<p>I am a distance runner, just not on a team or anything. I run when I can throughout the year along with a few 5ks per year and I trained for and ran a half marathon this spring. Does this count for anything or should I avoid overemphasizing it on my apps. I don't want to seem cocky. Just wondering. Any opinions or input would be much appreciated!</p>
<p>You can mention it and maybe get recruited if you are interested in running in school…ie if your running stats are good enough for them. So far, it does not seem like you have received any awards or active membership on a team.
However, when it comes to extracurriculars, it does not help listing a whole bunch of average or luke-warming participating activities. Rather, listing 3 or 4 extra-strong activities that you are actively involved in, and perhaps hold leadership positions in them would add more substance to your application.
Here is when the expression “Quality not Quantity” will apply.
Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>One of the things they try to glean in the apps is how you might be involved with peers there. Runners do tend to look for and band up with other runners, keep to a routine. It can be interesting in that it crosses other interest lines, identities or majors. You can mention it. You don’t have to be on any cross-country team or recruited. I’d say, it doesn’t go at the top of the EC list. It’s personal, but valid. Should be balanced by other activities.</p>
<p>
Probably not. Most schools don’t care about ECs. So it won’t count for much there. You can find out by looking at the Common Data Set filing of the schools you are considering. For the most selective schools that do care about ECs, if they happen to by on your list, dabbling in running or chess or programming or whatever is not what will be at the level of competitive applicants. </p>
<p>The question about impressive EC’s comes up regularly on the forum. There is a thread with several posts by Northstarmom, a Ivy alum interviewer, about what constitutes impressive ECs from the point of view of the most selective colleges. The post is at <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/210497-those-ecs-weak-so-what-s-good.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/210497-those-ecs-weak-so-what-s-good.html</a></p>
<p>As you will see from that link, at the most selective colleges they are looking for depth more than just participation. Stanford, for example, says
</p>
<p>Northstarmom was an interviewer, not adcom, doesn’t seem to have posted since 2010, (how old was her EC post?) and basically her list traces back to something old put out by the UC system. OP is looking at Cornell, Penn and JHU as top choices. If some random posters go ahead and tell kids to put down they are teaching themselves guitar or love to bake cookies (the sort of thing I disagree with,) why not let an avid runner include this at the bottom of his list? It represents (somewhat measurable) goals and interaction with peers. It’s a legit activity among college kids and won’t cost him a shot at his targets, if he has the other qualities they seek. Nor will it dis-impress.</p>
<p>My standard post about ECs is DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO! Don’t EVER do an activity because you think some school or adcom might like it… It’s about you. Regarding the above comments - I say post away. If you’re a RUNNER, be a runner. If the school doesn’t appreciate it - screw them! Plenty of other schools will appreciate a runner - and you.</p>
<p>Meh… you are not an admissions officer, though. And the OP apparently has expressed interest in some top schools. OP, I would mention it, but not tops on your list of ECs. If you can quantify (eg, “Grades 9-11 - completed 6 5K races, 4 10K, and 2 half marathons”), put that in the description section. It does beg the question of why you didn’t join the cross country team at your school, though. </p>
<p>Thank you all. Another question has come up after reading your comments however. What if I have both quantity and quality? I don’t mean to sound overconfident or something but I do participate in rather a lot of activities year round and many of them I am very involved in. For example, I am not in Cross Country because I am a very devoted marching band student. Its the activity I am most involved in. I am a 5th year member, 2nd year squad leader, I volunteer at every fundraiser and event and I have planned a few of my own as the VP of the student fundraising committee. In addition I have arranged and executed some service projects independently and with a friend (a hygiene product collection for the homeless, a school campaign for depression and suicide awareness, and a district career fair). I would say these 2 activities are those that I am most dedicated to but I also play in the orchestra, am rather active in the student council, a member of the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Committee, was a junior mentor for incoming freshman, was in the chorus for SchoShow, did stats for the boys volleyball team freshman and sophomore years, and ran track sophomore year (injuries and course load prevented involvement the other years). Am I supposed to put down all of my activities or should I just put down my 4-5 most involved activities for fear of being interpreted as an effort to participate in everything to rack up ECs.</p>
<p>@ccco2018 @intparent @nugraddad @lookingforward @mikemac</p>
<p>What I usually say is: on your own, list everything, including non-school activities, church, your culture, etc, so you can see patterns. Know the sort of quality, depth and breadth your targets like and need to see. Some kids do have a long list. Chorus says one thing, the service projects say another, band shows a long term commitment, etc. People who say kids will look like they are just trying to rack up ECs are sometimes unfair to those who truly got themselves out there and engaged in various ways. </p>
<p>I say list everything. But the Common App does say list them in order of importance, so think a bit on that. Another thing you can do is list an EC like "Music Activities’, and say “See additional information section” in the description portion. Then in the additional info section, have a header that says something like:</p>
<p>EC Additional Information - Music Activities</p>
<p>Then put bullets underneath to concisely list all your music activities and awards (not paragraph form or essay, just a bullet listing). So something like…</p>
<ul>
<li>9-12 - Trumpet player in X High School Marching Band. Squad leader 11th-12th grade, 10th grade - Voted “Most Improved Marcher”.</li>
<li>11-12 - Played in school Jazz Band, 1st trumpet in 12th grade.</li>
<li>10-12 - Orchestra music librarian</li>
<li>10 - Blue ribbon for duet performance in Solo & Ensemble State Competition</li>
</ul>
<p>etc.</p>
<p>So you can group like activities into one EC entry, with the detail in additional information.</p>
<p>You could put that you run 100 miles per week, ran in 5 5Ks and 1 half marathon.</p>
<p>Thank you all 
The extra curricular question seems to be a common one and I too was rather perplexed by it. This was very helpful!</p>
<p>In addition to what other posters have said, think of it this way; most of these things might show up on your application essay etc, so be careful not to repeat them on your EC’s.
Also, it makes more sense to mention something that you have atleast been actively involved in the last 2 years. Things you did as a freshman and then discontinued in your junior or senior year for whatever reason should be left alone. You want to share something that you are passionate about, currently involved in, and hoping to continue when you start college.
Why should a school be impressed about your journalistic skills or track record when for the past year you have shown little involvement in it?
So, if you have quantity like you said, then list them in order of your most interest and narrow down to say top 4 and go with that.
Here you will see students with baffling EC’s and most are generic like (student government president, editorial review, club presidents, musicians, organization founders etc), but you will also find some that Volunteer in farms, hospitals, homeless shelter, soup kitchen, make crafts, write novels, cooks… as well…
Again, “Quality matters, not quantity”.
Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>^ You list it all out for yourself and then look for patterns. Depth and breadth. Don’t arbitrarily exclude something that makes sense on a college app. Forget prioritizing by “passions.” The adcoms look or something far more subtle. Not all “passions” are necessarily worthy of top placement. Maybe that job you just started or that one time internship shows your drive. Maybe being in even one play shows you can branch out. (That’s why you need to lay it all out, first.) In contrast, “love to cook” doesn’t have much place on campus. “Wrote a novel” doesn’t say anything about the quality, I’ve never seen a kid whose writing drew critical raves or big sales. Don’t narrow to four when there are far more lines than that. Don’t assume. There is a reason they ask how you chose to engage yourself. And don’t assume an essay that includes mention of some EC is a replacement for listing the EC under the EC section, as requested. </p>
<p>@lookingforward Just to piggy back off of this, if you seriously have gone extensively and done something exceptional, then of course don’t be afraid to make it a priority on your list of EC’s or write an essay on it to show another dimension of that passion. While lookingforward may not have heard of any student who made big sales with writing a book, it has happened before. Because it is so rare, however, it is exceptional; it also usually has a story behind it that can be elaborated. However, if it is just a random novel that you wrote with questionable quality for a novel-writing contest with thousands of other people, then though it may still be your passion, there’s less likely to be an interesting story and you probably wouldn’t want to write an essay about it, and all that lookingforward said definitely applies.</p>
<p>Yes, if you are that kid (of course, there are some) who wrote a best seller or drew serious critical attention, list it. But many kids think writing 50k words for national writing month is, in itself, exceptional. Or that finding the money to self-publish and then distribute to friends and family, is a big edge. I regularly dismiss the idea the marker is “passion” because, alone, it doesn’t say anything. (It’s nice, but then what?) As one great kid once posted, maybe your passion is for video games, maybe you even achieved some rank; how is that relevant to a college review? Some kids say, eg, I;m passionate about politics- then have zero activity to show for all that “passion.” </p>