ExtracurricularsAnswered
I play chess as a hobby. I was able to receive rating of 2059 on lichess website(95th percentile). Should I report it as one of the extracurriculars? What will be strength of this extracurricular according to scale collegevine uses?
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5 answers
It would definitely benefit you to put your experience on your activities list! As others have said, it is a Tier 3 activity. If you win an official chess tournament, that would be a Tier 2 activity if you played at the state/regional level. Winning a national or international tournament would be a Tier 1 accomplishment. Hope this helps!
Sure. Chess is an extracurricular activity and you draw an advantage when it comes to your records.
It is somewhat worth including if it's an activity really important to you, but don't feel the need to include it as "Activity #8" on Common App. It's not something that'll impress colleges generally, but it can further flesh your application out a bit.
I think I would personally see whether there's a nice writing supplement prompt, which I could base around my love for chess, or maybe even write your Common App essay about it!
Also, forget about the CollegeVine strength scale. It is made-up nonsense. (Sorry CollegeVine devs. You tried your best with it, and it's not a bad system I have to admit.) Your application will be read in its entirety by a human being, so you don't have to care about what score CollegeVine would assign to it. If I had to CollegeVine-tier it though, I'd say it's somewhere on tier 3.
Hi @Kingslayer,
Being a 2000+ chess player is something impressive however like there is grade inflation in many high schools, a 4.0 GPA is kind of meaningless without the context of course rigor, APs or IBs taken, test scores, and intellectual vitality.
In the chess world, there are many kinds of players, strictly online hobbyists and people that go to chess tournaments and do this seriously.
If you had a 2059 in the USCF or ELO rating system used by FIDE or US Chess Federation, and you played in person tournaments, that would make your rating more credible. I know that on chess24 and lichess can play 1500 level players no problem but it I go to chess.com, sometimes the 1000 ranked player squishes me like a bug.
I don't know what a 2059 player's real ranking is in real life but maybe you should figure that out. I wouldn't brag to much about this on a college app because there are plenty of real life chess champions that have legit credentials. I do not think this worthy of a Tier 1 rating on CollegeVine. Maybe Tier 2.
I think it depends on the level and type of online play. Are you in an online league? Have you participate in online competitions? I think online hobbies can work because of COVID limiting in person opportunities. I would suggest seeing if you can locate online leagues or competitions where you can show participation.
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Sure. Chess is an extracurricular activity and you draw an advantage when it comes to your records. redactle unlimited