<p>My kid was advised on what activities may look better on her college application. She picked the ones she liked to do, win/win. She was also very good at playing piano, played since she was 4 or 5. She ended up teaching few kids while we lived overseas. It gave her an opportunity to share her love of music with young kids who may not be able to afford it otherwise. We had a baby grand, so they used to like to play on it if nothing else. </p>
<p>Both of my kids are serious musicians. They don’t have much in other ECs as music takes so much time (3-4 hours each day 365 days a year) so they choose to use music for community services. They play as a pair in many senior centers, churches, and have quarterly appearances at a few places (scheduled a year in advance). I think these activities are meaningful, but stand alone, probably aren’t impressive on Common App. However, this, when combined with many other activities circling the same EC, most likely will make an applicant stand out. In my kid’s case, he attended summer music festivals, participated in competitions and won cash prizes, donated some of the prizes to support other kids’ with music lessons, collected “retired” instruments from friends and donated to schools, checked and “tuned” instruments for various places, … It’s amazing how many things a child can do if he/she truly loves music.</p>