Recently, someone told me that colleges like to hear about “hidden extra curriculars.” I have the traditional: FCCLA, FFA, a special interest club, past orchestra member, and past soccer manager of both the girl’s and boy’s team.But, I was wondering if any of these qualified.
*Cooking dinner on week days as my mom works late hours
*Attending workshops and events at the High Museum of Art
*Having pen pals in 3 different countries
*Taught myself to play electric guitar
*Use to work part time to pay for my clothes, club fees and dues
*Babysitting my cousins when their mom has to work on week ends or breaks
Working and babysitting (if done on a regular basis) would count as ECs. If you spend a significant amount of time on letters or on playing the guitar, I think it would be okay to use those too. Attending workshops is cool, but it doesn’t seem like the sort of commitment that an extracurricular implies. Same with cooking dinner.
Try to list mainly things that are important to you, though. It’ll probably be pretty obvious if you’re mainly putting things to fill up another spot.
You don’t want to be listing everything you’ve ever done here. Just the things that you put a lot of time and effort into. If you are putting a lot of time into baby-sitting and working to support yourself and your family, then it should be mentioned. The pen pals is interesting if it’s been important to you and you’ve gotten something meaningful out of it. If you have put a lot of hours into learning to play the guitar over an extended period, that too is worth mentioning. It’s all relative. If you’ve spent more time on these than than the traditional ECs - if you think they say more about who you are or have had a bigger impact on you or on your future goals and objectives - then list them. You don’t need 10 things, just the handful that really matter.