<p>Thanks everyone! I’m not looking to lie, I know the consequences. I just feel as if the things I’ve done prior to high school have gone to waste and I really want it to be present somewhere in my application. </p>
<p>No, two extra years of piano won’t make a difference on your application. Anything that would make a significant impact would likely be cross-checked with another source, and anything that wouldn’t won’t be, so there’s not much point in embellishing.</p>
<p>With that being said, can you guys please get off your high horses? You’d think OP was trying to get away with soloing at Carnegie Hall or something from these reactions. </p>
<p>I just want to note some unusual exceptions to that rule. If there’s something fundamental to your story that happened before high school, share it. If you were a professional actor at 10, or you immigrated to the US at 12, or you lost your mom at 9, go ahead and talk about that. Can someone understand who you are without knowing this part of the story? If not, work it in somewhere.</p>
<p>If you did a lot of piano as a child, then stopped, it can be used. If you played the piano from age 5 till 14, then started again senior year, you can mention it. WHY you stopped, why you resumed, what you learned from it, would indeed make a nice essay or supplementary essay or additional information.</p>
<p>I think the reason for the uproar is that the OP’s original posted question was about exaggerating his activity, which many view as basically lying or being untruthful. The OP seems to now indicate he just wanted to somehow include an activity that took place prior to high school, which is a totally different angle- in that case, it could easily be addressed in an essay or the additional info section on the common app without having to misrepresent the truth.</p>
<p>There are only 10 slots for EC in Common App. If one need to put 2 years of guitar or 4 years of piano on it, I would think one should really improve his/her EC.</p>
<p>You could spin it into something positive. Why did you start playing again? I know a kid who, like you, dropped piano for a few years. Then he heard a piece of music that he wanted to learn to play and took up piano again. He used that for one of the UVA essays: What work of art, music, etc has inspired you (or something like that). But he wrote it because it was true. Don’t exaggerate or write anything that’s untrue anywhere in your applications.</p>
<p>@Gibby: True enough, I suppose, unless you home school. Then the info. they request could fill a small book.</p>
<p>I think if an activity is central to who a child is, they should find a way to include it. If it’s just one more thing to lengthen an EC list, I wouldn’t bother, but either way, an email to admissions explaining the interest in the activity is better than making things up for an application. </p>
<p>Never do anything that you are then worrying about later. It will come back to bite you in the butt, and even if it doesn’t, it won’t be worth the worrying you will do about whether or not you get caught (like you posting here…) </p>