<p>The entire concept of putting ECs on your college application seems insane to me - how do they even check or know? Where you even put it?</p>
<p>For example, a great deal of my time and passion goes towards learning Georgian and Georgian music - I'm in a folk group and we practice all the time. We've only performed once, but it's mostly because I'm so passionate about the traditional music because its where I'm from. </p>
<p>Where would this go on my application? How would they know I'm not lying? I feel like if I'm applying to colleges, especially LACs who want to see personality, it's crucial to include stuff like this.</p>
<p>Where I’ve seen that sort of stuff listed before is on what’s called an activities resume. It’s basically like a regular resume, but focuses more on your extracurriculars. I attached mine to my common app since I had to send one to a couple of my colleges anyway. I put the more unique extracurriculars under an “other activities” section of my resume. For my resume, I also put a couple bullet points underneath every activity/job included that further explained the skills I utilized and the type of things I did with that activity. A lot of people also write about those unique ECs for their essay(s) since that’s truly the best way to communicate why that EC is important. There’s also a mini-essay on the common app that asks you to elaborate on one EC and its significance to you.</p>
<p>Yes, this can easily go in the activities section of the Common App. The space for detail is very small, but feel free to use the “additional information” section to add some extra information about it. It is a good EC, not like everyone else. They generally don’t check. I wouldn’t mention that you have only performed once (but maybe that number will be higher by the time you apply anyway).</p>
<p>The Common App is being reformatted this year, so you will have to look and figure out the best place. But you should definitely put it in.</p>
<p>I would avoid the resume if you can fit the info into the app and additional info section. The admissions people have TONS of applications and essays to go through. They want your information, but ideally within the format of the application is possible. Extra paper is generally not welcome these days unless really necessary (my kid got into all 8 colleges she applied to last fall, including some top schools, using this approach – it works).</p>
<p>If a third LOR is available, you might consider having your follk group leader send one describing your activity in more detail.</p>
<p>While I agree that generally speaking, less paper in the Common App is better (“the thicker the file, the thicker the student”) a more important consideration is ensuring that adcoms understand your activity. One line stating 20 hours/week, 50 weeks/year practically begs for further information.</p>
<p>In terms of checking, they usually don’t. If you put something down, they’ll usually trust you. Lying about your ECs results in one of two things. One: The EC pushes you over the top, and you got into a school that doesn’t really want you, as you. You’re are a fraud for 4 years. Two: It makes absolutely no difference, and you liked for no reason. So in my mind, there is no point in lying about ECs. Long story short, they usually won’t check, so don’t worry about them thinking you’re lying. Plus that’s so unique, and random, that I don’t think anyone would think that up as a lie.</p>