<p>So I'm a person who gets interested in virtually anything. I'm a beader, I design/make clothes, I play piano/guitar, I love to play flag football, I love to design and build scale houses/buildings, I love to skateboard, I love to do math proofs and read books like ''the history of zero,'' I'm a huge WWII buff and write my own papers on it for fun, I love to do all sorts of community service, I'm pretty artistic and love to draw, I love to research music theory and why and how things work, I'm really eager to tutor others/ teach them to play piano/guitar, etc...</p>
<p>However, I'm not ''accomplished'' in any of these things by any means. The only thing I really have to show is that I'm president of my school's volunteering club, which is nothing extraordinary.</p>
<p>I take on all of these independently so I can't have anyone confirm anything and I don't think these would count as extra-curriculars but I don't want admissions committees to think I sit around doing NOTHING. But I also don't want them to think I can't stay committed to just one thing and instead do a bunch of random things with minimal effort. </p>
<p>I was thinking of combining all of them into one EC under the heading "Personal Interests" or something along those lines. Would this be a bad idea?</p>
<p>skateboard -> math proofs -> music theory</p>
<p>Wow you are really well-rounded. As long as you have showed passion in those hobbies, I would say they can count as extracurricular activities. You don’t have to “confirm anything.” Colleges rarely verify an EC unless it’s something absurdly over-the-top, like researching under Stephen Hawking or teaching Math 55 at Harvard. If you combine all of the ECs under the heading “personal interests”, keep in mind that will only seem to minimize the true quality of work you put into them. </p>
<p>I think you should have a unifying theme. I also think you should seek outside validation.</p>
<p>Gather your proofs into a binder; show them to an expert, and have them write a recommendation or assessment letter (or show your prowess through an AIME score, if you can get through AMC --> AIME). Video your piano/guitar, maybe play at a local coffeeshop and videotape that? Video your skateboarding. Organize some of your beading, clothing, house design/building into portfolios or at least portfolios of photographs documenting them, and see if you can display them (even in a bank lobby) and get a local newspaper to cover the displays. You really do need to communicate the value with some context and outside validation.</p>
<p>Perhaps, you can cover some of these under the rubric of “Volunteer activities” to motivate how you became the president of the club?</p>
<p>You have the raw materials. They need to be digested an an imprimatur affixed to better fit into the “college application machine.” You have a month- plenty of time if you get right on it and make it a serious mission. The value of pre-digesting and packaging these activities may be very high, and well worth a full-court press.</p>
<p>BTW, I do understand how distasteful this “packaging” may appear from your point of view. I also understand that admissions officers have very few minutes per application to grasp and believe what is being presented. It is your job to make their job as easy as possible.</p>