So true! The more specific, direct and iterative you can be, the better the results get
D26 is starting to work on her Common App. Sheās realizing that her ECs are kinda basic. She spends 15-18 hours a week training for her sport, and then another 4-6 hours a week coaching. Doesnāt leave much time for other things if eating, sleeping and studying are important. I am trying to reassure her that she has good depth in the few things she does allocate time to. Sheās a high school kid, no one expects her to cure cancer.
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Depth can be good! But also sometimes people overlook activities because they donāt feel impressive enough. My feeling is that activities have value as ECs if the student enjoys or finds value in them for themselves, and/or if the activity contributes to othersā lives. For example, does she play board games with friends? Go birdwatching? Knit socks? Help with watching out for younger siblings or grandparents? Tutor peers at school?
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We had a few top-ish (like Georgetown) schools say depth was critical, and that depth in a few was much better than a laundry list of ECs (especially if a bunch of them suddenly appeared in junior year, which is clearly resume-padding). D19 basically hadā¦ exactly 2 ECs, but in-depth (all 4 years of high school, including mock trial where it was very unusual for a freshman to make the school team) and she did well in them. I think given the time commitment your D is making to these, no one is going to judge adversely that there are not 5 other activities fluffing up the resume .
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No, none are resume padding. She is actually certified through the sport national governing body as a coach, with continuing ed requirements, so, it is definitely time consuming. Had to be 16, so it did pop up junior year, but she did volunteer coach starting sophomore year. Sheās a little sad that she didnāt get to do her volunteer research gig at the hospital as her past supervisor took a new job and her practice schedule this summer has made it impossible to do anything meaningful.
My D26 has been involved in music since she was very little and most of her ECs are connected to music (some of her awards too). However, she is very excited about the prospect of pursuing a degree in the behavioral health field. Unfortunately, she just began volunteering at hospitals this summer. This is something she is very serious about, but I am concerned that colleges will think that this was a last-minute effort to pad her application.
For the past three years, she was involved in a varsity sport which required camp and practices in July-August. She made the decision to quit the team in order to be able to volunteer this summer. But I cannot come up with a way to address this in her application. Anyone have any ideas?
My D had a very time consuming and intense EC for the last 3 years that she is discontinuing this year in order to have more time for other things. Sheās worried that colleges might be concerned about why she quit, and asked me if she needs to address this in her application. I told her that she doesnāt need to say anything special about it. Just mark on the application the years she participated, and describe her participation, what she learned, her impact, etc., as with any other EC.
My feeling is that itās fine the way it is, and it wouldnāt benefit her to draw extra attention to the fact that she quit by talking about why she quit. This is just my opinion though!
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I donāt have any suggestions, but I just think itās completely bonkers that our kids are expected to have experience relevant to their intended area of study/career. I mean, theyāre teenagers! The expectations are just too much IMO.
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Isnāt there some kind of minimum age for hospital volunteering? I think some things are inevitably only going to start in junior year for age reasons, or for example certain pre-college programs that are not offered to younger high schoolers. I think what they donāt want to see is kiddo did one EC until sophomore year then suddenly joined 15 clubs in junior year.
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Canāt you just say that? That now that she has focused on what she wants to do her priorities shifted?
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100%, especially as everyone knows a lot (maybe even a majority) of students end up changing their majors before graduating college.
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I feel this so hard. My undecided kid does and likes a lot of thingsā¦ Art, rock climbing, drumming, math tutoring, volunteering in a soup kitchen, astronomy, working outā¦ and whenever I see a TikTok or Reel from a college counselor about how his application needs to be a ānarrative that makes senseā to admissions (the ECs are telling a cohesive story, which is also tied to the major), I want to tear my hair out. The only thread among S26ās activities and interests is that they are many and growing all the time. I want to believe that is interesting in its own right, but it doesnāt seem to be, based on what I see offered as advice to applicants.
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I think your kidās list of ECs sounds fun and genuine! I refuse to believe that every student needs a ācohesive narrative.ā Iām sure AOs get sick of reading ācohesive narrativeā applications and probably appreciate a good shaggy dog story every now and then.
That said, they generally donāt spend a lot of minutes per application, so it behooves the student to make their shaggy dog story feel appropriately flavorful and interesting, too.
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To me, what is interesting is that in all the presentations we attended, I never heard this once from an actual college. The only thing they all seemed to emphasize was depth. Your son has many and varied interests, and surely that in itself makes him an interesting applicant?
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One thing we thought of that ties a lot of them together is thatāwith all the climbing, drumming, drawing, painting, sculpting, even serving foodāhe clearly loves to use his hands! (And all the blisters, cuts, burns, pen marks are proof)
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Sounds like the beginnings of a good essay topic!
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100% agree that our kids, and frankly all of us need to learn how to use AI properly as a tool which has benefits. The trick is, it also has serious drawbacks (the lack of accuracy at times being the least of them in my opinion), particularly in that I worry that too much use will stiffle and dampen important skills in researching, critical analysis, sythesizing complex information, and in developing oneās own voice and strong perspectives. I am less concerned about us fully formed adults who already had to develop those skills losing them than I am for the young folks who need to develop them. I worry that we donāt know enough to know what usage, and how much, will damage that development in ways that are problematic down the line, both individually and societally. Some of the stories folks have shared above are kids just plain cheating or trying to take the easy way of getting a grade without having to learn. While the means is new (and perhaps more intensely effective at achieving these goals), kids doing those things re school is not new. I have faith that my kid, and probably many of those doing those things, know it is wrong. The scary part for me is the unintended negative consequences of the āappropriateā uses on developing brains. For example, I believe that I benefited a ton from the writing struggle of a blank page and being stuck in my writing at different stages and having to grind through that with lots of failed attempts and dead ends. Iām not sure Iād be as good a writer and thinker if I had AIās help at the push of a button every time I was stuck. Maybe I would, but I believe the struggle gave me something.
I donāt have the expertise to know what the right balance is of kids learning the tool and not being seduced into reliance on it in ways that stunt their development. Nor do I know enough to understand how even limited appropriate use could be detrimental. At the same time, if kids of their generation just ignore the tool forever and donāt learn to use it, I fear they will be left behind. I think this is one of the hardest intellectual questions of our time for young folks. What is the right relationship with AI? And, at what ages/stages of intellectual development is it appropriate to use at all, increase use cases, and amount of time using it? I also donāt feel confident that anyone else knows. It reminds me of the questions around smartphones (and to a lesser extent early social media) but on steroids in terms of the consequences of getting it wrong.
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For ECs, D26 has jumped around and hasnāt done anything consistently all through high school. VEX Robotics in 9th grade, mock trial in 10th grade (learned that she hated mock trial because it felt too much like an acting class and she hates being on stage), part time job (16 hr/wk) in 11th grade. Sheās hoping to be a TA for her favorite history teacher this next school year. Hasnāt participated in any national-level competitions, hasnāt won any spots in any competitive summer programs or stuff like that.
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As a recruited athlete, I would not worry about this at all. Even at schools where she is not recruited, if it is obvious from her activities and information (which I assume it will be) that she is at the level of commitment to the sport that she is a recruit somewhere, I do not think folks will blink at this. That is a ton of time dedicated to both being an athlete, and coaching as a teen. Admissions folks see athlete profiles all the time. They know that being a dedicated athlete is an intense commitment and many athletes are all in on that plus school. Iād be surprised if many places read those ECs as anything but strong, though very focused.
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Iāve also heard them frequently talk about being authentic throughout the application, and the list of activities the other poster laid out for their kid felt very authentic to me. Nobody does all those things trying to impress a school, is sang a kid who enjoys all kinds of things to me. As you say, I think it will make him an interesting applicant.
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