EC listing strategy in common app

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you should absolutely list hobbies. This adds "texture" to your application. Most high stats kids are missing texture.

Example: instead of reading books put "Organized a community book club focusing on 20th-century American literature, which improved my analytical skills and fostered a local network of literary enthusiasts."

https://www.collegevine.com/faq/8559/best-way-to-list-hobbies-on-common-app#

Most kids have hobbies. The point is to personalize your kid and not make them seem like a bot.

https://empowerly.com/applications/common-app-activities-examples/

PSA: i clicked on the empowerly link above and am already getting spam in my email. Thanks a lot.

how do they have your email address?

I have no idea. I did not leave any contact info, just clicked the link above.

I received an email "Your recent visit has unlocked an exclusive offer" with a coupon to activate 10% off my "order,"not specifying what my "order" is supposed to be, but there's some reference to helping my student/family through the admissions process.

Whoa that;s weird.
Do you not have a VPN hiding your identity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you should absolutely list hobbies. This adds "texture" to your application. Most high stats kids are missing texture.

Example: instead of reading books put "Organized a community book club focusing on 20th-century American literature, which improved my analytical skills and fostered a local network of literary enthusiasts."

https://www.collegevine.com/faq/8559/best-way-to-list-hobbies-on-common-app#

Most kids have hobbies. The point is to personalize your kid and not make them seem like a bot.

https://empowerly.com/applications/common-app-activities-examples/

This is the stupidest thing. Who on earth thinks this type of narration is a good strategy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you should absolutely list hobbies. This adds "texture" to your application. Most high stats kids are missing texture.

Example: instead of reading books put "Organized a community book club focusing on 20th-century American literature, which improved my analytical skills and fostered a local network of literary enthusiasts."

https://www.collegevine.com/faq/8559/best-way-to-list-hobbies-on-common-app#

Most kids have hobbies. The point is to personalize your kid and not make them seem like a bot.

https://empowerly.com/applications/common-app-activities-examples/

This is the stupidest thing. Who on earth thinks this type of narration is a good strategy?

Obviously, CollegeVine? Its their wording:
"When describing your hobbies, be specific about what you do and why it's important to you. Avoid general statements like 'reading books,' and instead, provide details such as 'Organized a community book club focusing on 20th-century American literature, which improved my analytical skills and fostered a local network of literary enthusiasts.'"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you should absolutely list hobbies. This adds "texture" to your application. Most high stats kids are missing texture.

Example: instead of reading books put "Organized a community book club focusing on 20th-century American literature, which improved my analytical skills and fostered a local network of literary enthusiasts."

https://www.collegevine.com/faq/8559/best-way-to-list-hobbies-on-common-app#

Most kids have hobbies. The point is to personalize your kid and not make them seem like a bot.

https://empowerly.com/applications/common-app-activities-examples/

This is the stupidest thing. Who on earth thinks this type of narration is a good strategy?

Obviously, CollegeVine? Its their wording:
"When describing your hobbies, be specific about what you do and why it's important to you. Avoid general statements like 'reading books,' and instead, provide details such as 'Organized a community book club focusing on 20th-century American literature, which improved my analytical skills and fostered a local network of literary enthusiasts.'"

The thing that's bizarre is that they are confusing two different types of things.

I was an avid reader. I probably spent more hours as a teenager reading than anything else besides attending school or sleeping.

I think there are two different questions here:

1) How could I have represented that honestly on the Common App?

I think the advice of avoiding general statements is good. I think that encouraging me to describe more specifically what I was reading (e.g. I read almost exclusively fiction, including a lot of historical fiction and science fiction. I could also have included a count of titles.)

2) Should someone have encouraged me to take some of that time from reading and spend it organizing a book club, or a program to collect books for homeless children, or tutoring people in reading?

I think it's possible that colleges would value those things more than they would have valued reading. I can't really say. But my advice to my kids is to be yourself. Do the things that are meaningful to you and that you enjoy. Then describe them accurately, and you'll end up at the right place for you. Maybe that's a school that values introverts and people who love to read!

[Anonymous]

Do both. Do whatever interests you. Just do something and make yourself stand out.

It’s not that serious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you think even for a quirky hobby it should still somehow related to DC’s narratives? Like building a wild life habitat if you’re pursuing ecology major? Or tropical fish at home if the intended major is marine biology?

No, I wouldn't. That looks "over curated" - and could signal parental management, etc. Look on admityogi.com for how many successful kids do it.
Don't make it look like an adult resume.

Mine got nothing quirky.
Spent most free time on sports, gym, browsing.
Doodling and counting calories for every meal. But it’s pointless to list them.

art doodling? that's actually cool.
if so, i'd include that. encourage your kid to submit their art to local contests (links below).

Doodle Artist
Independent Art Practice
Create doodle art through free-form drawing sessions, exploring how wandering thoughts translate into visual stories, competing in local and national contests, like Red Bull Doodle Art, while encouraging others to embrace their own messy, imaginative creative side.

https://explorersagainstextinction.co.uk/initiatives/sketch-for-survival/sketch-for-survival-competition/
https://www.blackcatmke.com/news/red-bull-doodle-contest
https://doodles.google.com/d4g/

This is satire, right?

[Anonymous]

DD, who wants to minor in creative writing and is on staff of school literary magazine and did competitive creative writing program last summer, is including creative writing as an activity. She set herself (and accomplished) goal of writing 30 min every day for a year.
No idea if this is good or bad idea but it’s important to her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you think even for a quirky hobby it should still somehow related to DC’s narratives? Like building a wild life habitat if you’re pursuing ecology major? Or tropical fish at home if the intended major is marine biology?

No, I wouldn't. That looks "over curated" - and could signal parental management, etc. Look on admityogi.com for how many successful kids do it.
Don't make it look like an adult resume.

Mine got nothing quirky.
Spent most free time on sports, gym, browsing.
Doodling and counting calories for every meal. But it’s pointless to list them.

art doodling? that's actually cool.
if so, i'd include that. encourage your kid to submit their art to local contests (links below).

Doodle Artist
Independent Art Practice
Create doodle art through free-form drawing sessions, exploring how wandering thoughts translate into visual stories, competing in local and national contests, like Red Bull Doodle Art, while encouraging others to embrace their own messy, imaginative creative side.

https://explorersagainstextinction.co.uk/initiatives/sketch-for-survival/sketch-for-survival-competition/
https://www.blackcatmke.com/news/red-bull-doodle-contest
https://doodles.google.com/d4g/

This is satire, right?

Our college counselor suggested something similar for a niche non-EC long-term hobby (not doodling) but pretty uncommon. Instead of focusing on the act, the description focused more on the mental health benefits of the hobby.
I think it worked. At Ivy.

I don't think DS would have included if he'd written a supplemental about the hobby, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you should absolutely list hobbies. This adds "texture" to your application. Most high stats kids are missing texture.

Example: instead of reading books put "Organized a community book club focusing on 20th-century American literature, which improved my analytical skills and fostered a local network of literary enthusiasts."

https://www.collegevine.com/faq/8559/best-way-to-list-hobbies-on-common-app#

Most kids have hobbies. The point is to personalize your kid and not make them seem like a bot.

https://empowerly.com/applications/common-app-activities-examples/

Omg vomit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD, who wants to minor in creative writing and is on staff of school literary magazine and did competitive creative writing program last summer, is including creative writing as an activity. She set herself (and accomplished) goal of writing 30 min every day for a year.
No idea if this is good or bad idea but it’s important to her.

I think that's great. She might want to state that she's majoring in English, given she has so much writing exp, and clear support for that major. Maybe she's got a lot of other ECs in another field, but something to think about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you should absolutely list hobbies. This adds "texture" to your application. Most high stats kids are missing texture.

Example: instead of reading books put "Organized a community book club focusing on 20th-century American literature, which improved my analytical skills and fostered a local network of literary enthusiasts."

https://www.collegevine.com/faq/8559/best-way-to-list-hobbies-on-common-app#

Most kids have hobbies. The point is to personalize your kid and not make them seem like a bot.

https://empowerly.com/applications/common-app-activities-examples/

This is the stupidest thing. Who on earth thinks this type of narration is a good strategy?

Obviously, CollegeVine? Its their wording:
"When describing your hobbies, be specific about what you do and why it's important to you. Avoid general statements like 'reading books,' and instead, provide details such as 'Organized a community book club focusing on 20th-century American literature, which improved my analytical skills and fostered a local network of literary enthusiasts.'"

The question was rhetorical. CollegeVine is saying to lie. Reading books is NOT the same as creating a bookclub. Even if the kid did a book club, wording the EC like that is incredibly stupid - and it sounds terrible. It’s also impossible to tell what the kid did exactly. Read, lead, recruit, etc.

[Anonymous]

Weighing in here. So many of these EC lists today sound robotic (e.g., lead with verbs, show impact, detail, and quantify everything) because of all of these college counselor influencers/ TikTok-types that everyone now has access to. Same with the AI-generated EC list prompts which can generate these descriptions (e.g., there are two companies that come to mind).

Today, the very best EC lists actually stand out by doing none of these things. It's not about doing it the way everyone does it anymore.

Hire a private college counselor - or, at a minimum, listen to Dean Coffin's podcast - to figure it out. It's not what you all think it is.

- private college counselor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you think even for a quirky hobby it should still somehow related to DC’s narratives? Like building a wild life habitat if you’re pursuing ecology major? Or tropical fish at home if the intended major is marine biology?

No, I wouldn't. That looks "over curated" - and could signal parental management, etc. Look on admityogi.com for how many successful kids do it.
Don't make it look like an adult resume.

Mine got nothing quirky.
Spent most free time on sports, gym, browsing.
Doodling and counting calories for every meal. But it’s pointless to list them.

art doodling? that's actually cool.
if so, i'd include that. encourage your kid to submit their art to local contests (links below).

Doodle Artist
Independent Art Practice
Create doodle art through free-form drawing sessions, exploring how wandering thoughts translate into visual stories, competing in local and national contests, like Red Bull Doodle Art, while encouraging others to embrace their own messy, imaginative creative side.

https://explorersagainstextinction.co.uk/initiatives/sketch-for-survival/sketch-for-survival-competition/
https://www.blackcatmke.com/news/red-bull-doodle-contest
https://doodles.google.com/d4g/

Stealing the doodling description for DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you think even for a quirky hobby it should still somehow related to DC’s narratives? Like building a wild life habitat if you’re pursuing ecology major? Or tropical fish at home if the intended major is marine biology?

No, I wouldn't. That looks "over curated" - and could signal parental management, etc. Look on admityogi.com for how many successful kids do it.
Don't make it look like an adult resume.

Mine got nothing quirky.
Spent most free time on sports, gym, browsing.
Doodling and counting calories for every meal. But it’s pointless to list them.

art doodling? that's actually cool.
if so, i'd include that. encourage your kid to submit their art to local contests (links below).

Doodle Artist
Independent Art Practice
Create doodle art through free-form drawing sessions, exploring how wandering thoughts translate into visual stories, competing in local and national contests, like Red Bull Doodle Art, while encouraging others to embrace their own messy, imaginative creative side.

https://explorersagainstextinction.co.uk/initiatives/sketch-for-survival/sketch-for-survival-competition/
https://www.blackcatmke.com/news/red-bull-doodle-contest
https://doodles.google.com/d4g/

This is satire, right?

Our college counselor suggested something similar for a niche non-EC long-term hobby (not doodling) but pretty uncommon. Instead of focusing on the act, the description focused more on the mental health benefits of the hobby.
I think it worked. At Ivy.

I don't think DS would have included if he'd written a supplemental about the hobby, though.

I really want to meet the kid whose doodling got him into an Ivy.

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of different ways a kid can add color and personality to their common app application. Mine used all 10 of the EC boxes for ECs as she had a lot of of them, but in her essays and supplements other aspects of her personal life, summer job, were referenced. There’s no one right or wrong way to do it, that’s the blessing and the curse of holistic admissions - different kids will be seen through different lenses.