Is it okay to mention "Hacking" as an EC?

Applying to College
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<p>Is it okay if I mentioned something like ranked 20th on a hacking website leader-board (out of several thousands) in the common app? It's actually pretty high up and the ranking is based on hacking challenges. These challenges aren't illegal or anything because they just simulate problems for programmers to solve, but would it still be detrimental to mention this as an EC? Would it be perceived as reckless or something? It's really just a kind of problem solving thing.</p>

<p>(These challenges involve SQL Injections and stuff)</p>

<p>I'm applying to schools like Stanford, Cornell etc as a Computer Science major.</p>

2

<p>Perhaps if you can think of a way to phrase it that sounds better than “hacking.” Try to use specific names of competitions</p>

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<p>If it is not illegal, it should be fine. There is even a hacking club at UMich engineering.</p>

4

<p>Okay…that’s reassuring. But is there any chance that universities might see this as a bad sign and reject me? I don’t want to risk getting accepted for this if there’s even a remote chance that it might look bad. (sorry for the paranoia)</p>

5

<p>I think you will be fine as long as you clarify it isn’t illegal hacking.</p>

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<p>Just out of curiosity, what site?</p>

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<p>@toxiclance, it’s actually not any one site. The ranking is on this site called wechall but the challenges themselves are on a lot of different web sites that are all linked to wechall. </p>

<p>Thanks for all the help. Also am I allowed to put this as an honor instead of an activity of I have no space left (eg: ranked x on website for network security problems)</p>

<p>I’m actually confused about what goes in honors</p>

8

<p>Haha, I think so, because If you did something cool in CS… its legally called Hacking in college :slight_smile: Every junior/senior college student’s resume as a CS major has at least 3 hackathon achievements… haha Its really pretty cool</p>

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<p>Great! Haha those are some of the things I’m really looking forward to in college</p>