How many hours is impressive?

Applying to College
1

<p>So you know on the Common App where they ask for your extracurricular involvement, the # of weeks per year, and the # of hours per week? Well, how many hours is impressive for a single activitiy? I know leadership positions, # of years dedicated to the activity, and achievements in the activity, etc. matter too, but I'm just wondering - how many hours per week for a single activity is impressive?</p>

<p>If you want to be super helpful, I'm really struggling with my EC list... what do you think?Any comments would be appreciated (see my other threads too). Thanks! :)</p>

<p>Okay here's all the activities I do/years involved/hours per week...</p>

<p>Youth group founder/coordinator, 2, 5-8
School musical cast member, 2, 15
Fair Trade secretary and leader of FT store through my church, 4, 5
Mission ministry (have gone on a mission trip overseas) co-leader of trip planning committee and member of core team to promote mission throughout my state, 4, 3
Ballet, 3, 4
Spanish tutor (high school kids), 3, 3
Church choir, 4, 5
School club to help incoming freshman, 3, 2-4
Peer mediation group, 4, 1</p>

<p>Thoughts? If I were to take off like two of them, which ones should they be? Which are most/least impressive? I'm applying to some pretty selective schools.</p>

2

<p>The number of hours done in an activity won’t impress college admission committees at the Ivy League and peer institutions. What will impress them is long-term commitment that yielded positive results: in other words, 200 hours of community service means very little if it’s just the hours that you show. A project created by the student that helped the community would mean a lot more. Similarly, doing 10 hours of debate a week means little compared to doing it 5 hours a week and placing at tournaments at a state and/or national level. It’s all about what you do and where you go with the EC: your level of accomplishment and the EC’s impact on your life is more significant than the number of hours you participated in.</p>

3

<p>Okay, good - thank you! Do my activities prove that I’m committed and dedicated? Which could I take out without much of an impact?</p>