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Commute time count as activity time?


daijobu
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I've read that when estimating the time spent on various extracurriculars, we should include the time spent commuting.   That just doesn't seem right to me.   I would definitely include preparing for the activity, but I'm not sure about including the commute.  What do you say?  

 

 

 

"When you are counting time spent, remember to keep track of the following:

Preparation for the activity
Commute time
Actual time spent in activity"

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For credits: I only counted student time of actual activity towards credits.

 

Unless time was spent by the student studying during the commute by bus or while someone else was driving, I personally would not count commuting hours, as they do not contribute to actual learning. For me, things that count towards a credit include hours spent on: in-class or video instruction, reading of texts/materials, study for tests/quizzes, time spent on research and writing of papers / creation of presentations or projects, educational field trips, practice of material learned, etc.

 

I did not count towards a credit the student's preparation time either -- as in: time spent assembling books and supplies from their storage spot to the work space; sharpening pencils; purchasing of texts; logging onto website for outsourced class; etc. Nor did I count any of my time towards a student's credit -- my time spent in planning, researching, grading, mentoring, signing up/paying for outsourced class, etc.

 

For extracurricular activities: I did not count commuting. Nor did I count time spent in preparation for the activity, as in: student changing into sporting attire, buying sporting equipment, or registering / signing up / paying for for extracurricular activity. Yes, I would count the following towards preparation time: stretching out and warm up exercises for a sport, or similar theater or music or art preparations, such as rehearsals, practices, lessons, etc.

 

I will now go look at your link and see how far off I am from what I mean by preparation, and what the linked article says. ;)

Edited by Lori D.
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Unless the student is actually engaging in the activity while commuting, I would not count it as part of the activity. So listening to a lecture or audiobook on American history can count towards hours in American History, but sitting in a car on the way to the pool does not count as "swimming." I think that's absurd.

 

I also think that blogger pulled the figure of "one-third" (as the weight for ECs) out of a hat. At some schools ECs may count for `nothing and at others, where half the applicants may have perfect SAT scores and 8-10 APs, really impressive ECs may be 100% of the difference between two candidates. Implying that all colleges count academics for 2/3 and ECs for 1/3 is doing a disservice to parents. And suggesting that students pad their hours with time spent sitting in a car on the way to activities is (IMHO) kind of unethical.

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Wow. Ridiculous imho. You could turn a half-credit elective into a 1 credit elective just by having to travel farther?! 

 

I agree with that idea being unethical. Colleges might reasonably expect that a very minimal amount of a credit was spent in "wasted" time such as travel or waiting for something, but should be able to expect that by far, the majority of the credit earned was actually doing the activity/class stated. Telling people to actually COUNT travel time towards a credit is ludicrous though. If a person needs to count the travel time, perhaps that person should ask themselves why they want to count this activity for credit instead of just putting it under extra-curriculars. 

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And to be clear, I don't mean including commute time driving to CC for course credit.  I mean when they ask how many hours a week you spend on an extracurricular activity.  Not that it matters.  I'm glad I'm not the  only one who is uncomfortable with including commute time.  (I asked because I feel like I've heard this twice now, but I can only find one source, the blog post linked above, plus a sometimes snarky thread on CC.)  

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Oops! I think that was me who contributed to the mistaken idea that the article was discussing commuting as counting toward credit -- now that I've read the article -- and re-read the original post --both are just talking about extracurricular activities. Sorry daijobu!   :blushing:

 

However, my opinion remains that I would not count commuting. The only way I can picture that counting is if driving IS part of the extracurricular -- driver's ed, or delivering Meals on Wheels, or driving/helping the elderly with errands, or...

 

And perhaps I'm splitting hairs here, but I think it would be very clear as to what "preparation" for the activity should be included, and what should not. Preparing food in advance of serving it at a community service event is obviously part of the activity. Changing out of your regular clothing into sports wear is preparation time I would NOT count.

 

This article reminds me of how overly-zealous we all are in 8th grade when we're looking ahead to high school and wondering how on earth we'll accomplish "all of those credits!" -- and we start listing every little thing our student does to count towards a credit. ;) It's not until somewhere along in 10th grade where we can see we'll have plenty of legit credits, with no need to hyper-count everything. ;)

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Okay, I found the original article (really a Reddit post so there you go).  I still don't agree.  

 

"Do you travel a long distance to practices? Count that time. Last year I worked with a national figure skater who told me she only practiced something like ~15 hours a week, so we put 15 hours/week on her activities list. Later, I learned she traveled FOUR HOURS round-trip EACH DAY for practice. What an oversight not to include that time in her hours/week calculations! Luckily, she hadn't submitted yet and we included that time into her activities list. Travel to tournaments every weekend? Count that time.

"Let's say you traveled to Nepal to volunteer. Count the flight time, but don't count sightseeing and sleeping time.

 

"Let's say twice a year you travel to national debate tournaments, accumulating tons of extra time. However, during the regular season you don't do a lot of traveling, so your hours/week is much less than those two weeks in question. Let's say you compete 8 weeks. 6 of those weeks have 5 hours/week commitments, and 2 of those weeks have 30 hours/week commitments. (6x5) + (2x30) = 90 hours. Divide 90 by 8 and you get ~11 hours. Write down that you have an 11 hours/week commitment, but include in your description something like "Attended 2 time-intensive tournaments" to convey that you incorporated those huge time commitments into your hours/week averages."

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Okay, I found the original article (really a Reddit post so there you go).  I still don't agree.  

 

"Do you travel a long distance to practices? Count that time. Last year I worked with a national figure skater who told me she only practiced something like ~15 hours a week, so we put 15 hours/week on her activities list. Later, I learned she traveled FOUR HOURS round-trip EACH DAY for practice. 

 

 

Right. I don't agree either. That said, if the kid spent a lot of time traveling like that example there, I'd probably make sure that gets mentioned in an essay or guidance counselor letter as a showing exceptional motivation kind of thing. 

 

Not that I know much about admissions. 

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Okay, I found the original article (really a Reddit post so there you go).  I still don't agree.  

 

"Do you travel a long distance to practices? Count that time. Last year I worked with a national figure skater who told me she only practiced something like ~15 hours a week, so we put 15 hours/week on her activities list. Later, I learned she traveled FOUR HOURS round-trip EACH DAY for practice. What an oversight not to include that time in her hours/week calculations! Luckily, she hadn't submitted yet and we included that time into her activities list. Travel to tournaments every weekend? Count that time.

"Let's say you traveled to Nepal to volunteer. Count the flight time, but don't count sightseeing and sleeping time.

 

"Let's say twice a year you travel to national debate tournaments, accumulating tons of extra time. However, during the regular season you don't do a lot of traveling, so your hours/week is much less than those two weeks in question. Let's say you compete 8 weeks. 6 of those weeks have 5 hours/week commitments, and 2 of those weeks have 30 hours/week commitments. (6x5) + (2x30) = 90 hours. Divide 90 by 8 and you get ~11 hours. Write down that you have an 11 hours/week commitment, but include in your description something like "Attended 2 time-intensive tournaments" to convey that you incorporated those huge time commitments into your hours/week averages."

 

I think that's terrible advice! Claiming to spend 35 hours/wk "skating," when 20 of those hours are spent sitting in a car is just plain dishonest, as is counting time spent watching movies (or sleeping) on an airplane as "volunteer hours." 

 

I only listed the hours for DS's actual classes and competitions and would never have counted travel time; last year alone "travel time" to 5 national and 4 international competitions could have added about 250 hours! That's just ridiculous — sitting in airports, on planes, and in taxis is not a "sport."

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I personally think that is just nuts.  My kid does musical stuff that I know kids travel HOURS for every week.  And that said, we very intentionally chose our home for shorter commutes.  With it's higher home prices and higher property taxes.  Should we be rewarded for that?  :lol:   It makes about as much sense to me.  I do think in the context of an essay it could be meaningful to mention in terms of dedication to an activity.  But in general, to me it just says more about where you decided to live over a particular level of dedication.  I don't feel my kid who is driving less than 20 minutes to his auditioned vocal performance ensemble is less dedicated than the girl traveling 2+ hours.  And over time, that gives him more time for practice and other related pursuits. 

Edited by WoolySocks
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