XC heavy commitment at our school. It’s so hard to do anything else with any sport at our high school. Practice or meets every day until 6:00. S19 has to ask for an exception to leave early on Fridays so he can do Science Olympiad. The request was granted. He also misses his art lessons during XC and track season. We have to double up art sessions between the end of XC and beginning of indoor track.
SO many kids at school have a hard time doing anything else if they are playing sports. Even if your sport is only one season, you need to be doing it year round at a high level to make the high school team. Some other ECs meet in the mornings at school so you can try to join one of those, but that makes for one long day with an hour meeting before school and then practice after school until 6:00 and then all of the homework when you’re exhausted! I don’t know how some of these kids I see on here do so many ECs. Almost every EC at our school is a big commitment and competitive to get a leadership position.
Hey @ak2018 - my son didn’t have someone go on the tour; he set up a time to talk one on one with a member of the engineering department. He contacted the department and asked if they could recommend a professor who might be open to talking with a prospective student or if someone else in the department (administrator, etc) would have the time. It worked out for the date and time he was there that someone was available. They were very helpful. Depending on the schedule it may or may not work out for you. Have you signed up for the College of Engineering Information Session? It’s different from the regular tour and offered most weekdays I believe. That was a good place to ask engineering-specific questions.
My D18 is unable to participate in other extracurriculars also. She cheers and her HS team also competes plus she cheers for an outside All Star team. She is at the gym or school for cheer practices for about 16 hours total per week. Then once competition season starts (November to April) usually 2-3 weekends a month at competition. HS cheer you throw in cheering games during football, volleyball and basketball, usually 1 game sometimes 2 a week, from September-March. She easily spends 20 hours a week at cheer related practice, games, functions, April and May time is more flexible but that is tryout season so they are usually concentrating on getting new skills and if the cheerleader is a Worlds athlete they are still practicing for competition. D18 has precious few weekends free this year from Mid November to spring break in March. She will either be cheering or taking an SAT/ACT test.
She manages to squeeze Latin Club in, but only because the Latin teacher is flexible. Most the club’s won’t work with the cheerleaders schedule. A few cheerleaders manage to run track in the spring.
For my D16 Band was a huge time vacuum, but that usually eases up a bit after marching season ends.
Her lack of other EC commitments is the one glaring problem I think with her college resume. I am not sure Adcoms are truly aware of the time commitment many of these kids have with their ECs. I am concerned that when they look at her application they are going to wonder why there is only cheer and think it is weird and that cheer can’t possibly take up that much time.
@labegg My app wasn’t CA but I remember it asking approximately how many hours a week you participate in each activity. That way they can tell how involved you are. I also remember having to write a blurb(100 words or so) about it.
@RoonilWazlib99 Oh. Thank you for clarifying. I might do that, though. A one-on-one talk with a current student or professor would be beneficial. I actually just signed up for The College of Engineering information session for August 22nd and I had a question. The College of Engineering information session starts at 11:15am and ends at 12:15am, while the VT information session starts at 10:30am and ends at 11:30am, with our tour right after that. Do you think it would be better to go to the College of Engineering information session rather than the VT information session? If I decide to go to the CoE info session, I’ll miss the “tour”. What I mean “tour” is that when I e-mailed one of the people at VT, they said that they might not have enough space for my family on the bus, so we might have to take a self-guided tour. Thinking about it now, couldn’t you just drive down or walk, instead of taking the bus, to where the tour would start and just kind of “jump in” on one? I’d personally be fine with walking to the parking lot and driving to the tour starting place, it would give us a chance to walk around the campus.
I just got off the phone with someone at VT and they said that they really don’t allow families to just jump in on a tour. They also told me that the day I’m visiting will be the first day of classes, but I don’t really know that’s a good or bad thing. At this point, I’m honestly okay with doing a self-guided tour. I should really be counting my blessings, since I didn’t even think this tour would happen at all.
Questions: Do you think a self-guided tour is worth it? Any tips on how to make the best of it?
Just when you think they aren’t really listening or taking action…
D18 hangs out with a majority of Class of 2017 kids and told me that she had been “whining” about my having “forced” her to take practice ACT reading and science section tests this past week and that got them talking about applications. So D18 said “Have y’all started your Apply Texas App essays yet? I’d choose the essay about the ticket and where I would go.” I guess they all looked at her like she was crazy “what do you mean started our application and how do you know what essay questions?”. She then told them the Apply Texas App and Common App open at the beginning of August and the essay prompts had been out for awhile. Another girl said “Y’all this is sad, D18 knows more about this then we do and she isn’t even applying this year!”
OMG - the information is actually going in one ear and NOT coming out the other! Now if she would just do the ACT/SAT studying on her own!
@labegg…the Common App definitely gives you a line to say how many hours are spent on an EC. I believe my D15 split the school team and club team into 2 separate entries. This way they can see that there is some overlap with dates and the time commitment for both.
Are any of your DC into Robotics or competing in VEX or FIRST? I just went to a Robotics Meeting today to get ready for the upcoming VEX and FRC seasons. School hasn’t started yet, but we’re getting everything ready for the new year.
Parking Fees Rant! DS18 has no choice but to drive to school because we are out of district and there is no public transportation, it’s about a 45 minute drive each way with traffic. The school parking pass cost $150 for the year but this year there’s new construction and it’s taken away from available parking, so for juniors they have split the available parking spots into three, three month blocks and they are only allowed to purchase a pass for two of the three blocks for $50 each. There is no legal off campus parking for miles. Not sure what we are going to do for those three months!
Certain clubs have year round spaces they sell for fund raisers, there’s an auction for two spaces on-line right now that I tried for but was out bid. The current high bid is $1,800! and the auction doesn’t end for another day so it will likely go higher! This is just insane!!!
@3scoutsmom Geez! I was just planning to park at the plaza next to my school to avoid having to pay for the fee, once I get my car. $1900 is definitely really steep. Someone must REALLY want that spot.
The only construction that’s been going on near my school is on the road. They are trying to open the road up and lessen the amount of traffic, especially during rush hour.
@3scoutsmom How strict is the school about the parking pass? At my school if you park all the way in the back nobody really cares. Also our school only checked for passes at the start of the year so if you can slide by the first week or so you can park without really needing a pass.
That stinks @3scoutsmom! Could he work out some sort of carpool and get passes to cover the whole year that way?
When construction tore up the parking lot at my older kid’s school the district made arrangements with a couple of nearby churches. Good fundraising for those churches since their parking lots weren’t in use during weekdays and only a five minute walk for the kids.
Another school I am familiar with uses a similar arrangement on a permanent basis because demand far outstrips supply for parking spaces.
Some parents I know have distributed fliers in adjacent neighborhoods (that require permits) asking if people had an extra permit that they would be willing to sell and gotten nearby parking that way.