High School extra curricular activities and applying to college question...

[Trina in TX]

I am a bit nervous after going on the college confidential (I hope that's the name) website I saw mentioned here. On the match me part of the website the students had so many extra curricular activities. How do they do that many outside activities and still have time for a family life? It really made me worry about our high school activities. We divide our time between two homes because of my husband's work which makes it difficult to be involved in team sports and other activities. Right now the only thing we do is piano, and we have a hard time making it to that lesson once a week.

 

My question is, am I hurting my son's chances of being accepted a good university by not having a ton of extra curricular activities, clubs, and volunteer positions to put on his application? How do you handle this in your homeschool?

 

Thanks so much,

 

Trina

[Michelle in GA]

From what I understand, colleges are more interested in students who have shown passion and have followed through to some sort of acheivement in one area, rather than students who are spread "a mile wide and an inch deep" with loads of activities. My ds had just one extra curricular activity at college application time-Boy Scouts. He did make Eagle, which showed a several year commitment. His other hobbies were academic related-computer programming,web design, and networking. Those were all on his transcript, in fact, there was a section on all of his applications to list all electives that were academic in nature. The Congressional Award is a great alternative to Eagle Scout. If you do a search you can read all about it. It is wonderful, nationally recognized award.

[Trina in TX]

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[Trina in TX]

I won't let my one experience discourage me from reading CC, I know there must be a ton of valuable information there. My son is going into 9th grade next year, and the high school panic attacks come every now and then! I am so thankful for the great advice on this board from everyone who has already experienced the high school years.

 

Trina

[Anne/Ankara]

I hope I'm right in steering my kids to develop some expertise in a few select areas that they already enjoy, and could become quite accomplished in if they continue doing extra-curriculuar activities in that field. For us that would be things like music, writing, science. I think many high schools might offer things like "French Club" or "Leadership" or "Future Business People" clubs, but it is what the student makes of it that should count.

 

Also, since homeschoolers are already kind of unique, maybe develop an expertise in an extra-curriculuar area that is quite unusual-- kayak making (didn't someone here have a son who hand-made his own kayak?), or whatever. For us, that might be Anatolian History (family background) or something like that...

[Rachel]

are to go to MIT or CIT so he needs to have a very good "resume'" for college.

He is not involved in lots of outside activities, but what he does do he has done for years and has shown passion for those areas.

 

All I've heard is that THAT matters more than quantity........quality over quantity!

 

He has almost 10 years in theatre, 7 years of community service, 7 years of writing comic books

 

The other thing is that not everything has to be organized activities. My son writes comic books and he can show progression over the years by keeping a diary of his work and work being published. There are ways to document extra-curricular activities if they are not in organization form.

[mcconnellboys]

I have serious questions about how children can actually eat, get enough sleep, do their school work (although hours might be more flexible with homeschooling), AND be involved in multiple activities to any depth. I can't see how there are enough hours in the day to do that.

 

For instance, my older son gets up at 6:30 a.m., leaves for school about 7:10, gets out of school by about 3:20-3:30 and I take him straight to swimming with his year-round swim team. His practice lasts until 7:00 two days, and until 6:30 on two days. He gets home, therefore, between 7-7:30 each evening. He eats, showers, and does his homework. He then gets into bed most nights by 11:00 to midnight. He generally swims for 3 hours of practice on Saturday mornings. Some weekends involve swim meets. During high school swim season, he also has Sunday evening practices and Wednesday evening meets, which last longer than his normal practices would on that night (sometimes other days, too).

 

HOW do I fit in anything else? When he started this past fall, he tried to do Ultimate for a while, and was good enough for the varsity team, but could not attend full practices due to the conflicts with swim practice and as darkness came earlier and earlier, and they moved practice earlier, he had to completely quit practice and therefore the team....

 

Every single sport, club and other activity is right after school, ALL at the same times. It seems to me that you can only choose one thing to do.... This son is also very much into drama and wanted to try to join a play, but he can't, as practices are also right after school.... He wanted to join a jazz guitar group, but can't - as guess when they meet?

 

And it's not just his school that schedules in this way. All the outside activities for things like 4-H, Y Teens, library teens, etc. are also at these times....

 

So I don't know how other people manage to be able to join things. Is our town the only one that schedules all teen activities simultaneously between school let-out and and 7 p.m.?

 

How do I show his involvement in areas of interest? Does taking 'drama class' count as involvement in drama? He is doing that this semester. And he will be involved in summer theatre camps and interning with our children's theatre, as well. Is year round involvement in areas of interest required? Or is it sufficient to fit things in where you can?

 

He took guitar lessons all last year, but hasn't been able to get into lessons or any sort of group activity related to guitar this year because of this schedule. If we can finally get him fit back into lessons on Friday afternoons (his one free afternoon), is that sufficient?

 

I'm beginning to think that we're not going to be able to get him into college because we can't seem to figure out how to do all these things that so many others seem to be able to do.....

 

And I'm also beginning to feel that everyone else in the world is "captain", "president" or in some other leadership position of whatever they do, as it's not even enough just to be involved, but now one must also be uber-involved.... So, if my son swims year round, but isn't an olympic quality swimmer or winner of multiple state level awards each year; if he plays guitar, but isn't a virtuoso performer capable of playing with an orchestra somewhere; if he's involved with drama but doesn't have professional performances under his belt, does that mean that we now fall into being consigned to some sort of second-class citizenship in which he's not allowed to move on to college? or has to settle for some minimal quality college because he's not "good enough" to go to school with the superstars? I just don't understand all this business..... HELP!

 

I'm very depressed about all this (as I'm sure you can see, sorry),

 

Regena

[NancyL]

Regena--a High school boy who likes swimming and goes to all the practices is really a jewel. Swimming is getting so female intensive in high school that I think it really is rare to find a male for a change! The problem is that if he wants to swim in college then there aren't as many men's programs. We live on the West Coast and the other parents lamented the fact that there were fewer spots for the average male swimmer out west-(forget CA-they recruit all over the world)-more in smaller midwest colleges, or you had to go all the way to the east coast. (I think the parents wanted to be able to watch him swim~) You know, the parents suffer withdrawal I believe because the swimming is so parent intensive.

 

Don't worry- swimmers are considered "crown jewels" no matter what their level if they have been doing USS for several years. Many applications have an area for 'hours per week" for each activity. My daughter's swimming was about 25 hours per week with the running and weight training. (FYI-clubs at school are 1/2 hour once or twice per week) Most of her friends that were swimmers had zero other activities, and several are at IVY league schools. As she was home schooled she also did the volunteering, and had a horse her last 2 years of high school. (it wasn't easy, even with hs'ing) I have heard administrators say that swimmers are rare indeed because they are in a sport with little glory but lots of work, and they usually have a wonderful work ethic. You will also get lots of unsolicited info from colleges to try different sports--like crew for example. We know some swimmers that have gone right to college crew teams, because their conditioning is so good. (they were at Div 1 schools and weren't fast enough to swim, but could row) If you have any desire to go where fitness counts-like ROTC or a SA, the swimmers score so high that it helps their overall score.

Some opportunities can be volunteering through the club program (our seniors usually help with concessions at our hosted meets for the youngers) or even being a delegate to the parent-coach board. You could talk to the coach about some other "leadership opportunites" -designing the TShirts, or other things common to the swim team process. I have gotten feedback that in general the coaches really like the homeschool kids so they might help out. Also they will be able to write your letters of Rec, which are extremely important, also. But just think how much better the Rec will be because the coach has known them for longer. (FYI for homeschoolers there is some leeway on who the Rec's come from allowing you to choose other people than just a PS teacher, which is nice, I think) Please don't worry. My daughter's a junior in college now, but I remember all the scholarships she got--they love good test scores, (grades) but all those hours in the pool will pay off, even if they don't want to continue. All of her friends had many many college opportunities, or scholarships, at top schools, and none are even National Qualifiers. (her relay came close--.01 second--booo.) Also you can play up the relay aspect--shows team work. I felt bad reading your letter, because I remember those days, wondering how it's all going to turn out, so I had to respond. I tell people that I more than paid for all her swimming tuition by her college opportunities. (I didn't plan it that way--she just had so much energy she drove us nuts when she didn't swim!!!)

 

Now my other one likes tennis. You should have seen the look on this other mother's face, who said she has a very good job as a computer engineer--when another mother told her that "No good tennis players go to school!" It's too hard to get courts, coaching etc, to waste time in school. (In my opinion that's really not a healthy reason to homeschool.) Oh well, Chin up-pm me if you need to, I can give you some other ideas if you need for resume building....

[Rachel]

that not everyone can be a captain.......so out of every captain for a team there are dozens of "members" that DO get into college. Yes, leadership skills are great.........but even more than that is passion and tenacity.

 

The only way I know of parents who have their kids involved in anything and everything is that their whole life is spent on the road. I believe it takes a toll on kids and that they aren't really all that happy. Now, I know I'll get someone who writes that their kid does it all and they are happy and want to do it all........I'm just saying that I don't buy it. Maybe I'm wrong, but for me I would rather my kids have a chance to be kids, learn that rest is an important part of our lives, and that it is better to excel in one thing than be mediocre in lots of things.

 

Now about documenting activities.........I believe you can do things around the school year or as they come up, just keep a record of what they do.......I don't think its necessary to do things all year long for them to count. Swim Team only lasts for a season as do lots of sports.........so if he has an interest........write down when he does something of effort in it and keep a record........

[Kareni]

I have to admit that my teen having only minimal extra curricular activities has also been a concern of mine. In her defense, she has a full load at the community college as well as a couple of AP classes. She travels around by public transportation and getting from here to there usually takes about an hour each way.

 

Apart from volunteering at the public library, her other activities are done at home. Her interests are reading, writing, and art. We're keeping a list of all awards and publications she has to her credit even if they are of the county fair and small press type as they are proof of involvement in her interests.

 

Also, reading the College Confidential website can be truly be a daunting experience since so many of the posters seem to be such incredibly high achievers. Another website I prefer is AdmissionsAdvice.Com which you can locate at:

 

http://admissionsadvice.mywowbb.com/

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Trina in TX]

Thanks so much to all of you who have posted, you have really given me a lot to think about.

 

Your help is greatly appreciated.

 

Trina

[mcconnellboys]

Oh, I'm crying as I read this! THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!! I had no idea! You've made my year!

 

 

I can't WAIT to show this to my son!

 

Regena

[mcconnellboys]

Thanks! I am going to start trying to write down all the things that are related to his outside activities. I saw at the CC site that they actually have resumes that include elementary and middle school things in some cases, too. Since he's been involved in theatre since he was little, should I show all that, I wonder?

 

Regena

[mcconnellboys]

Thanks for that website! I did have trouble at the CC website,

 

Regena

[mcconnellboys]

Thanks for all the info!

 

Regena

[Rachel]

Kareni,

Thanks for posting the Admissions Advice site........I hadn't seen that one before.........very helpful without being so intimidating.

[Rachel]

on the General Forum board, but considering our conversation here I thought it was a great article for us to read..........

 

Less is More

[Beth in SW WA]

I'm not changing our plans to accommodate what a college MIGHT be expecting down the road. We know what God has called our family to do. Ds, 12, will get his leadership/ministry/community service skills at church. He co-teaches Sunday School (13 4 & 5 year-olds), is a leader in youth group, will help lead worship at church (due to his serious commitment to guitar). He volunteers at the Portland Rescue Mission.

 

These might not be valued highly by a secular admissions officer someday, but that is not our concern. I think kids "doing their passion" and being true to themselves is what will keep them fired up and passionate as adults in the real world.

[Trina in TX]

Beth,

 

Thanks for reminding me of that. A love of learning is what I am hoping to instill in my children from our homeschooling experience. Why would I try to come up with extra curricular things for them to participate in to fill in the blanks on a college app, when I should be encouraging them to do things that they love, and will continue to love when they are adults. I should be emphasizing quality and passion, not quantity and mediocrity.

 

I am going to help them figure out what these things are and go from there.

 

Thanks again,

 

Trina

[Paz]

At a homeschool conference I attended recently the speaker talked about what college admissions officers are looking for. Her point was that it was not necessary to do a lot of things but to do a few things very well. She encouraged us to follow our students' passions. She gave the example of her daughter who began taking French classes at her homeschool co-op. She took 2 years and loved learning French. When she took all the courses she could at the co-op she found an online tutor in Paris to teach her French III and IV. She was also an avid writer and took some of her writing samples to her college interview. She ended up with a five year scholarship to the school of her choice to pursue a special double-major program in languages.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Only in a few cases (military academies) does the child need to have the sports on top of church and Scouts. There's a mom on a highschool list I'm on--her ds looked great on paper, and had everything BUT sports--and he didn't get an Appointment. He's happy where he is now, but was mightily disappointed as a senior... I'd never push a child to do sports JUST to work towards that Appointment, but if I had a child who KNEW the academy route was what he wanted, I'd point it out... Ultimately, it would be his choice.

 

And even in this case, it doesn't have to be an organized, competitive team sport if there are other areas where the student can demonstrate leadership. For example, if I have a homeschooled candidate who takes high level courses and has leadership roles in scouts or church or 4H or some other group and for sport is involved in martial arts or weightlifting or running, there are lots of times that I would consider that. I would want them to be able to demonstrate rigor and improvement and time involved (a lifting or running log or describing a belt test and classes they assist with, for example). I had one great candidate who had had some swim team experience but also did bike races and swam the Ironman Triathalon in a junior division.

 

As a Blue and Gold Officer (Naval Academy admisions rep) I am looking for someone who can tell me about their leadership experiences in a clear and passionate way. There are plenty of kids with titles (club president or student govt) who can't describe anything that they've taken charge of or ways that they've driven along something they were passionate about. And there are kids who don't have the easily recognized titles who can tell me about their passions. In other words, don't just tell me you were president of the German Club, tell me how you lead people in that role. (And it is worth saying that some parts of the country are much more competitive for service academies than some other parts.)

 

But that is all in knowing about the type of college you are applying for. One of our friends is a senior who is looking at music schools. They demand auditions and in one case a complex application detailing experience with music production and recording studio time. I think that for a student with goals like his, it would have been counterproductive to spread himself thinly through multiple activities.

[Josie]

Great to hear this, Regena! Swimming is hard work and does require lots of discipline, and it is good to know the colleges recognize this. I have a budding swimmer and I can already tell it is going to take up a lot of our time.