What exactly counts as EC

Jerz has it right. ECs are about showing how well rounded you are. They don't have to be community service, but it's a plus.

A lot of people struggle with ECs, I know I did, but it is a very broad category. You want to convey to the adcom about who you are. I think everyone has ECs, but they're not always easy to identify.

It's always nice to describe your EC and show how important it is to you.

The most obvious is something like community service, but it can include:

- hobbies: lets say your really into cars, maybe you bought an old beater and spent hours working on it?
- academic interests outside your degree: maybe an interest in the classic literature or the history of a specific region or culture?
- sports are a good one! Maybe you've been involved in tennis since your were a kid. You don't have to be a state champion (although that helps), just show that you've got interests other than going to b-school

RF

I was just going through the Kellogg EC listing and I was starting to wonder about what to list as well -- in my mind when I think "EC" I end up at "team sport" or "community organization."

As I think about it more though, my guess is that the AdComs just want to get a sense of how you spend your free time. Do other members agree? I'm definitely going to mention my [fairly serious] photography hobby, but now I'm wondering if I list my reading interests or something else similar as well. To be honest I don't have a ton of ECs for all of the typical reasons, but leaving a bunch of blank spots on the application is killing me.

Obviously I want to be cautious and not sound like a complete hermit ("all I do at night is read, take photos, and play with my six cats..."), but at the same time I don't want to leave the AdCom to fill in the blanks on their own, if that makes sense.

What do you think?

p.s. I don't really have any cats. Just so we're all clear.

IMHO ECs should have a slightly formalized and active component to them. I think this is a gray area and varies from situation to situation.
But I would be very surprised to see B Schools accept reading as an EC. It's too passive.
I think unless you belong to or started some kind of reading club, (maybe even online? or maybe you're one of the top reviewers on Amazon?) I just don't see how you can list it. The apps ask question for each activity like "describe your engagement" or "what has been your most significant accomplishment"...

Same with photog but possibly easier to find ways to justify it. Maybe online community presence or local clubs that go on field trips?

Otherwise I mean anyone could just write anything.
I love watching movies. And TV. And I read a lot online. I probably spend most of my non-work day doing this ( ), but I highly doubt I could list any of these.

This may be in the same light as above, but as far as EC's in college (specifically the section on Kellogg's app) do you think paid, on-campus work could be included in this section as long as I make sure to say I was paid for it? I was highly involved in the campus recreation dept during my time in college (and this is pretty important for the theme of my application), but I was paid. It doesn't really fit in anywhere else in my app and I want to make sure I'm able to include it somewhere. Any insight is much appreciated

Tricky one but I would include it so long as you were completely honest so they could evaluate it in that context.

If it's something you are passionate about and not career orientated , then sure.

To give another fictive example, if you write short novels / a column / articles in a newspaper in your free time while you're a consultant, that IMO counts as an EC activity.

As people mentioned, it's just to see whether you're a sad sod only interested in work and career, or if you actually have something else to talk about or that you care enough about to get involved - to put it in blunt words.