I just submitted my EA apps yesterday so there isn’t much I can change now, but I want to make sure I don’t make the same mistake in the RD round. Basically, during the busiest part of my year (a two-month period), I have like 45 hours a week in total of activities spread between four activities, which I know sounds a bit outrageous. The activity that takes up the most hours is a family responsibility (babysitting), which is 17.5 hours a week (only on weekends). The other activities are 15 hours a week of a job all year round, 7 hours of Student Council for 34 weeks a year (I am the president, so I have to do most of the work), and stage manager for the school production 10 hours a week for 7 weeks of the year.
But the thing is, usually when I babysit I am multitasking so I’m also working on other things, like the other activities because they can be done on the computer. I was genuinely doing both at the same time (babysitting + one of the others), so I counted them as their own hours. I am unsure if I should specify that? Or maybe email the schools I already applied to to tell them?
If it helps, one of my recommenders talked about how much time I spend on StuCo a year and the other one talked about how he was impressed that I managed to balance StuCo + my job + stage managing throughout the school year. Neither of them talked about my babysitting thing though because it was a home thing so I never told them about it.
Not clear exactly what you mean. Do you mean that while you babysit, you also do your 15 hour a week job and student council? I don’t think you should double count those hours. Any student saying they have 45 hours a week of activity is going to raise eyebrows. I would email the rep at each college and clarify that.
Yes! SC and my job can mostly be done on the computer, so it’s easy to multitask.
Should I just subtract the hours I spent multitasking from the babysitting hours? Like email them explaining and clarifying that I spend like maybe 10 hours on babysitting alone not counting the 6 hours of multitasking? Would that make me seem a little bit suspicious?
It’s not the whole year, though, it’s only for two months because the school production only lasts that long. For the rest of the school year I have 31-35 hours and during the summer it’s like 27.
You should email the rep who will read your app, so probably whoever your regional rep is. Make the title “error on application, your name.” CC the general admissions email address. Just say you want to clarify the activities section of your app. Explain that you overestimated your hours and that much of the time spent babysitting is also given over to the other tasks. Specify them. Apologize for causing confusion, and state that you weren’t trying to exaggerate hours. Also clarify that stage crew is seasonal. In fact, you might prepare a revised activity sheet and attach it, asking them to please use it, rather than the one on the app. Thank them for their time on the matter. Hopefully you have not annoyed the rep.
Red flags should be avoided at all costs, so it is better to underestimate than over estimate. And to be clear, because I get that you are multitasking, you might say “babysitting- 12 hours a week. Job-8 hours a week. Pres. of SB- 6 hours a week.” Or however it breaks down. In other words, subtract time spent doing other activities from the babysitting. That looks realistic and you won’t win a prize for saying you babysit 18 hours a week instead of 12, or whatever it is.