DS belongs to local youth symphony orchestra and has been selected to senior regional orchestra, (3rd and 4th chair string section respectively) but nothing “more outstanding” (state or national competition awards). DS is also a year-round competitive swimmer, currently ranked about 400th+ range in the nation for his class. He truly loves music and also wants to swim for college, so, for some of the highly selective schools, such as IVYs and NESCAC schools, which has a bigger “pull” for him? Any strategies/suggestions you could share would be much appreciated.
ime, sport, unfortunately. Music will only matter at all to specific schools who randomly happen to be in the market for his instrument.
Based on the subset of kids I know, sport. Especially if your son is more highly ranked at that. Coaches are given a certain #of chits they can call in. Orchestra directors, not necessarily. There are schools that give scholarships for marching band, but that won’t help you.
But certainly highlight both. Kids that can be the link between different interest groups on campus are highly valued at smaller schools that care about community.
Fwiw, there may be certain schools where my generalization doesn’t hold.
@collegemom3717 I feel the same way too. Swimming is taking up so much time that DS is having very limited amount of time to practice and/or prepare for competitions. While his swimming coaches have hinted many times to him to “focus” (ie drop other activities) and his music teachers are not happy about his tight schedule, he is not planning to drop either yet.
Unless he is a recruited athlete, neither one is a “hook” although they are both good extracurricular activities. If he is a strong enough swimmer to be recruited then that can turn into a hook.
@gardenstategal thank you! Mom likes smaller LACs while he likes bigger “names”. DS is a good student and we do hope his ECs at least would help a bit highly selected colleges.
@happy1 thanks for the clarification about “hook”, I am new to the forum and have always thought “hook” just mean sth to catch the AO’s eyes
@happy1 only part of my comments was posted.
Do you know whether there r sports equivalent recruiting process for college orchestra musicians? I know there r on-site music auditions for many schools.
A hook is really something that’s going to get the student into the college or be the reason that the admissions office picks this applicant over a similar applicant. The school needs a backstroker. The school gives a preference to legacies. The school is trying to increase diversity and needs the AA boy from the southwest.
Let your son pick his EC by what he likes the most. If he gets more interested in swimming than music, it may make the difference if he’s a recruited athlete. I was surprised at the last Olympics trials how many kids from our little local swim clubs were contenders.
@makemesmart, DS was advised to make a video of himself playing his instrument to share with the music director and to schedule a meeting when he was visiting campus, much as one would do as an athletic recruit. Unfortunately, I cannot report on how that went as he was determined to leave the instrument at home and pursue his music interests in a different fashion!
He has friends who play on campus. I believe they initiated that freshman year (i.e., tried out. No "recruits ")
Both music and sports would make a nice EC along with whatever else are going for him. I’d give more weight to his sports accomplishments, but unless he’s at the recruited level, it’'s just another EC. Given musical accomplishments at his level (3rd and 4th at senior regional), I’d skip submitting any arts supplement audio/videos to any schools that give an instruction to submit only those that are of “exceptional” level. Competing against those who submit at conservatory and plus level could hinder, rather than help, his causes. My recommendation is to adopt a “well rounded” appeal and strategy rather than “spiky” appeal.
As EC’s, one is not inherently more attractive to selective colleges than the other. As EC’s what the AO’s are going to evaluate is the quality of the participation, accomplishments and character traits that the EC might reveal. If these are high quality EC’s for your son that he enjoys, there is no reason not to do both unless it is affecting his school work.
Being a recruited athlete is something else. Realistically, you need to compare his talent to existing athletes at the colleges he is interested in. You have the luxury in swimming that there are objective measures in terms of times. If his times are competitive, then it is a matter of getting the coaches’ attention. There are other posters familiar with the swimming recruiting process and existing threads here under “Athletic Recruiting”.
Highly talented and accomplished musicians I am sure get special treatment, but I am not aware of any formal system for “recruits” like there are for athletes – but there are many posters who are more knowledgeable than me on this topic. Many schools allow for musical supplements. If your son does not have state or national recognition, I would tend to think music would be treated like an EC rather than a special/rare talent worthy of special admissions consideration.
My understanding is that for a music supplement to be helpful the applicant would have to play at pretty much a conservatory level. My D was a very good (but not outstanding) violin player and did not consider sending a music supplement (and she did play in her college orchestra for all 4 years). She listed her music activities on her application and let that speak for itself.