ECs for Top 50
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Anonymous
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Do varsity sports matter if your student doesn’t play in college? Some kids just sit on the bench while others carry the team. The schools have no idea which type of athlete your kid was.
The sports take so much time, with year round travel just to be on varsity. Is it better to focus on other clubs like Model UN, student newspaper, theater, chorus, orchestra, etc? |
Anonymous
| Completely useless if you aren’t recruited. Focus on the national level achievements and then go down |
Anonymous
If you are aiming ivy-plus, you need significant hours over multiple high school years, plus leadership and achievement in that activity (art or sport or debate or UN, does not matter), plus at least 1-2 other significant EC in the school community or the non-school community(job, church volunteer, community organization), ideally where you can show impact and explain why you did the activity and why it is meaningful. Somewhere in this EC mix state or regional achievement is ideal, and/OR academic awards that are state or regional level at a minimum. None of that matters at all if you do not have the most challenging coursework and top grades and now scores to back it up (assuming no hooks--major hooks like recruit or FGLI or underrepresented group that is explained in the essays represent a different ball game with a much lower bar). |
Anonymous
| Focus on grades and scores. EC’s don’t matter if you don’t have a 3.7 to 3.9 |
Anonymous
This. |
Anonymous
| What about research? DS’ roommate was Banneker-key at UMD and did research at Hopkins applied physics lab in high school. |
Anonymous
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Honestly, it's whatever your kid really wants to do.
Grades matter most. Our high school's class of 2024 had a really good year with admissions. Of the many kids accepted to Top 50 schools, I'll bet 80% of them played a sport. Less than 5% will play a sport in college. Beyond that, it was a pretty normal roster of volunteering, a couple of random high school clubs, LEADERSHIP, and htat's about it. I did Just have your kid pick a few things they like, and preferably, things that are not already oversubscribed with other strong students. |
Anonymous
| Fencing, elite debate, First Chair Instrument. |
Anonymous
Sports are great for all sorts of reasons - fitness, friendship, discipline, teamwork. But for non-recruitable athletes - which is 98 percent of all high schoolers - they have to be aware of opportunity cost. Riding the bench on the varsity basketball team isn't going to get them into Northwestern for example. But being Editor-in-Chief of the school paper will definitely help. And a student can't do both. So choose accordingly. But that's for top 25 kind of schools. Once you have the grades, rigor, and test scores, it's all about the ECs. And students need to be mindful of that if they're shooting for a top school. To use basketball as the example, varsity is a 24/7 yearlong commitment. Practice every day. Weekend games. Off season AAU. There really is no time for anything else. Particularly if they're taking APs and Honors and the kind of classes you absolutely need to even be considered for admission to a good school. For the vast majority of students, it'd be wiser to step down to rec and focus on other interests. Which is too bad. High school varsity sports is nuts these days. But non-recruitable students really do need to choose how they spend their time if they are aiming for a top school. Some sports - track and XC - are pretty good about maintaining a balance. Some sports - basketball, soccer, crew - are awful. If you're not the next LeBron, it really isn't worth the opportunity cost when it comes to admissions to top schools. Model UN and Debate Club and a part-time job will get them a lot further. |
Anonymous
So cliche and unoriginal |
Anonymous
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Seems like it would be better to do a no-cut varsity sport (like cross country) and check that box. Get some exercise, be part of the team, and devote significant hours to academic related activities and community service. Not to mention studying and SAT test prep.
There really aren’t enough hours in the day for “professionalized” athletes (eg soccer, basketball) who aren’t going to be recruited or aren’t recruited by schools they like. |
Anonymous
Why is every high school student doing research lately? Is it necessary for Top 50 schools? |
Anonymous
Model UN and robotics are also very common too. |
Anonymous
They love that at UMD. Eagle Scouts too. |
Anonymous
It is the new version of creating a non-profit. Tons of kids do this to get into top 20s at our big 3. It has become so common over the past years. It works! You can pay the companies that will find you research partners or get it with connections your parents have at NIH, Georgetown, etc. |