question about listing group tutoring as an activity

[nolee]

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I've been tutoring a revolving group of immigrant students for free over the last year or so, but it wasn't with any outside organization or company -- I just organized the tutoring sessions privately. Would I be able to put this down for my activities? (In other words, how would they know I wasn't making things up?) Should I register my group with some nonprofit organization so we can have a more "official" standing? Thank you so much in advance, and hope you guys have a great night!

 

[Aerus]

I've been tutoring a revolving group of immigrant students for free over the last year or so, but it wasn't with any outside organization or company -- I just organized the tutoring sessions privately. Would I be able to put this down for my activities? (In other words, how would they know I wasn't making things up?) Should I register my group with some nonprofit organization so we can have a more "official" standing? Thank you so much in advance, and hope you guys have a great night!

I'm not 100% sure, but I think activities not associated with an organization can be listed as a "hobby".

Someone should confirm this.

 

[lobo.solo]

How did you start it?? Did you just ask random people on the streets? I think you can put it in your ECs, but you have to figure out how you can validate the activity. You can say you did some private tutoring.

 

[Moosepig]

Yes, how does one cite private tutoring?

 

[Catalystik]

I've been tutoring a revolving group of immigrant students for free over the last year or so, but it wasn't with any outside organization or company -- I just organized the tutoring sessions privately. Would I be able to put this down for my activities? (In other words, how would they know I wasn't making things up?) Should I register my group with some nonprofit organization so we can have a more "official" standing? Thank you so much in advance, and hope you guys have a great night!

How did you meet your tutees? Through an ethnic social group? Through a religious organization? Through advertising?

Where do you meet with them and how do you arrange for the space? Community Center. Local library. Local school?

Many of these would require that someone else be aware of the activity. If all else fails, as one option, you can use one of the tutees as your Contact on the application to validate the activity.

 

[nolee]

Thanks so much guys! They were actually just friends of family initially, but it kind of snowballed when more and more people came to join ... we had some sessions at a local park, and I'm sure there were other people there, but I have no idea who they were (and I'm sure they didn't know what we were doing either!)

Thanks Cat for your detailed response, you're always so knowledgeable! I might just have to use a tutee for my contact. Could I list this under volunteering, or would this only be a "hobby"?

 

[Catalystik]

Could I list this under volunteering, or would this only be a "hobby"?

To better answer your question, I'd ask you:

In what did you tutor them? Was there some measure for your success? For how many sessions did you tutor your most long-term participant? How old were they? How often did you meet? How were participants informed about a session? What would you guess the total hours were for your involvement? Were any of them family members?

 

[nolee]

To better answer your question, I'd ask you:

In what did you tutor them? Was there some measure for your success? For how many sessions did you tutor your most long-term participant? How old were they? How often did you meet? How were participants informed about a session? What would you guess the total hours were for your involvement? Were any of them family members?

I tutored them mainly in English, since they were immigrants and most were struggling with the language. Two of them received admissions to reasonably well-known universities, and nearly everybody improved re: their coursework. For the longest-term participant, it was about a year, so maybe 40 sessions or so? They were approximately 17-20. We met about 3 times a month. Total hours would be about 200. None of them were family members.

Thanks so much again for your help!

 

[Catalystik]

I think you'd be fine to list it in the nonmedical volunteer category, rather than as a hobby, if you'd prefer.

 

[Anathema]

Same position as you. I switched from official university tutoring to a private 1 on 1 with someone I had the semester before. I was told to do the same thing Catalystik mentioned.

 

[nolee]

Thanks so much Anathema and Cat! That sounds like what I'll be doing as well. Glad that I can at least put it under volunteering--thank you again guys!

 

[Catalystik]

We're happy to help.

 

[anon3]

List down whatever activities you found meaningful and let the adcoms sort out whether or not they agree. How do they know you're not making **** up? They could always ask for names and contact info on your students. Adcoms scare applicants to the point that moral honest people, the vast majority, are afraid to put down legit activities because adcoms seem to think scare tactics are a deterrent to dishonest people . A real deterrent would be if they actually did verify apps but they'll never admit they don't so its a non-starter.

Real world examples that they don't are that a bunch of people get caught every year in high profile positions lying on their resume because the press or a stockholder did a simple background check (recently the yahoo ceo got caught with a simple degree verification lying about a Computer Science degree from Yale after being on the job for a couple months. Of course his lies passed through 2 decades in the industry with stops at ebay among other companies.)

Don't ever be scared about putting down legit activities.