soft. to do this between football practices, a girlfriend, a normal job etc.</p>
<p>I ended up giving it up once the school year started and I lost my two cheapest suppliers (decided to skip me and do it themselves), so should I mention this endevoer or should I just forget about it. I think it makes me come across as shady, or a computer nerd, even though the rest of my application might scream jock.</p>
<p>Of course you should mention it. (a) It distinguishes you from the pack. (b) It shows intelligence, initiative, follow-through, guts, and judgment. (c) Most schools WANT the kind of person who can start a successful business.</p>
<p>It may translate better as an essay- maybe some lifelong lesson you learned- dealing with customers-- contacting the owners in USA and Asia-- and how you had to "market" the idea to them--even losing suppliers as they took your idea and decided to do it themselves. That's an important lesson to learn especially if you are planning to pursue a career in business. As JHS said- schools are looking for that type of kid who takes the initiative to think out of the box. Good luck</p>
<p>Yes, you should mention it, providing a brief explanation in the "activities" section of your application. I also strongly suggest using it as the focus of your essay.</p>
<p>The business will make you stand out in a good way. Your having created it demonstrates excellent organizational skills as well as a passion. It's being an odd EC is to your advantage because that, too, will make you stand out. Colleges want students with the guts to follow their own passions.</p>
<p>Just make sure that you provide enough explanation of the business that admissions knows that you weren't doing something unethical.</p>
<p>Im majoring in international relations, and a lot of my ECs are politically focused, that considered you think essays the best choice, what should I write in my activity chart a brief synopsis or say "topic of my essay 1" or something like that.</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses by the way they've been invaluable</p>
<p>My feeling is that you should only use it in your essay if you feel it is the best choice. You know your interests and activities far better than we do. If you choose not to use it, just have a short synopsis of it in your activitiy chart. (In either case, do not put "topic of essay" in the activity chart; the activity chart should stand alone.)</p>
<p>Hmm...I practice computer law and would be very careful about coming to any conclusion that the agreements at hand were not contravened. A license agreement may lack an express prohibition on distribution, but that may of little consequence if the license grant in the agreements extended only to end users or is only for personal use. In such a case no distribution for resale would be authorized. There may also be territorial restrictions and the like in these agreements. My point here is not to come to any conclusions, but to be careful about relating this enterprise to an admissions group. Universities are facing tremendous pressure in terms of potential copyright infringement claims, and would not, I think, be all that thrilled about someone who at least by appearance engaged in a form of "gray marketing" of copyrighted material or worse. Keep in mind that my clients (who thankfully have money) must scrupulously adhere to the terms of their license agreements or they can face both actual and statutory damages. Since the goal of a many college student is to attain a job or business relationship with entities such as my clients, it might be a good idea to be attuned the nature of these kind of things early on, meaning beginning now. Just a thought.</p>
<p>I, too, am a lawyer and strongly agree with everything mam1959 said. I would definitely NOT go into details on this one! You mentioned that you spent very little time on it as well, so perhaps there is something more substantive for you to include.</p>
<p>I would agree with mam1959 and annzct on this too. On top of all else, colleges have USA Patriot Act and denied parties screening requirements, either by regulation or internal policy, plus management of reputational risk. You don't want to raise something that might get them thinking that you perhaps did business with denied or restricted persons, or participated in illegal commerce, or counterfeiting, diversion, etc. </p>
<p>Of course I'm not implying that you - or your suppliers or customers - did any of those things, just that I can easily see an adcom's mind going there (mine did, immediately) so why risk it, especially since there are going to be so many other things to choose from including your sports, stats, other ECs, etc.</p>