<p>I have got to submit my CommonApp pretty soon and I am not sure whether I should list hiking as an EC.</p>
<p>Hiking: I have done quite a bit of hiking with my dad in the past few years. But it's informal - not a club or anything. Just a group of friends getting together and hiking. We go for pretty complex 1-day hikes including minor rock climbing, stream hiking and night hiking. I haven't spent any time on it senior year but I did quite a bit junior year.</p>
<p>I am not a very sporty person and apart from badminton which I do during games time, I don't do any other sport. So I don't know whether I should mention hiking or not. Will it look okay or like an attempt to pad my application?</p>
<p>Bump please help, I don’t have much time left</p>
<p>You could if you think it fleshes out your application. But don’t include it just to fill another box on your application.</p>
<p>Yes, by all means, if you can list it within the parameters (est hours a week/year) Adcoms like to see something that is not just cookie cutter. I am sure they would prefer that to another kid who is in yet another campus club.</p>
<p>I agree with anotherparent. If you spent a significant amount of time doing it it should be included.</p>
<p>Thank you for your input. The thing is, I did quite a bit of hiking in junior and sophmore year but not so much in freshman year (when I was living in India and there were no hills to hike on). Also, I am not sure how to fit our hikes into the hours/week, weeks/year because we don’t hike every week and when we do it’s about 6-7 hours on one day, not spread out over the week. </p>
<p>So for example, if I hiked every other week for 6 hours on a Sunday in the months of June, October and December, (6 weeks in total), could I write 6 hours/week, 6 week/year, even though it’s not continuous?</p>
<p>Yes, I think that would be fine. They make the whole EC so durned impossible, you just have to give it your best effort. As long as it you do it in good faith, it works.</p>
<p>Thank you. Yes, it’s been really difficult to slot my charity commitment into the format because it’s a seasonal thing. I hope, when they read my app, they kind of understand where I am coming from.</p>
<p>If you want, there is a section of the common app asking if there is anything else. you can explain your ECs better there if you wish.</p>