<p>Hi, I'm a senior who will be applying in the fall and I have been weighing a few approaches as far as the common app is concerned.</p>
<p>The most interesting thing about me, and what I dedicate the most of my time to, is something called pen spinning. I'm wondering if it would work against me to put this as my top extracurricular activity, or if I should stick with something more standard/professional. I've been heavily involved in the penspinning community since I fell in love with it in the 7th grade. I organized the first local gatherings, bringing spinners from the saint louis area together to meet and share ideas, and am heavily involved as a part of staff and as a researcher in the online community.</p>
<p>It's something I do with my personal time and has had a great impact on my life. My essay would tie in as well showing the importance of object manipulation in my life.</p>
<p>My main concern is the fact that the community of pen spinners is so cliche and unknown it may detract from the overall strength of my extra curriculars and seem a bit childish. Leaving the person skimming my application a bit confused. </p>
<p>Also, there is not a lot of good information out there about my interest, I heard about people doing Rubik's Cubing and other such things for their essay, but what about when it comes to Pen Spinning? It'd seem kind of clumsy to have to explain it all (given the character limit) and I do have other strong extra curriculars. If some admissions officers don't know some acronyms, I can't really expect them to know what pen spinning is. I'd feel a bit silly adding it in there only to have an admissions officer go what's pen spinning? and skip over it... I'm just not sure if this is a good idea.</p>
<p>Here is what I have written as the extra curricular description. Under other.</p>
<p>"Universal Pen Spinning Board staff and researcher.</p>
<p>Community for contact juggling and manipulative arts. Local gathering organizer. Tournament judge."</p>
<p>Any advice?</p>