Thank you @MuggleMom and @Themommymommy One more question. If a volunteering activity is important to her for some personal reason will it be appropriate to try to fit it into this 150 characters sport? This is not something she wants to have her essay on.
@Ballerina2016 I am no expert and am guessing right along with you on how to advise my DD to fit the atypical sorts of activities into these little boxes. Did you run out of room on the activities section? that area seems like it would be an appropriate place to the list the volunteer activity. That section says it is for âReporting activities can help a college better understand your life outside of the classroom. Your activities may include arts, athletics, clubs, employment, personal commitments, and other pursuits. Do you have any activities that you wish to report?â Wouldnât volunteering count as a personal commitment or other pursuit?
I think personal commitments are more like babysitting siblings.
I need a little kick to finish my sonâs transcript. Heâs a homeschool student, with lots of DE credits, but I need to finish my side of it (as his main homeschool administrator). Weâve got everything else (test scores, DE transcripts from college which we order for the various places he plans to apply). Iâm having a mental block. Most of itâs done, I just need senior year plugged in, and then double check my numbers.
Sigh.
PS: I lost track of this thread many pages back and therefore I apologize for being a slacker parent in the parents of the Class of 2016 âclub.â Hopefully Iâll be around more frequently! Canât believe itâs here!
@Themommymommy She used all 10 spaces. Last 3 were combined activities. The problem she had with those grouped activities was that she did not know how to put leadership positions under positions/ leadership since they all are different.
@NYDad513 Here is a link to an amazing scholarship for writingâŠand your daughter would probably be a top candidate. My children tend to be the math and science nerdsâŠokay as writers but definitely not stellar! Your daughter has accomplished so much and has such amazing abilitiesâŠwhen I saw this I thought of her.
@ballerina2016, we were the same way, S just figured out a way to include it. Itâs funny because we thought HOBY and Boys State were so important and we now we are thinking of leaving them off for something else.
@mysondad Same here. DD is leaving HOBY and most likely NHS out. She has room on academic honors section since her school doesnât give any awards until the end of the senior year, but non of those left out are academic.
Hi @SouthFloridaMom9, and welcome back. Iâm a homeschooler too, though in my state we have many public âhomeschoolâ programs, and we are in one of thoseâŠso thereâs a âschoolâ technically, guidance counselor, etc.
Not sure what to think about excluding nonacademic awards in favor of academic awards. I keep wondering if after a while the accumulation of academic just becomes a blur and the reader ends up thinking ok ok we know you are smart, what else have you got going for you? So maybe highest award in each activity or area of academic interest? Again, I am just guessing right along with the rest of you on this.
@Themommymommy, I was thinking of suggesting to S that he put HOBY, Boys State and an academic recognition all on one line since he as used less than 150 characters.
On another note, found out S is an AP Scholar with Distinction (our school does not allow kids to take AP classes in 9th grade except for Spanish Speakers taking AP Spanish, and only 2 APâs are allowed in 10th grade, except for Spanish Speakers who are allowed 3), so now to figure out how to squeeze that in.
@4kids2graduate Thanks a lot. I will talk with my DD regarding the scholarship.
My daughterâs school does not give any academic or other recognitions until graduation. No National Honor Society. Number of AP courses students can take is very limited, so no AP related awards are possible. My daughterâs school culture is close to private schools even though it is public school.
Question to all. What type of awards belong to academic awards section? My understanding is that academic is a key word. So I would think Scholastic awards like @NYDad513 mentioned, AP awards, NMSF, school or academic competition awards if any. Is science Bowl award an academic award? What about Debate awards?What else belongs here?
When many of us were applying to colleges, the selective schools were looking for âwell-roundedâ kids who had participated and were accomplished in a wide variety of interests/activities. As best I can tell, thatâs no longer the case. I think that the selective schools are looking for kids who are somewhat well-rounded, i.e., not totally one-dimensional, but itâs more important to them that their students have distinguished themselves in one or two specific areas. Put another way, theyâre looking for kids who will bring a specific talent or skill or something to campus with them. That talent or skill or interest could be academic or non-academic, but I think that itâs important for kids who are applying to highly selective schools to make sure that their application reflects one or two aspects of college to which theyâll contribute. It could be sports, performing arts, community service, an academic talent (math, science, writing, etc.), speech and debate . . . you get the idea.
Reading some of the recent notes here I get a bit concerned that a common app that has every single line filled out with something may look like one big forest within which the few most important trees might get lost. Iâm certainly not saying to omit any significant activity or honor, but I might be a bit circumspect about including stuff thatâs relatively trivial or in reality not that important to your kid. Not only do you want your kidâs most important stuff to clearly shine through, but you also donât want your kid looking like one of those college-obsessed applicants who felt that high school meant being able to check off every check-box when it came time to apply to college, especially because that doesnât represent the truth. Your kid wants to paint a picture of who they are, not a splatter with no meaningful details.
Yeah, I know. Maybe too much coffee this morning.
I completely agree that they want angular applicants these days. Unfortunately not everyone can find true passion at the age of 16. Some kids with curious mind are involved in many activities because a lot of things interest them and they still have energy to do them all. It clearly that the first few slots on CA are filled with the most meaningful and most important activities.
@AsleepAtTheWheel, I was thinking of telling S to leave everything blank and I would just send in all the hair I have lost the past few days. I went from having never seen the CA to a sneak attack by S walking in with parts filled out and asking me about what he put on it and suggestions for how to reduce the amount of characters while trying to get everything to fit into the spaces.
@Ballerina2016 â Your points are well-taken.
Iâd add that I canât stand the fact that these colleges want kids who are so specialized/focused at this age. Think of all the areas that theyâll never explore and opportunities theyâll not take advantage of because of their pursuit of their âpassion.â I think one of the most valuable traits a kid can have is that theyâre willing to take academic and non-academic risk â that theyâre willing to try something that they may or may not be good at, and if they fail theyâll move on. In the world of college applications/admissions this trait is simply too risky.
@Ballerina2016 hereâs the essay prompt:
"To help the reviewers get to know you, describe an experience you have had, a person who has influenced you, or an obstacle you have overcome. Explain why this is meaningful to you. Use your own words and limit your response to the space provided.
Click on the button below and use the text box to prepare your Student Essay. You may copy and paste your essay from a document saved on your local computer, or you may type directly in the text box. (Note: Do not copy and paste text from the body of an e-mail message.) At any time before submitting the application, you may make edits to your Student Essay by clicking on the button below. Be sure to preview your work to make sure that your essay fits in the space provided on the PDF. Any text that does not appear on the PDF will not be read by NMSCâs Selection Committee."
Iâm not seeing a word limit but you have to paste into a particular field. Oct. 7 looks to be the final deadline for the application to be submitted by the school.
Thank you @MidwestMomTo2
I guess a lot of us get to bond with our kids this weekend @mysondad