<p>Both the CommonApp and independent applications ask how many weeks per year and hours per week one devotes to an extracurricular activity. With the exception of one activity that meets at regular intervals, the rest are sporadic. Would I be at all penalized for leaving the "approximate time spent" section blank?</p>
<p>If by sporadic you mean only for a few weeks a year, just list those weeks. If you really can’t pin down a time commitment, I would guess you should fill out something about that in the additional information section, although I’d e-mail the schools you’re applying to to be safe.</p>
<p>Almost no student can exactly specify his hours in this manner. It would be a lot easier if colleges just asked for total hours, so they will not penalize you for an approximate, in fact they are expecting one. Don’t fret about it too much, colleges are into quality not quantity.</p>