<p>What mam1959 posted is true: "Be a national level athlete - as in the top 50 or 100 in the nation in your sport. "</p>
<p>Since most people don’t have the talent or motivation to achieve the above, it would be best for the mom to allow her boys to pursue their own intersts, whatever those interests are. Their independently, creatively pursuing their own interests is likely to impress colleges far more than would occur if they pick an interest to impress colleges.</p>
<p>Also, the boys shouldn’t be choosing now what they plan to do for 4 years. Part of growing up is exploring a variety of activities, and by doing so, learning what one most enjoys and doesn’t enjoy. It’s perfectly fine, expected, normal for students to add and drop activities throughout their high school years. I find it heartbreaking to see posts by students who are forcing themselves (or being forced by parents) to continue in an EC activity that they initially liked, but have grown to hate. </p>
<p>Far better to allow them to move on. When they move on, they may find a true passion. At the very least, they’ll learn more about themselves and the world.</p>
<p>My S found one of his passions the summer after junior year in high school. He took a workshop to learn how to be a facilitator for a nonviolence program, and found that to his surprise, he loved facilitating and was a wonderful facilitator. That led to a variety of opportunities for him including a countywide award, and getting merit aid from his first choice college.</p>
<p>In college, he got involved in the arts, and hasn’t had as much time to facilitate, but the skills and insights he learned through facilitating will be of use to him for the rest of his life. In fact, facilitating is what helped him emerge from being very shy.</p>