Reporting ECs which started in elementary school and continued through high-school

<p>I am sure many applicants have this question but can't find any threads about it. </p>

<p>How should a student represent an activity (a service for seniors) with which they have been involved since third grade and which takes about 20-30 hours per year? </p>

<p>What about other long-term commitments such as playing an instrument? My daughter studied music at advanced recreational level since kindergarten. She hasn't competed anywhere and has no awards but she did successfully perform very difficult pieces at recitals organized by her teacher every year. In HS, she continued taking weekly lessons in 9th, 10th and first half of the 11th grade however switched to voice lessons after that. How can she represent her actual level of involvement so that it doesn't appear as 2.5 years of weekly lessons (big difference between that and 11 years)?</p>

<p>This is why colleges are dumbs.
They don’t care about anything before high school. The best you can do is write in that little add. Info box that you’ve been doing it for x years. Also if you don’t have anything to show for an instrument, they don’t care.</p>

<p>This probably doesn’t rise to the level of an activity that requires use of the Additional Information space. So, she will need to use the limited space in the activities section very wisely to convey her sense of commitment. </p>

<p>Example:
Activity Type: Music: Instrumental
Years 9-11
Position/Leadership: Enthusiastic piano student since age 5
Details: I find joy in my music and proudly perform significant works at recitals</p>

<p>Thank you Bparker253 and Niceday. </p>

<p>Bparker, I don’t think they don’t care, it is not as significant as winning a big competition but it is still a long-term commitment and hard work on her part.</p>

<p>Niceday, thank you for this explanation, I’ll tell her to use this approach for her other activities as well.</p>