Hello all,
At the start of my sophomore year my father decided to get his doctorate in IT management by taking online courses. The courses involve a lot of writing but my father is an immigrant so his ability to write large essays in English is not that good. He has all of the technical knowledge in the field, he just cannot write well. I have lived in the U.S. my entire life so I have a better grasp on English than he does. I have been helping him everyday for the past two years by proofreading his assignments ,which are usually twelve pages long, and clarifying what assignments are asking of him. This usually takes about an hour or more of work a day and I do this on top of having to work on my own homework and other extracurriculars. Also I plan on being a major in a computer related field and IT management is that field so I have learned a lot of helpful information computers and networking simply by reading over and proofreading my dad’s essay. Can I list helping my dad as an extracurricular since I learn from it and it takes a fair amount of time from my day? If I can’t is there a place where I can mention it on my application so the admissions officials know about it? I am mainly concerned if the University of California system will accept it as an extracurrrcular since I want to go to a school in that system.
You are providing editing services to a no -native speaker. You do this as a volunteer approximately 7 hours per week for 40 hours per year (unless your dad is paying you, in which case it’s a part-time job). You do NOT need to explain who you provide this service to unless you are specifically asked.
If you were doing this for someone who was not your relative (for example, your neighbor), you wouldnt think twice about adding it as an activity. I can’t see any reason why you can’t - or shouldnt - list it.
Thank you for replying to my post! When I list the activity name on my application I should put something along the lines of “editing/proofreading” and then talk about how I help make sure the grammar is correct in essays etc. in the description box? Also would it be a good idea to mention that I’m helping my dad or to just keep it vague?
You realize that this would be a terrific essay topic? The fact that you are helping your dad this way and what you’ve gotten out of it could make interesting reading. Or as janjmom says, you can just indicated that you provide editing services xhr/wk to a non-native speaker (but I wouldn’t be coy about not mentioning your Dad. It really doesn’t detract.)
Lots of kids with non-English speaking parents have to intermediate from an early age. It requires you to be more independent and self-reliant than is typically the case. (And I think the example he is setting is pretty impressive. Having technical expertise but needing to get the credential and language skills while taking care of a family requires great determination.) The UC system is very familiar with kids in your situation.