<p>Hi, I was wondering whether building things with Legos would count as an extracurricular activity on the Common App. It's not part of a club or competition or anything like that. It's just a hobby of mine.</p>
<p>I read from Extracurricular</a> Activities - What Counts as an Extracurricular Activity? that you can list hobbies as extracurricular activities, but I'm not sure if mine would be "interesting enough" to list. What do you guys think?</p>
<p>It probably depends on what you do with the things you build out of legos. Are they on display anywhere? Any videos/photos? Have you made any animated recreations of movies/shows out of legos and put them on YouTube?</p>
<p>I recently saw an exhibit of Nathan Sawaya’s work:</p>
<p>[Nathan</a> Sawaya: The Art of the Brick](<a href=“http://www.brickartist.com/]Nathan”>http://www.brickartist.com/)</p>
<p>So, depending on the extent of your lego hobby, it could be worth mentioning.</p>
<p>If you just build them and do nothing with them besides personally enjoying them, then you shouldn’t list that. It’s logically equivalent to listing that you play Call of Duty.</p>
<p>@college_query So if I were to take pictures of the stuff I built and then post them somewhere, then that would make my hobby something worth listing? (I haven’t actually taken pictures and posted them yet, but it’s something I could easily do)</p>
<p>(gee, how come the “quote message in reply option” doesn’t work?)</p>
<p>I read a book on “getting in to college” that gave tips for applicants. One of the examples I remember was creating an impressive resume. If a student likes photography, the book suggested they ask a business if they can display some photos. Then, voila, the applicant can list that they’ve exhibited their collection.</p>
<p>When I read this, I was actually turned off. There are applicants with real passions and activities they have pursued for years, with no thought about future college applications and how something might look. </p>
<p>My D had a concern about an issue, and on her own approached a teacher, and using school equipment made a documentary film about it. She wasn’t a rich kid who owned her own video camera. She did this because she cared deeply about something and wanted to share a message she felt was important. Later, when she was applying to college, she realized that her experience with creating the documentary would make a great essay. </p>
<p>Part of the application process (at least for schools that require more than a transcript with your GPA and your test scores) is “Packaging Yourself” as someone a school would want to admit. Someone who is interesting, who would benefit the campus, and also someone who would benefit from what the school can offer.</p>
<p>If building things with legos is a significant hobby, something you spend a lot of time doing, and if the end product is something amazing that others would enjoy seeing, then sure, take photos of them and make a display, or display the actual creations somewhere (see tip above from the book and ask a business). </p>
<p>Or, if building things with legos is something you really enjoy, then see if you can volunteer somewhere with children and share with them your passion. You could do a special themed workshop. </p>
<p>When our local art museum hosted the Nathan Sawaya exhibit, we included a lego lab where those who viewed the exhibit could go and make their own creations. Some of the outstanding pieces inspired by the exhibit ended up being photographed and displayed on the museum’s website.</p>
<p>Take your hobby to the next level by sharing it with others, and then it will be something you can legitimately put on your college application. In the process, you’ll probably learn a lot, too!</p>
<p>If building Legos in your spare time is a hobby and it connects to a major you want to pursue, like Architecture, then talking more about that makes perfect sense. If you spend a lot of your spare time building Legos, even if you don’t compete or display them publicly, you can mention them, but I wouldn’t put it at the tippy top of your EC list (unless it connects to architecture or mechanical engineering or a similar major that uses your skills that tap into Lego building).</p>
<p>(By the way, I’m planning to major in electrical engineering, and the career I want to pursue is robotics)</p>
<p>So if I decide to post pics of my Legos online, where would I put the link for the site on the Common App? I mean, it would be really awkward if I were to put that in the Additional Info section, because all it would be is one URL.</p>
<p>You can add the link in the additional information section. Sounds like a good plan! Good luck w/ your interest in robotics.</p>
<p>GinyuTokusentai, alternatively, you can photograph some of your best legos and upload the photos to the additional info section with bullets describing them.</p>
<p>@Lakemom So you are allowed to upload photos to the additional info section directly?</p>
<p>Yes, lay them out with short descriptions and a title on a page and create a pdf of them to upload. It says somewhere in the common app instructions how big the file can be that is uploaded so just make sure it is less. You will know if it is too big though when you try and upload and it won’t fit.</p>
<p>Found it. My son created a page with images that was 325 kb and uploaded it. I believe he turned it into a pdf first. </p>
<p>To upload an image, picture, or photograph you will need to create a word processing document, then upload the .doc/.docx/.rtf/.wpd document into the system.</p>
<p>Open a new Microsoft Word document
From the Insert Menu, select picture -> from file
Browse to locate your file
Click insert
Save your word document
Upload the word document to the application
<strong>The size limit for uploaded files can not exceed 500kb</strong></p>
<p>Cool, I guess I’ll try that when I get the chance to. (and btw, just curious, what kind of images did your son upload?)</p>
<p>My son plans to major in engineering too. He used photos of things he had built and CAD design projects from school.</p>