<p>I'm teaching myself piano and Japanese. Would I be able to list those as an EC on my college application?</p>
<p>Looks pretty weak. It’s much better if you can use your self-studying as part of something other organization/activity. For instance, you self-studied piano and now you play piano for your church choir.</p>
<p>But don’t include it as a solo activity. Anybody can say anything.</p>
<p>If you play piano, why not become part of a community orchestra? You could put that on your apps and I bet it would look fairly impressive to adcoms. And for Japanese, why not start a Japanese club at your school or something? There’s one at one of the high schools near mine and it’s incredibly popular. Colleges want to see how passionate and involved you are in your ECs and I think you need to give them a little “boost” instead of just listing them. You NEVER want a laundry list of ECs.</p>
<p>I see no reason why she shouldn’t list piano as one of her interests. She works on it on her own, but do colleges really demand to know who your piano teacher is? Sheesh. </p>
<p>I would put them in if you consider them something you take seriously and want to continue studying.</p>
<p>Thanks guys. :)</p>
<p>I will look into the community orchestra… however, I go to a small school that isn’t big enough to have clubs yet, so I won’t put Japanese down.</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>