My daughter had some decent fine art achievement before starting high school last Fall: 10 community college art courses including equivalents to all art AP courses (2D, 3D, Drawing and Art History) with all A’s, being accepted to few national juried shows for adults.
But now art is just a minor hobby because she is busy with new interests - academics, programming, science - and art education at her high school is great but not far with her level. She also firmly decided to be a more mainstream professional and not an artist.
She loves her high school and I don’t see the situation being different when she will apply to colleges in two years.
She is academically strong.
I have thought that fine art would be her EC for college admission, “Her One Thing”. But maybe not. Then she doesn’t have any other EC. Would it be better for her to spend some major time on art instead of science and/or programming if she wants to apply to selective colleges? Any insight?
What does she want to do? She might not know yet. Most kids try on different things and drop some, even if they show talent. It can be a bit heart wrenching for parents since we see the talent and have supported it both emotionally and financially.
Was she involved in clubs, activities, and/or community engagement of some kind away from classes this past year? If not, encourage her to do so next year during her sophomore year. She can try different things and then focus on the ones of greatest interest to her during junior and senior year, perhaps taking on some leadership roles.
If she wishes to continue with an art focus, she can use summer time to build upon her interest and development if the school year commitments make it challenging to do so.
It’s less about exactly what she chooses than that she is engaged in something and that she enjoys it and has a strong and self-directed passion for it, IMO.
Crafting ECs for the sake of college admissions never seems to work. It sounds to me like her interests have changed and evolved. She should seek out ECs in things she cares about now be it art or something else.
She wants some financially stable profession, but will take time to figure it out, not necessarily by high school or even college graduation, and keep arts as a lifelong hobby that she can continue into retirement. It’s her life and I am fine with that. She is probably being smart.
She joined club(s) but not is into any one seriously, and she certainly is not a leadership type. It feels like starting all over, at least in terms of EC. She has some passion in science, and programming. She is learning Coursera Python programming and programming Lego Mindstorm, instead of going to an art studio.
None of them will reach her fine art level as a standing out EC.
“It feels like starting all over, at least in terms of EC.”
That’s normal for high school students. I’ve seen some young people accomplish some pretty amazing things in interests that didn’t develop until well into high school. There is so much they haven’t even been exposed to yet. How would they possibly know what their “thing” is? Good time for dabbling, IMO.
She may surprise you. She might not. It’s all good either way.
My daugher who was definitely going to be an artist told us late in junior year of high school that she wanted to be an engineer. We were pretty confused. She’s quite a talented artist. She’s also a very smart kid and we knew she could do whatever she wanted, but art really seemed like her thing. She also said she absolutely did not want to be paid to do art. She didn’t want that pressure.
She’s heading into her fourth year of engineering school this fall and it’s quite clear now that she’s going to be a very talented engineer. All those spatial skills come in handy in her field. New strengths have risen to the top and we can really see the particular skill set that will make her an excellent engineer. She still does art on the side–experiments with different mediums. We get the best birthday cards from her! She’s also had a membership to the local art museum most of her time at college. Her love for art hasn’t changed, but it’s place in her life has shifted.
Let your D do what she enjoys. If she loves art, and it sounds like she does, she’ll always keep it in her life, and the art EC’s are still EC’s and will only add to her college application. She’s just changed focus.
I think the best strategy is to let your HS kid be a HS kid. So that means on Monday she wants to become an Economist because she read a speech by Janet Yellen and thinks it’s the coolest thing ever, and on Tuesday she wants to study primates because she read an article about how a team of sociologists and anthropologists and linguists have teamed up to understand how infant monkeys learn to communicate with their mothers.
The nice thing about HS is that it’s low commitment! Nobody is going to force her to stick with econ once she discovers primates, and nobody will force her to stick with primates once she discovers her next great passion.
She’ll figure it out. I think if you read about (and meet, or watch an interview) with successful adult artists in whatever field or medium they have one thing in common- a total and absorbing passion in their art to the exclusion of everything else. And your D is lucky- she has figured out early on that this is NOT the way her brain operates, and that she’s got lots of things she’s interested in. Which is great!
My company just hired someone who was a Chopin competition finalist, graduated from one of the top conservatories in the world, and had an early career on the soloist circuit at some of the finest concert halls. He realized at some point that he didn’t have the passion to do his music full time, for the rest of his life, to the exclusion of everything else- so he went back to college and is now working in corporate strategic planning.
Your D has a jump on him! So you have nothing to salvage- she is talented in art, she’s talented in academics, she’s going to explore various interests before she decides what she wants to do and who she wants to be. You are in an enviable position!!!
This sounds a lot like my daughter in middle school. She was crazy about art. She won a National Schoalstic Arts award and a huge county-wide art competition with a big cash prize in middle school. Picture in the paper too. Then, nothing after 8th grade. She taught herself coding, began story-writing, and her interests changed. She didn’t enter any competitions and did random, ordinary ECs like Mock Trial. Her only consistency was to continue to play her musical instrument.
She has just finished her freshman year of college and is very happy. She got accepted to a bunch of wonderful schools, despite my fears that her boring ECs might undermine her chances. She never codes anymore. She has taught herself calligraphy and still loves sketching. I think you just have to let your daughter find her way. The things she really enjoys, she will stick with.
The surest way to kill any love your daughter may still have for art is to force her into it.
Even if she’s not pursuing it as a formal EC, her achievements won’t go away. She should send the transcripts of her art classes to any college she’s applying to, despite that they were taken before high school. Colleges ask for that. (She could even get college credit for them.)
Our son’s story is very similar to @Parentof2014grad’s. Until junior year, he was solely focused on digital film production with a serious portfolio and awards even prior to high school. He was hell bent on film school at USC but is now studying electrical engineering and cyber security at a service academy. He came to realize that film was a hobby he could always enjoy, but he wanted to serve first. Watching him grow and change sure has been a ride for us. As I always say here, “Kids. Can’t control 'em.”
@SculptorDad, you are getting some good perspective and advice from this forum, but the CC office at your daughter’s BS has been in this game a long time and is well-armed to guide your daughter in this process. I’m sure you know that this is part of what you are paying for, and they will be happy to have this discussion with you, though the formal college process probably won’t start until the beginning of her junior year. I say let her work this out for herself with her college counselor. Then, sit back and enjoy where her process takes her.
People with art and coding skills make computer games – and useful tech. Gifts like this have a weird way of finding an outlet. A lot of knowledge and skill is much less useful when siloed!. I met someone who studied math and sculpture who developed a very cool (patented) folding design that has turned out to be quite useful in the design of aircraft. And also quite lucrative for him. Something that could not have been envisioned without both math and art skills…
My daughter spent middle school sewing… on her own, she pored over books of costume designs and haute couture… by mid-high school she was talking med school… she’s now in a science phd program. All that’s left of her middle school passion is a subscription to Vogue magazine
This is normal for kids. Your daughter will find another passion and another way to excel. It’s clearly in her “nature.” She’ll be just fine.
Celebrate it!
Do not think for a second that she is forsaking her art skills for new pursuits and won’t draw on them in the future… She is adding new skills by pursing her other interests in coding and science. Let her follow her interests!
Art is the ability to see things in new ways and create a vision and science allows you to bring a vision to life.
Someone with training and aptitude in both will be highly sought after whether they lean more towards the art side or the science side.
I guess I have a slightly different take on this than some of the posters above (though I agree with some points):
I wouldn't do (or encourage a child to do) any EC in order to have an "advantage" for college applications. The enthusiasm to participate in an activity has to come from the heart, and has to come from the individual. I agree with @doschicos that "It's less about exactly what she chooses than that she is engaged in something and that she enjoys it and has a **strong and self-directed passion** for it."
That said, kids change as often as the weather, and sometimes helping them stay the course with something they generally love can be productive. I never force my kids to stick with an activity, and if they have clearly lost interest in something it's good to move on to other things; but I do encourage them to stick with that they obviously enjoy and in which they have invested a lot of time and effort to develop proficiency - not because it will give them an "edge" for college, but because sticking with something to the point of mastery is a wonderful thing, and yields all kinds of dividends for life in terms of self-confidence, sense of achievement, ancillary skills, etc. If they'e truly lost interest, then you move on; but if they've just gotten temporarily stopped - by boredom, frustration, or the transient lure of other things - then it can sometimes be helpful to keep them on track. That can be a fine line.
The intersection of art and STEM - "STEAM" - is one of the hottest areas of education and technology. Merging visual and design skills with technical skills opens a huge number of doors. Computer game design, animation, data visualization, design fabrication ... there are a ton of "mainstream professions" where people with STEM and visual skills can excel. Penn Digital Media Design grades reportedly make more coming out of school than do Wharton grads. I agree with @gouf78 that "Art is the ability to see things in new ways and create a vision and science allows you to bring a vision to life.Someone with training and aptitude in both will be highly sought after whether they lean more towards the art side or the science side."
In the case of @SculptorDad’s daughter, it’s not clear to me what the situation is. She clearly had a strong passion for and aptitude for art, and had invested a lot into it. If she’s lost interest and moved on to other things, that’s fine; there’s nothing wrong with interests changing, and I certainly wouldn’t pressure her to continue with art if that is the case. But I’m not sure I agree with @happy1 that “it sounds to me like her interests have changed and evolved”; to me it seems like it’s possibly more a case of going with the flow in terms of the opportunities and interests available to her at her boarding school, where STEM is strong and art is comparatively weak. It sounds like art is something that she wants to continue for life - just not as a profession - so she hasn’t really lost interest in it.
If this were my child, I’d probably try to figure out whether they’ve actually lost interest in art, or are just excited about other things and have a more “mainstream profession” path in mind. I certainly wouldn’t pressure them to continue art as an EC that might give them an edge; but I’d point out the opportunities that are available to people with combined art and STEM skills, and see if there was interest in continuing art as a complement to STEM, and looking into ways to blend them. I’d look at the profiles some recent students who have blended art and STEM and see if any of those paths are exciting. The choice obviously has to come from the child and not the parent, but pointing out that that art and STEM aren’t mutually exclusive may help. After that, I agree, you should try to be happy with whatever she chooses, and find her path at her own pace.
Renaissance- agree with most of what you posted. I think the pushback is coming from the use of the word “salvage”-- as if this kid is a lost cause without pursuing art as her identifying EC.
Most of us think she sounds very special just as she is and is not in need of salvaging!
^ I agree. I’m sure she’ll turn out fine, whatever she chooses. I would just point out that her art is a wonderful skill to complement her emerging interests, and see if she wants to keep it up in some form.
Thank you all for the input. “Salvage” means aiding college admission with all the time she has already spent on art, even if she has changed interest before high school.
