<p>r u guys going to only write the first five which you have committed in for a long time?</p>
<p>or write everything to one hour/ a week activity?</p>
<p>i wrote everything i had done, remember, they'll still be able to tell which are your top five activities by the order you place them in and the time you spent on each, so what's it going to hurt to put the 1 hr/wk stuff if you really have done it the last few years; that kinda stuff could include a quirky interest that makes you unique</p>
<p>It depends on what that 1 hour/week activity is. If it is something really mundane like NHS or Key Club that a lot of people are in, it may not look so good (not that these aren't legitimate clubs and that people don't have valid participation in them, but an hour a week in a common club is bland).</p>
<p>However, like glorybear brought up, if it is something quirky, then sure! Put it in! If you go and Irish step-dance or something crazy like that for an hour a week, then it will make you unique and give your application something memorable. </p>
<p>So I'd say, as a general rule of thumb, fill it with your major committments, and maybe one or two cool things. But the other stuff, try to have your recs briefly mention it or reference it in an essay. It will make you look more involved if the adcom reads something about an activity that isn't in your EC list than if you just give a a "laundry list".</p>
<p>i kind of see what you're saying, but i dont understand what's wrong with laundry lists, i mean, yes, your major time committments are of course your top activities, but that's why they ask you to put in order of importance to you...i still fail to see how putting everything will hurt you - personally i have 14, but the last 7 are 1 to 3 hr/wk or less, but some of those were mostly freshman and sophomore year (piano - 6 hr/wk - just fr and soph), so it really just depends...</p>
<p>I attended an info session where the adcom (Director of Admission, 2nd below dean--or at least that is what he told us) said that long resumes looked bad and like you are trying too hard. I think of it this way:</p>
<p>Let's say there are two students, Suzy and Emily, who both have a bunch of ECs.</p>
<p>Suzy lists them all out, and towards the bottom the list looks weak.</p>
<p>Emily only lists the ones which she has devoted siginificant amounts of time to, and then asks her teacher to reference the fact that she is involved in NHS, etc, or includes a small anecdote about her involvement with NHS.</p>
<p>I guess it comes down to personal opinion. Some could argue that Suzy is being more direct, and will impress the adcom with the magnitude of her interests. Others could think that Suzy's application subtly suggests that she is modest about her achievements and is involved in things not just for the college application. </p>
<p>All told, it doesn't really matter. Adcoms probably don't read deeply into this stuff. It is probably more beneficial for you to do what YOU are comfortable with, because then at least you can be comfortable that you put forth your best effort and won't look back thinking that you followed the wrong advice. Some say tomato, some say tomatoh (lol it doesn't really work in type so I had to modify it :p)</p>
<p>i hope jtc is right...honestly, for my sake and all those who listed everything, i hope they just care about the top six and dont mind whether people put the 1 hr activities or not...cuz that would suck if it hurt my chances, although it seems ridiculous that your chances would be weaker if you listed more activities...</p>
<p>But if you think about it, it is not. There is no formula...they don't add up all of your hours to get your ECPA (Extracurricular point average). lol I like my new acronym...I have a 4.0 ECPA! :D</p>
<p>Anyway, OT, people who list all of their crappy ECs look desperate, in my opinion (and in the Director of Admission's opinion btw). It doesn't even have to be 6...it could be 2 (but if it is 2 you better be pretty involved). You can't look at the admissions process as systematic--it absolutely isn't. Hence, why you can never tell someone they will definitely get in, and why everyone gets so anxious about it. It would be great if you could calculate your exact chances of getting into a certain college, but there isn't any definitive ways of knowing, only guesses.</p>
<p>guess you're on top of it jtc, i still think 1 hr/wk activities are important to mention, because it's still time you're putting in an activity, three of the "fluff" activities i mention i have offices in though, so that might help make it look less desperate - i still have to politely disagree with you that extra ec's will hurt your chances</p>
<p>Wow...Am I the only one on here who can't think of a single "fluff" activity? :p </p>
<p>I ended up with about 13 EC's, but I'm having a really hard time ordering them in value of importance.</p>
<p>Thanks guys</p>
<p>i think i'll have it the risky way... i'll just put my best ones...</p>
<p>and neways, they ARE going to read the transcript right?</p>
<p>ohoh one more question</p>
<p>can you list things u did outside of school?</p>
<p>hmm... if ur gonna mention the little stuff somewhere else... where r u gonna mention them??</p>
<p>i guess just list the "little things" if they were important to you. if you do that, you can't go wrong.</p>
<p>IMO, little stuff can either be worked into rec letters or essays. If this doesn't work, then put them in your list unless they are really fluffy. </p>
<p>And to your previous question: extracurricular is something outside of the classroom, so something not school sponsored still counts.</p>
<p>I only wrote about my first 5 and those are ones I spend a minimum of 3 hours a week on, have leadership positions and awards. Everything else (NHS, Key Club, Mu Alpha Theta, etc.) was placed under "other".</p>
<p>Thanks guys.
Worldshopper good idea!!</p>
<p>Now only one day until deadline!!</p>
<p>Good luck for those of you who still didn't send app in like me ^---^</p>