Family Responsibilities

Answered

Hi @user5674

Thanks for asking this question.

Pet care of a cat or dog or hamster or turtle or fish are time consuming just like any other chore you have to do at home whether it's laundry, mowing the lawn or meal preparation. But they do not constitute an extracurricular on a college application. 85 million households in the US own a pet and that is 2/3rd of all household in the US. I think most colleges would agree that taking care of a pet is just part of family life and doing chores. You wouldn't put down pool cleaning, car washing, bathroom cleaning, leaf raking or window washing as an EC unless you did this as a business to earn money on the side like having 50 clients in your neighborhood and you mow their lawns once a week.

Once exception I can see which cross-overs into pet care is if you are an equestrian or ride horses competitively in rodeos. Then your EC would be a mix of either being a horse-jumper, dressage performer, rodeo barrel racer and having to take care of your horse which is more complicated than walking the dog and feeding them their favorite bowl of kibble. Owning a horse and riding takes a considerable amount of time, dedication and effort. The same thing would be true if you were an amateur Dog Sled Racer in Alaska and had to take care of 12 dogs and participate in 1000 mile races.

I hope this helps you make the distinction between what qualifies as an EC versus a basic household chore.

Good luck.