I organize fanzines, which require a ton of work and collaboration (70+ artists) and thousands of customers, and we’ve raised 20k+ for charity. However, they’re in the grey area of legality for ip/copyright, and I’m also worried about colleges trying verify it because it isn’t an in school activity (applying for top schools). It can’t really be verified through traditional methods, so I’d probably have to provide the social media accounts of the projects or another method, which would reveal the dubious nature/legality of fan projects; is this something I need to worry about? Should I put this on my app or remove it?
It sounds that like you put lots of work and time into the project. I say put it on your app.
I second the above – definitely put it on the app in my opinion. Admissions officers aren’t looking to indict you, andI think it seems clear that there’s no ill intent involved here on your part.
Also – I don’t think they’ll ask you to verify, if that’s a concern of yours. In my experience (admittedly anecdotal), admissions officers seem to err on the side of trusting the student when it comes to activities or honors that don’t make or break the application.
I don’t pretend to know exactly how to handle this, but I would caution that colleges are acutely aware of and sensitive to issues involving IP and copyright law. Colleges take these issues seriously and will consider them an honor code violation. While I don’t think most colleges are looking to “verify” your ECs, if they do become aware of you organizing groups that obviously engage in IP or copyright violations, that will not help you at all.
I’m not familiar enough with this genre to make suggestions on how to phrase it, but consider devising alternate descriptions for this activity.
I know my D’s college is hyper vigilant about copyright issues. I don’t know what a fanzine is and am unclear how this raises money. Are you charging people for things that you don’t own or have rights to and then giving the money to charity? That isn’t a grey area. That is illegal. Verification isn’t really an issue. Colleges rarely try to verify activities. But, engaging in illegal activity is a huge red flag.
Ok, thanks for the help! I’ll keep the description more general then (independent magazine, etc) and try to move toward organizing more original projects in the future that I can be a bit more specific about! (I only just started junior year, so there’s some time.)
If the activity is unethical or illegal, it will not help your application.
It’s an activity that you’ve put a lot of passion, energy, and time into, and obviously you’ve seen great results since you’ve done it so much. don’t listen to the people talking about “legal” issues, they’re irrelevant and nonexistent in this scenario. I think that activity is a great show of how dedicated you are to your passion and you should definitely put it on your app!
I would not listen to @JTNuman …colleges take plagiarizing (stealing of others material) very seriously. So if you are providing links, then make sure it is legal.