From the article: Can Rubik's Cube and Other Quirky Passions Get You Into College?
College applicants should think of extracurricular activities in broad terms - they can encompass much more than band, drama club and student government. If you're involved in a creative, quirky or unusual extracurricular activity, please share your experiences with our readers. Describe Your Experiences
Sweepstakes
- I am a stay-at-home mom and housewife who recently reentered college online. In the last week or so, I have started "sweepstaking". Surfing the internet, finding sweepstakes and entering them. It is actually really fun. I don't really expect to win anything, but I can have fun trying. It doesn't matter what the sweepstake is for: cash, toiletries, cars, scholarships, trips. I just have fun entering them and hoping someday I may just win something.
- —Guest Krystal Scarbrough
Remodel Baby Dolls
- Okay, this is actually my moms weird hobby, but I couldn't resist posting it. She goes to thrift shops and finds dolls that are kind of beat up, takes them home, cleans them, puts new wigs on them, sometimes touches up the paint on their faces and fits them with new cloths. They look new when she's finished.
- —khayesrn
Volunteer Work
- I'm homeschooled (start college this fall) so a lot of traditional extracurricular activities aren't readily available to me. But one of my main extracurricular activities is connected to the local public school. I'm manager for the dance team. Last year I would hang out with them for after-school practice & just helping out a little (had friends on the team). Some members suggested I ask about being manager and after clearing it with the school I started volunteering there 3 times a week & at games. Also, some of my public school friends are required to do volunteer work outside school. I go along with one friend and do some of the same volunteer work she does. When I showed up at Goodwill they didn't know how to classify me because most of their volunteers were there because of forced community service or school requirements. They finally found a form that classified me as a "do-gooder" volunteer. That was funny. It all helped get me into my first choice of college.
- —Guest Lyla
Real World Experience
- When I was in high school I organized a group that would go out and spend a day shadowing some local business or organization. We went to a hospital emergency room, an orchestra, a bakery, a fire station and other places that we thought might be interesting as careers down the road.
- —Guest Judy
Needlework
- My passions was (and still is) needlework. I did speeches about it in high school and college, taught friends to stitch and wrote about it in my admissions essay. I got experience in public speaking, teaching, and mentoring. I actually use needlework skills in my current job too. I think it turned out to be a worthwhile niche activity!
- —Guest Connie G.
Music
- Okay, this isn't completely quirky, but my husband was obsessed with playing guitar all through high school. (Even on prom night, he decided he wasn't that into paying tons of money to go with a date he wasn't too excited about, so he stayed home with his main squeeze--his guitar!) Well, that guitar talent translated into college acceptance as well as several scholarships! Our son is now taking guitar lessons at age 9.
- —Guest Elizabeth369
Freebies
- Hi! After reading this article, it made me think of my "passion" of hunting for free things on the internet. I've done it on and off since I was ten, and I've had some minor successes. I got lots of toiletries, boxes and textbooks and novels, and free food. I've donated them to several charitable causes throughout the years, and at the beginning of this year, I consulted with one of the vice-principals at my school regarding creating a Freebie Club in which people would collect items based upon a monthly theme (ie, animals) and donate the collected goods to a chosen charity at the end of the month. She said it sounded solid, but that the school didn't want to pay overtime for a teacher to advise it, which is required at my school, and suggested that I join a club that had a similar goal. I did that, and presented a plan, which involves a charity I already volunteer at, to the club leader. She said it sounds good. Regarding niche-extracurriculars, am I on the right track? From, Sarah
- —sarahwinston2
