Elaborate on EC or work experience?

Applying to College Common and Coalition Application
1

<p>I have a question regarding this part of the Common App: "Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences in the space below."</p>

<p>I'm heavily involved with my chapter's FBLA (have held office three of four years, current president, changed the club in many ways, grew it to the largest chapter in our district, got our chapter to win the most awards at district competition, etc.) and was planning on writing about that. It's something that I work with and deal with basically every single day (I TA for the FBLA adviser, she's also my web design teacher, so we're very close and in contact several times daily). I've learned a lot and done a lot with it.</p>

<p>However, I also independently develop and maintain websites and online forums. I've been doing this since 7th grade so it's a very big part of me and what I've invested a lot of time in for almost 5 years now. I've been successful with this and currently maintain active communities that manage to generate an income on their own, and I've basically made all the money I have and spend through web projects for clients. I've learned a lot about business, working independently, customer service, communication, etc. </p>

<p>Both of these activities are very prominent in my life so I'm not sure which would be better to write about. I figure my independent web design would be more unique (I'm sure I'm not the only one whose primary EC is FBLA) and demonstrate a true passion and motivation that is 100% outside of school... what do you guys think?</p>

2

<p>If you can describe how you changed FBLA and create a unique experience from it, it’s just as good as your web design. You might choose the one that’s closer to your major, or maybe you can write paragraphs for both and see which one turns out better.</p>

3

<p>Neither are related to what I plan to major in (neuroscience and secondary education) nor what I see myself doing (research then teaching), so they’re both unrelated in that aspect.</p>

<p>I guess I’ll just write both and see how it goes.</p>

4

<p>Well, I don’t know if this is a reflection on the uniqueness of our activities, but I also did web design independently.</p>

5

<p>Generic response: write about the activity that is more meaningful to you. Don’t worry about whether or not it relates to your intended major (as intended majors may change, anyhow). I wrote about something completely unrelated to mine.</p>

<p>Personally, I found the way you described your online work more compelling. But that’s just me.</p>

6

<p>It wouldn’t make a difference to write about an ec or work, but you should write about which one you put more time and effort into. In my opinion, both show a great amount of leadership, so it’s up to you. I was recently looking at this short article and I think it might help you a bit. [Advice</a> for the extracurricular activity section on the common app | Aristotle Circle](<a href=“http://www.aristotlecircle.com/blog/advice-extracurricular-activity-section-common-app]Advice”>http://www.aristotlecircle.com/blog/advice-extracurricular-activity-section-common-app)</p>