I make it a point not to ask any of S19’s friends about college stuff. My son is pretty laid back about it. For those parents going through it I say “it will all work out” and somehow it does.
@wisteria100 your list of comments brings to mind one that my friend heard when someone asked where her D16 was going to college. She told her and that person said, “Oh, that was my daughter’s back up school.” UGH!
DS19 got his license today. He’s been getting ready for his Eagle Board of Review and doing prep for ACT. We tour Flagler next week and then he will start his essays. Several of his schools open apps Aug 1. He also has Art Camp the last week of July - August.
I had forgotten how annoying the activities section is on the Common App. For their main activities, there is so little space to describe their involvement and extra details will not fit (not something to really go in the additional information section). Also, it can be hard to estimate the number of hours/week and weeks/year because S does one of his sports year round but during the main fall season, it is much more time consuming.
@elena13 I agree. The time spent category makes it hard to put “like” activities together. I want S19 to show his different art classes but of course they meet different times of the year and some are more time intensive so they have to be listed individually. One summer course is two weeks long and eight hours a day. Another is twice a week for the whole summer. And another he’s taken all four years and all year round so that’s important too. At some point, it’s just important to figure out what needs to be listed the most and explain it the best you can in the small space allowed.
The activities section is deceptively difficult. At least to do it well. S19 is benefiting from the pain of S17’s list which in the end, we felt, was solid.
We discussed his tonight and are on the same page as to which 10 and how to “bucketize” certain things and which “similar but different” should stand alone. We had a discussion about priority order.
He was thinking out what (he thinks) colleges will like the most first. I want him to put what HE prioritizes most first.
I’ll let him take first crack at all of it, he’s got a template and examples.
I’ve got the opposite problem in the EC section. For all practical purposes, S has one EC - basketball. There is the school team, and AAU, and summer league, and rec league, but it is all basketball. I think he will have four lines of basketball, and then two other clubs that he joined for a short time.
@me29034 We have the same problem, different sport. Because of the way that section has you divvy up hours for each activity, D ended up putting each team in a different spot. She also had spots for teaching the sport and coaching para athletes. While I am concerned that it looks a little one-dimensional, other parents on CC suggested that it shows depth and commitment. Let’s hope so.
I just rechecked kiddo’s ACT registration and printed out the ticket. I discovered that I hadn’t signed up for the four free score reports. I populated the list with the three schools on the definite list who we hadn’t sent score reports to, but I’m left with one empty free slot. Should I send a second score report to one of the definites that tracks demonstrated interest, or ask kiddo to pick something from the maybe list? It might be a spur to get him to reconsider the maybe list…?
My S19 will have the same issue @me29034. He only has music ECs that a lot of kids on CC would probably not even bother listing (i.e., he isn’t winning national concerto competitions - he’s just in the school orchestra, jazz band, pit orchestra, takes lessons, recently joined a youth orchestra, Tri-M honor society, etc.) Two of these are classes on his transcript, but he does have after-school rehearsals 6-7 hours per week, plus performances, practice, etc.
Most band/orchestra kids have this stuff along with 20 other things to list but he is who he is and he doesn’t have a lot of interests at this point in his life. I’m hoping that GPA and test scores will be enough to overcome all the blank space on the apps since he’s not applying to selective schools.
@me29034 @eh1234 @Acersaccharum
Same here with S19 for diving: HS team, summer team, non-HS team-- and coaching. This is his main EC activity. He has a job, too and plays another sport on a rec team. That’s about it. I think it shows he has a focused interest.
Too bad there is no sophisticated way to list watching youtube videos and playing Fortnite.
I wish you could just use bullet points in the activities section on the Common App. Just list the activity and then use bullet points to highlight what you did. My son is not a fan of writing everything out for this section
@eandesmom Where did you get the template and examples that your son has? D19 seems at a loss as to where to even start with her ECs – she has a ton of music ones but then a bunch of other stuff that is kind of scattered and small and I’m not sure whether to even include some of them – for example, a non-selective-anyone-can-sign-up STEM camp at another local high school that she did for a week after 9th grade? Being selected to attend a one day regional conference on social justice in 10th grade? (it was an honor because only 8 kids from the school were picked but it was ultimately only one day 2 years ago so maybe it’s too minor to list). I’d love to see some examples of real kids’ lists.
@eh1234 and @firstwavemom My S19 is a band (marching, concert) and stage crew kid. And he is co-president of the chess club. He added cross country this summer. And he has a second degree black belt in karate. That’s the EC list. He’s true to himself and his talents/interests. Which will be totally fine when it comes to his list of schools.
Although, I’m wondering if there is a sophisticated way to list playing D&D online with his friends.
@RightCoaster I hear you. I mean what is a description for XC if you haven’t won some state or national competition? S19 is just thinking about stating the miles run per week (since it’s insane and impressive and coaches will want to know it’s a high mileage type of program) and then stating his fastest times. Or maybe saying he bettered his times from x to y to show the big improvement over three years. Still, not that interesting. I would think any sport would have these issue with what to write if you aren’t the star at your school.
On a different note, S19 got the approval from his AP Lang teacher that his common app essay is finished and that he really likes it! Two months of on and off writing and five sets of revisions and he’s finally there. So glad that one is done!
@InfiniteWaves I’m with you on the D&D bit lol! He has band, honor societies, aikido, volunteering, but not much in the way of leadership unless you count 1st chair tuba section… and if anyone can figure out how to spin Dungeon Master duties into a legit leadership position lol!
https://www.livecareer.com/resume-search/r/dungeon-master-b7eea33c538a4fb69edfcdc8b8b7570f
A resume for a Dungeon Master.
In my experience with my two older kids, you don’t need to have a lot of different activities. At the large schools that don’t practice holistic admissions, I think GPA and test scores are by far the most important in the admissions process.
At the highly selective schools that practice holistic admissions, I think it may be preferable to have just a couple of in-depth activities vs a large list of activities that are not pursued as in-depth due to time constraints. MIT, for example, has its own application and the applicant is only given space to list 4 activities. I think my kid only listed 3 activities and that was fine.
My D will only be listing 4 activities on the common app that she had pursued for many years. She has other activities that she could list, but some were only pursued early in high school and then dropped, and she won’t list those as I don’t think these really add anything to her application. But I don’t know if this is the best approach or not, but I am trying not to second-guess all of this.
@shuttlebus agreed that GPA and test scores matter more than the Activities section. 4 solid activities for your D is plenty. I think the activities section can help showcase some things a kid has done with their time and show a level of interest in certain subjects.
I just hate the way you are “recommended” to fill it out. Writing about playing a sport? There’s not much to write about. So he’s just going to list years doing it, major awards etc. Lucky for him maybe his awards will use up all of the charecters for that section, LOL
Describing some activities where my son has an interest in, but no leadership, is harder. He’s a member of a few clubs like that, and they are helpful to show an interest in what he wants to study, but writing the description is hard for him.
I don’t even think the activities section is going to matter all that much for my son . The schools will either want to recruit him as an athlete or not, and probably not spend a great deal of time analyzing his activities section. He’s lucky in that regard. Maybe if he applies to some super reach type schools it could matter a teeny bit, but whatever.
@homerdog good for your son cranking out the essay. My son is just awaiting some feedback on his now, but I think he’s got the bulk of it done.
We have the same issue with smaller activities that all fall under the same interest. He doesnt want to list them but he doesnt have much so i think he needs to show his level of involvement.
@InfiniteWaves haha, same thing about video games. Wonder if he can list drums as musical skill from Rock Band?! For that matter, maybe D18 should have added music critic. She is always fussing about the air drumming in the car!
S will have three main activities (two sports and heavy student gov. involvement), then the job he’s had for three summers. There are a bunch of smaller things like summer swim team, peer mentoring etc. and those are kind of tricky, but I’m sure even the selective colleges assume that if you use all 10 spaces that at least 5 or more will be fairly minor activities. I agree that it’s hard to write about sports and it can be boring, but we found that there really wasn’t enough space to list individual or team accomplishments if there was some success in that sport. I guess the editing practice was good.
@zozoty - If your D doesn’t have a lot of awards, maybe she could use the one-day regional conference in the honors section since there was a selection process that was competitive.
D17’s main EC was four years of theater and that was the highlight of her activities section. I can’t remember but it may have been broken into two activities. She had some other clubs, summer work and minimal volunteer work but they were pretty minor. Even for selective colleges that was enough. I agree for larger schools, the other parts of the application are much more important.
Congrats to your son @homerdog! That must feel great to have that big essay behind him. S has been thinking about his for a few weeks and has read a couple of essay books that I gave him, but I don’t think actual words have been written.