On the common application and others, how many hours per week total do your activities add up to? Do people increase the nuber than they really do? I am worried that mine add up to too much time, however (I did inflate the time a bit) am incredibly involved with all the activities.
<p>I think it's a big mistake to inflate the numbers. Colleges are just trying to get a rough idea of how you spend your time. They aren't giving brownie points based on whose ECs total the most hours.</p>
<p>When it comes to ECs, what counts is length of time in the activity, position in the activity (with students holding top offices getting an advantage), and what impact you had on the organization and how the organization helped change you for the better. Impact and change are things that one demonstrates through one's essays, recommendations and interviews.</p>
<p>One last thing: The length of one's EC list also is not what the top colleges care about. What they care about is depth in an activity and impact. They aren't interested in serial joiners. The less competitive colleges such as most public universities don't put that much weight on ECs at all. What they care about are grades, class rank, curriculum and scores.</p>