<p>I see people say this a lot ion CC, and the word "hook" directly correlates to this as well. An example is the people who have played piano for multiple years, winning awards or having a large time commitment. Another would be visiting and writing to criminals on death row because you oppose the practice. The type of things that make people stand out.</p>
<p>I can say that I do not have anything like this, and I'm a Junior :(. What I like to do most is reading CC and playing Videogames, so nothing very unique, lol.</p>
<p>What's your opinion on this type of stuff (not the specific examples I listed exactly, but having a "passion" in general in high school or before)? Do you have one, and how did you start doing this?</p>
<p>Business passion. I’m in DECA and BPA. That passion takes me into another passion of mine, music. I want to set up a website that publicizes new hip-hop music. Hopefully, I’ll be able to cash in a profit through that using Adsense and maybe even a store.</p>
<p>For academic, ‘college-worthy’ passions…Graphic design and writing; it just developed naturally. I started design in middle school, but I’d loved to draw since elementary school. As for writing, I’ve been doing and studying poetry in my free time since middle school (granted, it sucked back then and even does now to a lesser extent), and I started getting more compliments on my writing than any other personality aspect starting around freshman year of high school.</p>
<p>That sums me up^ I am in the same boat because I only just began to worry about college, and it was stupid for me to begin by looking at Stanford without a passion for any EC’s</p>
<p>I love public speaking! I didn’t always love it like this though. In middle school I was always too lazy, I had no motivation. But at the start of my freshman year we all had to stand up and do a speech for one of my classes, and I fell in love. I loved the rush it gave me and I loved writing the speech too. Then, I decided to compete in an FCCLA project which involved teaching a series of tooth care classes to elem. kids and then doing a scrapbook and a speech for the competition part of it. I loved it so much that this year I’ve decided to do a HOSA competition which also involves public speaking along with another FCCLA project. One of the things that is most valuable to me, though, is that I’ve been asked to speak at a youth night for three different churches about reaching your full success as a teenager. When I was asked I felt like jumping up and down. That’s when I knew I really had found my passion</p>
Same here, though it was my fault. My elementary school had a music program where you picked either an instrument or choir, and I was like, ‘eh, it’s expensive to rent an instrument’ so I went into choir instead, and didn’t even learn how to read music sheets. I did, however, learn to play the recorder.
…</p>
<p>I used to have nothing, just liking to play WoW on the weekends, but then I just got out there after realizing my life sucked and found cool things I enjoyed doing. It’s not that hard.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I like these things a bit more than schoolwork now, so in terms of college apps it’s almost backfired. Oh well, at least it’s fun.</p>
<p>Dancing…yeah I’d go crazy without it. This is my 15th year in it lol…but I don’t want to pursue it as a major in college or anything so I really don’t think it helps with the admissions thing (though I student teach tap classes so that might show leadership, but that’s about it)</p>
<p>Not really. I’m really interested in doing more tutoring, community service, etc, and I also want to start writing more and learning a new language.</p>
<p>I also love music and designing things, so designing a website for music or something (kind of like what a guy said a couple posts up) would be really cool.</p>
<p>I think that they NEED to use passion for college admissions simply because there are too many 4.0’s and the SAT isn’t really useful beyond a numbers level. I just was immature and lazy until my Junior Year (2 months ago haha) and now I’m just digging for something to use as a unique interest. Unfortunately, even if I found one, I can’t fully reach my potential in any activity in a year.</p>
<p>And I’d feel like a hypocrite if I did so, simply because I have condemned the practice of padding a resume without a real interest in an EC. Condemned it before I realized it would be my only hope of going to a top school, mind you.</p>
<p>The ones who go to the top schools have a passion for the sake of their passion for it, not for the sake of getting into a college. Do what you want to do, not what you think will get you into college.</p>
<p>True passion does not have to be evident in an EC, it merely has to be evident in you as a person.</p>
<p>@Praying4Luck: I disagree. Using passion in that fashion (unintended rhyme) makes kids strive for finding something they’re not likely to find in high school. They spend their time scampering around, trying to find something they’re “passionate about” - you said that you are currently doing this - and the time ends up being wasted. It’s not a fruitful pursuit, and it’s psychologically unhealthy. If kids want to find their passions, they might as well just do things they enjoy and try to reach out to new people & hobbies with the mindset of it being beneficial to their whole life (and not just their chances of getting into an Ivy League school).</p>
<p>Drop the word “passion”. Instead, try to have fun, meet interesting people, participate in new activities, etc… The desperation of the pursuit of trying to find your “passion” will not behoove you.</p>
<p>Yep that’s why I’m not doing that, really. I’m just thinking about it and what it would do, realistically though, I would never do something for the sake of doing it just because it’d cause me to feel uncomfortable.</p>
<p>Edit: To add on, I’ve been worrying so much about college now that I haven’t even been worrying about my present situation. In the back of my mind, I know for a fact that I do things that interest me only, pretty much how I have grown up being influenced in reality.</p>
<p>To answer the OP’s question, absolutely! I love strategy, competition (and the inherent stress that comes with competition), and public speaking–three elements that define my main hobby, DECA. I genuinely love every single minute I spend with DECA-related activities, whether that’s organizing a student conference, training other members for competition, coordinating projects with other chapters, or preparing for competitions myself. To be honest, I joined DECA to pad my application at first, but I realized it was so much more. I’ve found my closest friends through DECA, and I honestly can’t imagine my life without it. </p>
<p>You just have to shop around for things you enjoy. The beginning of my freshman year, I was a serial joiner. You know them, the kids who have membership to 34928374 different clubs. But I ended up quitting all but DECA after I realized I had no interest in most of them. You can’t manufacture “passion” and sure, maybe if you try really hard, you can fake it. But demonstrating “passion” goes well beyond exceptional commitment, and faking your interests takes more effort than actually finding something you love and actively pursuing it.</p>
<p>@DECAenthusiast: Thank you! I’m still looking for possible worthwhile time investments, but in the meanwhile I’ve been reading, doing a little bit of writing, puzzling over my Rubik’s Cube, and trying to figure out how to teach myself Japanese (or maybe Latin… who knows?).</p>