<p>What is the unspoken threshold for total extracurricular hours before the admissions committee begins to doubt the applicants integrity? I ask only because I am in a potentially confusing situation (for them at least) where I am able to answer phones for a hotline and do HW concomitantly. As of now, my hours total 31 for the complete seven day week (split between about between 4 activities and two little 1 hour before school activities). Any responses would be greatly appreciated : ). I honestly don't know if 31 is even high, for all I know it could be on the low end haha.</p>
<p>It probably is closer to the lower end of the EC spectrum, as a part-time job usually totals between 30 and 40 hours per week, so if you don't have a job, your application still looks legitimate. If you feel uncomfortable, just explain this in the optional Other Information bit (if you're using the Common App). By saying there what you just said here, admissions officers will surely understand why your hour count may be higher than that of most others.</p>
<p>May I extend this to general activities, if that's okay? What is the hour/week commitment threshold for "this seems like an actual activity?" I am very committed to my activities (it shows in results, etc.), but generally I spend 2 hours to 3 hours per week on them, with a bit of variation. Some posters suggest this may be low, but I don't understand exactly what "low" is.</p>
<p>What if my total, if you just look at the hours per week, is like 40 or something, but that's because some of the activities are only for a 10 week span during the year or such (such as cross country/track)? I hope the adcom reads the full thing instead of just totallying the hours per week and being like "*** lying ****"</p>
<p>When I applied to college, I was in direct contact with a lot of admission officers from various colleges (what can I say, I had a lot of questions)!</p>
<p>Generally, they believe you. They accept what is on the application, even if it seems unlikely, because part of you filling it out is you certifying that, to the best of your knowledge, all the information on it is true.</p>
<p>So they should believe you.</p>
<p>In the event that they don't, they should contact you and give a chance to explain your situation, which the good admissions people would do, if that were a real sticking point in whether they'll admit you or not.</p>
<p>"It probably is closer to the lower end of the EC spectrum, as a part-time job usually totals between 30 and 40 hours per week, so if you don't have a job, your application still looks legitimate. "</p>
<p>No, a part-time job normally is 10-20 hours a week. 35-40 hours a week is a full-time job.</p>
<p>"As of now, my hours total 31 for the complete seven day week (split between about between 4 activities and two little 1 hour before school activities). Any responses would be greatly appreciated : ). "</p>
<p>If this is the truth, then write it down, but I suggest including an explanation as it would seem on the high side. Unfortunately, many people lie about CS ours, so to avoid admissions officers looking askance just explain how you manage to amass so many hours a week.</p>
<p>I work 10 hours a week, spend 35 on the school newspaper, 3 on the literary magazine, 5 tutoring, and about 3 on other clubs. Even if I were an admissions counselor, I'd think this girl were lying.</p>
<p>I legitimately spend 40 hours/week on my main EC, horseback riding. In addition, I dedicate significant portions of time (5-10 hrs/week) to the school newspaper and another school program too complicated to explain here. In addition, from September through January, I spend 5-10 hrs/week on Model UN. I feel like it's going to seem like I'm exaggerating, but, it's honestly on the conservative side of the amount of time I dedicate.</p>
<p>klaz413
there are 168 hours in a week.
if you sleep 8 hrs/day there are now 112 hours
if you go to school for roughly 7 hrs/day for 5 days there are now 77 hours
-40 hrs for horseback riding gives you 37
-5 for newspaper is 32
-5 for the school program is 27
-10 for model UN is 17
using those numbers, that would leave you with less than 3 hrs/day for homework, college applications, eating, free time, etc.
of course you probably don't sleep that much.</p>
<p>so...i guess i'd say its possible but not probable.
I don't think adcoms would factor in exaggeration without checking up on it. like if they were suspicious they would try to contact people rather than to just say you were lying.</p>
<p>^^
There is also commuting and other things that cut into your time, I find it very hard to believe that klaz413 is accurately reporting these times.</p>
<p>I feel like 8 hours of sleep is overestimating what a lot of high school-ers get these days. Most of my friends get between 3 and 6 hours of sleep on a regular basis. It's really weird for any of us to go to sleep before midnight.</p>
<p>That being said, very conservatively, my hours total around 40. Add in about four hours a night to homework (5 nights a week), 7 hours a day to school (5 days a week), four hours of sleep a night (5 nights a week), seven hours of sleep on friday night and eleven hours of sleep on saturday night. I get 133 hours. That leaves 5 hours of free time a day. That's plenty. </p>
<p>Factor in that some of my extracurriculars include things like piano and writing, which I do on my own time... mostly at home. And since I playing piano and writing, I end up spending most of my free time at home on them(not spent on facebook and aim that is). </p>
<p>I find that doing 40 hours of extracurriculars a week is very reasonable.</p>
<p>I think 40 is very reasonable too for modern day students. If a student 30 years ago said 40 hours adcoms would be like "nice try moron". 60 is doubtable though.</p>
<p>Some people spend all of their non-school, non-commuting, non-eating, non-hanging with friends or hw time doing EC's, so for those people 40 hours is reasonable, depending on activity</p>
<p>I spend about 20 hours a week on my main ec, 5 hours on another, and 5 hours on another, and then occasionally during the year (10 weeks) i have track which adds another 10 hours, and that's about all. So normally 30, but up to 40.</p>
<p>I get a solid 7-8 hours most nights, maybe I'm the exception rather than the rule. Either way he wasn't talking about only 40 hours, he said that around 60 was a conservative estimate...</p>
<p>"It probably is closer to the lower end of the EC spectrum, as a part-time job usually totals between 30 and 40 hours per week, so if you don't have a job, your application still looks legitimate. If you feel uncomfortable, just explain this in the optional Other Information bit (if you're using the Common App). By saying there what you just said here, admissions officers will surely understand why your hour count may be higher than that of most others."</p>
<p>Whats wrong with you? A 40 hour week is a full 8 hour workday every weekday, thats no part time job. Get your numbers straight before bashing people for not having enough hours on certain ec's.</p>
<p>i think 20-30 is common for many of today's high-achieving teenagers. 30-40 is less common, but not crazy.
my post, however, was in response to someone who claimed 55-70 hours, which I think is kind of ridiculous. you would have to spend every wake moment on your extracurriculars. </p>
<p>I definitely do not get 8 hrs/sleep a night during the school year. I probably average between 4-6. but thats mostly because of procrastination/hanging out with friends, not because I'm spending like 10 hours a day on extracurriculars.
during the summer i get bountiful quantities of sleep =)</p>