On USC’s application it asks about a favorite hobby, mine is genuinely pranking my friends. When asked which 3 words best describe me I even used waggish as one of them. Anyways, I’m asking if it is uncalled for to list “Pranking my friends” as my favorite hobby. Does it seem childish or perhaps interesting? Can it come off as troublesome or maybe creative? Thanks for any input!
How about instead “Making my friends laugh.” If I were the admissions officer and I read “pranking my friends,” I’d be afraid you’d be the kid who pulls the dorm fire alarm in the middle of the night.
@Disappointed111 thank you for the input, but idk, that just sounds corny and like one of those answers from a kid who’s just full of himself. Would playing practical jokes on friends sound better? I’ve already modified it from pranking people because that leaves it up to the readers mind to determine whether or not the kid is just some meanie who gets random people all riled up
So… my personal opinion is that you should stick to “making people laugh” and not say “playing practical jokes” because to me, it does sound childish. That’s just my opinion and I’m not an admissions officer.
In general, it can be a mistake to assume your literal answers are just what competitive adcoms are looking for. Remember, they’re strangers, not your hs teachers. Do you think it’s an asset to tell them you like to prank? Or play practical jokes? And they’ll have that Wow moment in an admission review? Instead, they may wonder why you included that, what it reveals about your maturity.
As D111 suggests, rethink it and reword it. Pranking/practical joking isn’t even the sort of “hobby” they have in mind. Maybe go back to what the college says they look for.
Don’t they prank you back?
This depends on if you have evidence of your humorous side. If you do stand-up, write hilarious articles for the student newspaper, or created a comedy club at your school, then you can get away with it – no problem. However, if you just kind of prank your friends here and there, don’t include it. And get rid of the word waggish. I hope you were pranking us by trying to include that word…
Colleges are academic institutions. It’s fine to show your humorous side, but do so within reason.
The point of any EC (besides having fun) is to gain new skills that you can’t get in the classroom, meet people you might not otherwise, expand your horizons through interactions with communities beyond your own, get insights into your own strengths and weaknesses, help you explore potential professional or academic passions and perhaps demonstrate some personal characteristics that aren’t otherwise evident, like creativity or empathy…From an admissions perspective, the question is what can this person contribute to our campus community.
I suppose pranking your friends shows a sense of humor and possibly some creativity - but it’s hard to see how ‘skill’ this is enhancing your development or gives you anything to contribute to a college campus. I’d deep six it and find something else. Waggish? Really? That’ll be a first, I suspect.
I agree that its downside significantly outweighs it upside. Would you tell a job interviewer that your outside hobby is to fool around w/buddies and prank each other? Sounds rather unprofessional, right?
Same here. Colleges hope that you’re sociable and can make and establish new friendships. Humor and lightheartedness are inherent – but do you REALLY want to say one of your most prominent attributes is that you like to goof around with others?
In college, I had a BALL w/my friends. We were constantly trying to outdo each others’ pranks or one-liners simply hanging out. We were laughing ALL the time and thinking about some of our capers brings a smile to me even now. But I certainly wouldn’t have said it’s my “favorite hobby”. Please revise your thinking. Good luck.
The point of the application is to make colleges want to admit you. You want to convince them that you will be a good student and have a positive influence on their campus. Do you think they are looking for students who are waggish and play pranks on others? That makes it sound like you don’t care about academics and will be first in line for a disciplinary hearing. I’d really recommend rethinking this.
I am not getting rid of the word waggish, if an admission counselor weights this singular (accurate) description of myself too heavily, so be it, however, I will reword my favorite hobby, but I just feel as if some of you being overly critical. I am speaking to the USC representative on the 21st and may ask the question to him. And I’d hope it’d be apparent that I’m academic considering
- I’m applying to school, writing serious essays and applying my humor where fit
- My stats are in the middle 50% range and I am sound applicant (not likely, but competitive)
It just seems blasé and bland to use words like “determined”, and to mention hobbies like “basketball”. I have to admit, I have no extraordinary hobby, my most unique one is, indeed, organizing large scale, elaborate pranks (some of which I’ve learned lessons from). In my small town there isn’t much to do, and I make sure I always act professionally when necessary, I’m actually my school’s most active business liaison for 3 clubs and organizations, and currently am the only student who has solicited donations and advertising deals from more than 10 companies. I don’t think immaturity will be an issue throughout my application.
Lastly, while they’re concerned with benefitting the school with each admission, I think some of you are being knit-picky [<----I don’t know how to spell that] and are failing to compare this to other answers that are a dime a dozen. I don’t feel as if the AdCom will be taken aback by kid that admits his humor is a bit rouge or playfully mischievous. I’m not writing myself the character of a novel, it’s just a unique way to honestly describe myself without, at least in my opinion, hurting my chances significantly.
Thank you for the input! @me29034 @T26E4 @golfcashoahu @lookingforward
The thing is, YOUR humor – the humor of a teenage kid – might not always translate well when seen by an adult. There was a guy who posted an essay here a couple months ago. He obviously thought he was God’s gift to comedy. But literally everyone else, especially the parents/adults here, thought it was cringey and completely tone-deaf. Humor is NOT universal. What is funny to a teenager is not necessarily going to be funny to an adult admissions officer who spends their workday seeing all the dumb things kids submit with their apps.
ETA: It’s not even universal within age groups. I’m a college sophomore and hated that “funny” essay as much as everyone else. And pranks often strike me as malicious.
Point being… Think about how this will reflect on you. Someone else wanted to write an essay about stealing room keys from hotels. Not every idea that passes through one’s mind is a good idea. 
Since when is playing pranks a hobby? I don’t think this is a hobby at all and I certainly wouldn’t indicate so. It’s immature.
Unless you have taken pranking to new heights or have developed a cult following based on your pranks (reality show, etc) I don’t see how this can be a hobby. Unfortunately, many people who think they are very funny are not- not to say this applies to you, but seriously, your pranks might not be as funny as you think they are. The fact that you might use the word “waggish” to describe yourself tells me that you are putting way too much thought into this and that your humor is too staged and artificial. Of course I don’t know you and I could be wrong, but to me, the funniest people are those who are not trying to be funny, but who are just funny naturally. As others have said, your humor may not seem funny to a middle-aged or older reader, but might just come off as a lack of maturity.
OP, this is a case where I think you may be missing some of the subtleties. And adcoms at competitive colleges like kids who get the subtleties.
Adcoms do like kids who can have fun, but are also looking for your judgment. That’s both judgment in daily life/over your hs years and in your choices of what to present in your app, for their admissions review.
There are plenty of essays where the kid admits weird stuff that is irrelevant and/or negative. They seem to either be confused or have a “FU, love me or leave me” attitude, neither of which competitive adcoms like. It’s not savvy.
Pranking and punking, from an adult perspective, are generally about putting one side in some hot seat. What you do to them. What jollies you get out of it. At worst, a power imbalance. Maybe your friends think this is hysterical, even when they’re on the short end. But now you’re going up against adult/stranger/adcoms. Show them you have good judgment. They aren’t looking for kids who tout that they enjoy making others uneasy.
That doesn’t mean bland or basketball. If you’re smart, you can convert this.
ps. I’m betting you get an ordinary “admissions-speak” answer from the rep. Along the lines of, “If you think it represents you, go ahead.” Translated: “Oh, brother.”
I concur with the majority that waggish (defined as humorous in a playful or mischievous manner) isn’t a great descriptor and pranks (defined as a practical joke or mischievous act) isn’t an appropriate hobby. I don’t think any college is looking for “mischief makers” to create issues (even for fun) on campus. Admissions officers don’t know you or the pranks you might like to do so they might become concerned that some of your pranks could lead to harm/misunderstanding/property destruction etc. So yes, I feel that your answers of waggish and praking friends would be risky and could negatively impact your application. IMO I’d go for a description like “playful” and find another hobby to put down. But the bottom line is it is your application so do as you like.
You[re welcome to discount all the advice.
But just sayin’…prankster and waggish aren’t college acceptance words normally.
It sounds like a boorish roommate. Got enough of those already. Next!
If you’ve pulled off something like candid camera (or another reality show) in good humor with wide acceptance I might write about it if I was a good writer. And add what I learned from the experience.
Or another tack…
What do you want to do? You may be able to work it into an asset for your intended major. Marketing, advertising (creativity), business (sales/people person).
Honestly though…colleges don’t want anybody that could be considered a troublemaker and you are setting yourself up for that perception. I can hear it now–“Got enough frat boys we’re trying to get rid of after that LAST incident. Don’t need another!!”
If I saw this, I would think automatically that you don’t have a hobby so you wrote something that you thought would be funny and/or clever (which it isn’t). To me, that shows a lack of judgement and leaves a bad taste.
But to answer your question directly: Yes, it sounds childish and makes you seem troublesome. No, it is not creative. Will it make or break your application? Who knows, I’m not on the admissions committee. You are welcome to put whatever you want.
Another adult here who thinks it’s a bad essay topic. So far, the only one who thinks the idea is good seems to be you. If you can’t see the logic of veteran posters than perhaps the joke is on you.
True story: My cousin is in management had was holding an interview. He asked the candidate what websites he visited daily for fun. Most answers would be fine: news, sports, photography, whatever. The candidate replied, “porn.” He did not get points for being honest, nor did he get the job. My cousin decided that he had poor judgement and would have preferred a “boring” response over the work-inappropriate truth.