Seahawks506

I gobble up fantasy football information and reports, during football season it almost becomes an unhealthy obsession.. I've been playing for 3 years, have become very good at it. I'm starting to do money leagues this year, none over $75 buy in but we'll see where that goes. This is quite obviously one of my passions, a lot of casual fans do it but I want to take it to the next level. I'm trying to figure out whether or not I'll be able to start a club for fantasy sports enthusiasts- I could care less about admissions, it's not a big deal anyways- and have gotten a spot as a writer on a fantasy sports website. From this, I hope to gain more knowledge and experience and maybe work up to a larger website.

Then there's piano, I have actually taken lessons for 11 years now, I used to be pretty competitive but lost interest this year and quit lessons. However, I've picked up a few songs and played some sheet music from pop songs so I just play casually.

Sally, do you think there's some way my former piano teacher could write a rec about me? He always says I was one of his most talented students (and means it!) , and he knows me really well being with me for over 10 years.

jasung

I'm pretty embarrassed to admit this... I've played Counter-Strike for prize money competitively in official leagues with various teams I had both formed and joined. Was even once invited to play in Peru, had sponsors, etc. Had daily practices and matches late nights/early mornings on school nights. (Quite difficult to balance both schoolwork ...eventually leading to me quitting during my Junior year)

I doubt that I will add this to my application as it would be difficult for me to portray sincerity without being quickly judged as a "just a gamer"

piftw

When I applied to colleges I put that I've participated in NaNoWriMo since sophomore year. It pretty much takes up all my free time in November so I thought it was worthy.

decrescendo

Mrs. Rubenstone - I mainly read Dickens, Twain, Shakespeare, and poets like TS Eliot, William Blake, and Walt Whitman. Obviously, that's quite spread out. So how would I put that down as an EC other than simply stating "reading"?

smellyharbour

Erm..do any of these count?

Pleasure swimming
Hiking - including stream hiking, night hiking
Hha read Georgette Heyer like crazy
I watch movies in different languages to try and pick up phrases. I have so far tried french, spanish, korean, mandarin, cantonese, tagalog, telugu, tamil and hindi. But mostly mandarin/korean, telugu, tamil and hindi and have suceeded in teaching myself fluent Hindi and I can understand Tamil now.

Ok this is not really an EC but I spend a lot of time interacting with my family who live back in my home country. It was a choice I made, which might have kept me from summer internships and the like. But I'm so close to them, I feel it's important to spend family time. Obviously I won't be putting all this in my app but felt like getting it out here

Euroazn

Anybody have a good idea on how to put a self study on? I studied finance, from Fundamentals Investing by the likes of Graham (Security Analysis,Intelligent Investor) to more Modern Portfolio Theory stuff (Bernstein) to even Mathematical Finance (Stochastic Calculus for Finance by Steven Shreve!)

annbet

Would these count?
One of my favorite hobbies is gardening. I like to water my plants and take care of them. In fact, I am the official family gardener. I also like to read up on different types of plants that I would like in my garden. (I volunteer at a botanical garden too, so I guess there would be some kind of correlation?)
I also like to design and build little contraceptions and trinkets. I have several notebooks full of my drawings and such.
How much would adding these "hidden extracurriculars" help in the admissions process?

moonchild

Both of my kids listed some of their hobbies and interests on their activities list under a category they created called......Hobbies and Interests. I believe they added it at the end on the common app. Many of the things that you all are mentioning seem to fit in that category, and there's no reason not to mention them if you have room on the app, especially if they are still a strong interest that you might continue in college. I think some of these activities show more about your personality and the type of diversity you might bring to the college than the common school-related ones that everyone does. I also believe that anything that shows a bit of creativity and originality is a good thing, as well as showing that you are doing these things truly for yourself- an honest passion- and not because it might look good to colleges.

annbet- the fact that you love to garden and have developed this interest over time makes your volunteer work at the botanical garden so much more meaningful!
And decrescendo- You're reading the classics! Showing a passion for this, and yes, you could mention a few authors and perhaps how much time you estimate you spend reading, is certainly a legitimate EC.
As is hiking, but try to be specific about the type and amount, smellyharbor. My son listed hiking, but he and his dad have hiked in the Grand Canyon every year during the week of spring break since he was ten. He knows the canyon intimately and I believe he wrote an essay about it.
All of these self-generated ECs can offer wonderful insights into the kind of person you are. I say go for it.

Perididdle

Piftw - I also put NaNoWriMo down. It's definitely worthy, I think, especially if you do it consecutive years.

I put all sorts of other hobbies down on my common app resume, which I uploaded as one of those "extra" documents. I put down horseback riding, which I've not done competitively for years, but takes up a large amount of my time, as well as pottery classes I took for fun. I do some knitting and sewing for friends, and that was put down, too. I also used to do a lot of digital art, through photomanipulation - I was "staff" (no pay, no real standing) at a lot of sites run by teens/young adults that turned out character images for online RPGs. It was never something I talked about much with my friends/teachers because for a long time I thought it was just silly fun, but when I polished it up, it looked REALLY good on a resume.

I also work as an unpaid moderator on a large online game, which also seemed like a silly side activity. My counselor encouraged me to put it down, and again, it polished up really well.

Point being, basically, the OP's point...brainstorm about some of your favorite things, and see how they look on paper! They might surprise you.

ZuhdiwOw

I read a lot of Arabic poetry.

spt.leonidas

I read all the hindu epic poems and John Grisham Novels and I self studied World and European History... I was afraid to put this on my app but I am soo glad I found this thread! Worth putting down? =)

Protagonizer

Would fire-breathing count?
I never learned it through "formal" instruction but sort of started through a really informal crash course at Burning Man a few years back. Any way I can work this in? =X

Seahawks506

^that would be crazy for a supplemental video, i know some schools have a thing where you have a 1 minute little video but I don't know what schools.

Saugus

What about 12,000 posts on a basketball forum?

highachiever793

hahaha fire breathing. why not? It will definitely be interesting. But colleges might be a bit skeptical. No clue why. But be prepared to meet with admission directors to prove your skills just in case. :-)