<p>Okay, so in addition to all my other EC's, I write poetry. I've never had any of it published nor have I enter any competitions, so I didn't include it in the EC list. Would the Additional Information Section of the commonapp be an appropriate place for it? Also, my main EC - Independent Study of Philosophy - is kind of vague. Should I elaborate on it? And finally, I've been an unofficial Algebra I tutor throughout high school and probably have dozens of unlogged hours. Should I include that? </p>
<p>1) Poetry
2) Elaborate on main EC
3) Algebra I tutor
4) All of the Above
5) None of the Above</p>
<ol>
<li>I have never written a piece of poetry in my life but could write I’m a poet. If you don’t have anything to show for it, you can’t write it (the same goes for those with instruments). </li>
<li>You should elaborate if the tiny space they give you the elaborate is not enough. A lot of supplements have essays about ECs or community service so you could also write it there.</li>
<li>You could write the algebra tutor in ECs if you have any kind of proof whatsoever, as colleges have been known to ask for proof of ECs in some situations. It should not be put in add info. The reason they have a limited amount of spaces is because they want to see what is important to you.</li>
</ol>
<p>Disagree that if you don’t have anything to show for it, that you can’t write it. I wrote in my application that I wrote fiction in my spare time, although I was not comfortable sharing my work with the committee. Admissions committees are interested in your interests; you don’t have to publish your work or enter any competitions to TALK about it. It’s not necessarily the kind of extracurricular activity that you would list, but you could still put it under like “additional information” or “other interests.”</p>
<p>And yes, I would elaborate on the independent study. Talk about what your independent study is, what you are reading, and what your deliverable at the end of the semester is (a paper? An oral exam)</p>
<p>And yes, you can include the tutoring. You don’t need to have “proof.” Most colleges will not ask for “proof” since most people don’t have official logs of their ECs (how would the president of the Anime Club of their local public high school ever be able to prove that? Or even the president of their NHS chapter?) I certainly was not asked for proof of any of my high school accomplishments, even ones that could be easily proven (such as winning my state’s literary competition).</p>
<p>I tend to agree with juillet - adcoms want to know what interests you and how you have spent your time.</p>
<p>If a student was on the varsity football team for four years, but struggled with injuries and wasn’t very good so he never really played in any games, he would likely still list it in his app.</p>
<p>What is the meaning of “nothing much to show for [an activity]”. If a student sits in the back row of orchestra for four years, does he have anything other than a participation certificate to show? What if he sat in the front row, assisting director and other musicians, but never won any awards?</p>