Include significant commuting time in EC hours?

Applying to College Common and Coalition Application
1

<p>In the Common App section titled "Activities," in the part talking about the approximate time spent on each activity, can you include commuting time if it was significant? What is the general rule concerning this? I've read one person on CC said not to include it, but I feel otherwise.</p>

<p>For example, in my freshman and sophomore years, I did an EC 3 times a week for 2 hours each time. But it was a 1 hr commute each way. This really impacted the amount of quality study time that I had. It was the same amount of time commuting as it was actually doing the activity! I feel like I should be able to include this since it was part of doing that activity. Would this be wrong?</p>

2

<p>You can include it. I really doubt they put much weight on the self-reported hours anyway since they’re so hard to verify</p>

3

<p>Yeah, that’s true. Thanks for your opinion!</p>

4

<p>I would not include commuting time. Really. Just relax about the bleeping hours.</p>

5

<p>I think it looks like you are padding your time to include your commute time.
Most kids I know with long commutes use the time for completing homework, which is definitely not an EC.</p>

6

<p>^ But how can you complete homework if you’re the one driving the car?</p>

7

<p>Yeah even if you’re driving, you’re still committing that time to the EC</p>

8

<p>I used the time either for completing homework or preparing for the EC. So it’s not like the time was wasted. But the commuting time was significant.</p>

<p>Thanks for your opinions.</p>

9

<p>2 years, 3x/week, 2 hrs each- but for how many weeks each year?
If it’s 10 weeks, that’s 120 hrs actual and 240 incl travel.<br>
IMO, unreasonable increase; creates a false impression. Only gets worse if you did it more often than that.</p>

<p>When kids travel long distances for a comm svc project, they only get credit for hours worked and a little extra- not travel. It’s not about the reduced “quality study time that I had.” It is about how many hours you did something of value. Getting there is part of the committment.
That being said, it’s fine to add a small amount that does not grossly alter the picture. This takes restraint. Was this about volunteering? Or something like music lessons, a sport, advanced academics?</p>

10

<p>This was about an outside-of-school chorus.</p>

11

<p>40 weeks/year? 20? 50? Plus performances? I have no basic problem with very cautiously adding some time to an EC like this. Let us know actual hours/year, w/o travel.
I think in community svc work, it’s most important not to overblow it.</p>

12

<p>It was 42 weeks/year, 15 hours/week. And this is on the low side, not including commuting. I have decided to not include commuting simply because it looks crazy, as you have all mentioned. My commitment is already strong enough without making it look exaggerated. Thanks for your ideas.</p>