I apologize if this is the wrong section. If I am in the wron section, please do hint me toward the right destination!
Fueled by a fire to combat and defeat trafficking and sexual exploitation around the world, I entered a phase in my life where essential all I did was read and study. I often refer to it as “the study” when I’m dealing with matters related to my charity organization. I would go to the library or Barnes and nobles and read for hours and hours every single day. Often times I would go after school and leave when the facility closed. I dedicated my time to reading self improvement books on charisma, leadership, influence, presenting, finance, economics, rhetoric, and my personal favorite, government policy. In total, my tally of books in the 8 or 9 month period (essentially my 10th grade school year) hit around 350 books. I refused to read for pleasure. Actually the fire was so strong, I didn’t even want to read for pleasure.
I often times attribute my success (relative) at fundraising to “the study”.
Would I be able to list this as a extracurricular activity? It, essentially, took over my life. The only other thing I did was play soccer for a 3 month period in conjunction to reading. It was the most important time of my life and I came out the strongest version of myself.
I’m not seeing the studying part as an EC. I can’t tell from your post, but did you start a charity or help one as a result of this? THAT is the EC. Now… I suppose you could write your essay about this, and in that you could reference this immersion period and how it helped you. Although I’m honestly not sure I would fess up to reading a lot of self improvement books to a college admissions officer… you want them to think that you have charisma, leadership, and influence skills without having to study for them (whether it is true or not).
Ah yes, I apologize for the lack of transparency but I left details out for the sake of anonymity!
Essentially, a form of a moral epiphany and sense of nationalism promoted me to go into the phase of immersion (your word). The study was a way I could essentially best prepare myself to do the best job possible and be the best possible version of myself prior to launching the charity.
The charity was essentially the reason why I entered “the study”. So to answer your question - did you start a charity or help one as a result of this - no. It is the opposite.
Let me add to the question to help facilitate answers.
My fear is that on my transcript it will have a year of absolutely nothing besides clubs and soccer. I didn’t volunteer anywhere. I didn’t shadow or intern anywhere (however I did intern the summer before and after).
I’m assuming you mean world of Warcraft, so correct me if I’m wrong.
I’m not sure if you can “verify”, hence the question on whether or not it’s an actually extra curricular.
But I can assure you, I have no interest in world of Warcraft.
You present it as ‘I got a passion to fight this evil in the world, so I read obsessively on the subject for 8-9 months’.
So, this means that you got the idea to do it, read a whole bunch, and decided not to start a charity or get involved in one?
The key piece isn’t that you read a lot (or even obsessively) during the school year: it’s what you did with that reading/what you took from that reading/what that reading was for you. How did you put that reading to use? Lots of us have hidden out in a library for extended parts of our schooling. It only counts as an ‘EC’ if it is to some end.
Lots of people self-study subjects that they are passionate about, but it’s not all that impressive as an EC if it doesn’t result in some kind of engagement somewhere. You can do lots of ECs that don’t involve third party validation - paint, garden, write poetry, teach yourself Italian - and it is an EC. But you want to have an output of some sort, not just inputs. The impact should be evident: a volume of poems some of which you can share with admissions, a beautiful garden about which you can write an essay, fluency in a language that you have now used, a skill that you now teach others etc…Otherwise it’s just more study, something that you’ve already shown you can do by getting good grades at school. You need to take your passion to another level by applying it somehow.
In short and as bland as possible, I saw a problem. Made a plan. Studied a lot on how to execute that plan. Put the plan into motion.
Yes I did start a charity, sorry for the confusion.
Let me use an analogy!
I got hungry and wanted cake. I decided I wanted to make cake. I read a lot of recipes for cake and which one is best (“the study”). I made the cake. (I am yet to eat the cake)
^^ I think that this is why we thought you didn’t do anything.
^^In which case, your EC is the the charity you started and the reading you did is a big part of the researching you did to prepare for it. To use your cake analogy, you now need for the cake to be big and fed to lots of people.
Your description was not clear. You really need to work on your writing, it is flowery and convoluted. The EC is the charity. If you want them to know you did a lot of reading to help you build the knowledge and skills you needed to start it, then work it into an essay. But stop calling it “the study”. It would be a confusing (and maybe pretentious) way to refer to it in your essays.
Hmm okay thank you everyone. Very helpful. I’m sorry if my “convoluted” or “flowery” writing provided some obstacles for some of you to understand.
However, the description was clear, but I think the lack of specifics caused the confusion.
The first sentence states that I was motivated to make a and fight trafficking and that’s why I entered the phase of intense study. The sentence where I said “I often times attribute my…” Gives an example of how “the study” resulted in an end product.
Can you explain where you very thrown off? So I can “really improve my writing”?
But I agree with the pretentious nature of “the study”, it was not my idea to call it that. I was given it by associates as copy. I don’t plan on using jargon or copy in my application, and I never did.
Reading/studying about trafficking/exploitation is no more an EC than watching Discovery Channel documentaries about trafficking/exploitation. It’s passive.
Your writing style is awkward & contrived. I suggest simply write the way u talk, only taking care to make sure it’s grammatically correct.
yeah, i agree. The way you write is a bit awkward. you’re just trying a bit too hard. this is the internet, not your English teacher (who is apparently love with figurative language). I didn’t really find your style too “flowery”, but still, trying a little too hard.
maybe its because I’m a bit of a pretentious ****, but i personally don’t count teen lit, self help, or current event books as “reading”. Its on the same level as reading manga,blogs, and newspapers(respectively). and, as someone who wastes her time watching a lot of “educational” documentaries, I agree with GMT. What you’re doing is purely for the funsies. its not really engaging anything. its like when i watch another history or art documentary, or even read a book about teddy roosevelt or michelangelo. what I’m doing won’t ever count as really reading, or an EC. on the other hand, your CHARITY CAN.
the only exception is if you were reading Leviathan, utopia, etc. if you were, then you definitely either lightly skimmed leviathan or you didn’t read 249 other books.
books shouldn’t be measured by the number of pages or volumes you read. it should be measured by content. A room of ones own is barely 100 pages, but it is more actual “reading” than most books.
Also, reading for pleasure isn’t something bad to do. passion is very important to perseverance. decadence is important understanding, and appreciating good literature.
next time your go to your local B and N, enjoy some nice nietzche in addition to what you usually read.
i know my writing is wordy (saying this before anyone complains)
To put it simply , IMO If you read things it is not an EC. If you actively did something to help change the situation (ex. the work your charity did), that could be an EC.
It was only an example. A couple of other posters have touched on the point, which is what did you do with the wonderful self-study you embarked on, and how can adcoms recognize it?
Something no one has asked, so I will, is how objectively successful was your charity? Did you raise $500 in a bake sale or $10,000 over the course of a long and tumultuous journey? Also, is this ongoing, or were you successful for a time then stopped? The way you talk about it leads me to believe that you were indeed successful but it would be helpful to know and that is what the adcoms actually care about. Also, you seem more passionate about The Study than the actual work you were doing and that is what should change in an essay. You must come across with the point that you were so inspired by the people you were helping that you threw yourself at any resource that could potentially help your cause - rather than you were so enthralled in these books that it somehow helped you run your charity. That’s my two cents, but I think the senior posters would probably agree. Good luck!
First, I’m sorry. I’d like to extend an apology to everybody. I do t know why I was so hostile and somewhat annoying. I had just got semi bad news that day and it, coupled with being tired, made me snap uselessly. I can’t even read some of the other posts because I fee so bad.
Sorry intoparent. Trust me, I will work on my writing.
Also, to answer smith, I can’t give you an exact number because I just made projections public for the next few months and a simple google search can kill my annonymity. Hope you can understand!
Let me extend some more information. I was “inspired”(your word smith) by people who I met that were effected by trafficking. Due to this inspiration I had looked around for charities to get involved in, but couldn’t find any that did what I felt was just. Some took over half of the funds just to pay its employees. That’s crazy! So I started my own charity. But before I could, I had to develop myself. I read for a while and when I get confident enough to attract board members and charismatic enough to attract donations, I started one. After that, it’s taken off greatly. I provided a projection for the Irs that I will only be able to raise 50,000 in the next year. I shattered that number almost in the first few weeks. I feel the person I was prior to the immersion into books would not be able to raise a single dollar. That’s why it’s so important to me. But it is no way in heck as important to me as the actual work the charity does.
My original question is those the initial study period count as an extra? I feel it would be bad if it seems like there is a 10 month gap in my after school activities.
Can somebody shed more light on the question on how adcoms can recognize it? I can’t really understand that question.
I can answer what I did: I read books and applied those into everyday interactions. I read biographies of leaders, how to use powerful rhetoric, and charisma, and many other traits that have been useful to me.
My teachers all know this and will probably write about it, but I’m not sure.
Thank you, and again I’m sorry for being hostile.
I like to think it is successful and has a very steady cash flow - so it’s on going.
Is 10,000 the threshold that adcoms see as successful?
Also, I apologize if my writing was awkward. I assure you it sounds smoother in person. Speaking, in a way, with “big words” and “unorthodox grammar structures” are one way that I can build some much needed rapport with people.
