Rising Junior with excellent grades and test scores but no great extracurriculars

[Anonymous]

He has to have SOME interests. This is what I call absent parenting.

What does he do in his free time? Focus on that. I bet there's something there. You might not think its worthy, but I bet you it is.

Parents - you need to really TUNE into your kids in the HS years. This is when it counts. It's not about hiring a counselor. It's about listening, advising, and being present = parenting. Its not autopilot!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just make some up. It's not like they verify.

Things not verifiable tend not to add value.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The kids we know like this go to UVA.

When I was in high school, the smartest guy at my school had no extracurriculars. He went to UMich.

You again? UVA kids have good ECs.

Not sure why it’s me again. The kids we know who don’t have standout extracurriculars and have high stats go to UVA. It is true.

I have friends with kids who currently attend UVA tell me that UVA is very numbers oriented and that their no special extracurricular activities had no other options.

[Anonymous]

We just went through this last year with my son. Public school - mid 1500s on SAT, had decent ECs but no leadership roles. Excellent grades, most rigorous classes offered. FCPS doesn't do class rank but we suspect he was likely in the top 5 in his class.

He was very disappointed with his college acceptances. He got into some very good mid-tier schools which he thought were his safeties. He got into one T20 school for which he is a legacy (and where he will be going) and got waitlisted at his other T20 target schools and outright rejected from every Ivy he applied to.

From what we gathered, many of the top schools are looking at everything - grades, ECs, leadership, essay and especially that "extra something" like students who are starting non-profits and making a difference in their communities, creating apps, doing research for scientific orgs, etc.

The number of kids doing this "above and beyond" stuff is really starting to increase and makes the competition much stiffer and goes well beyond grades. It's almost as if high GPA and high SATs are a given for the most competitive universities.

[Anonymous]

My kid applied to Pitt without having to mention any ECs. Like other people have said, a job isn't a bad idea, even in retail or food service or seasonal summer positions. Also pursuing volunteering related to their academic/career interests is a good idea. Maybe they could coach younger kids in the sport that they play, volunteer/work at a related summer camp or referee youth games.

[Anonymous]

UVA poster again. The friend who has a kid at UVA literally told me her kid had no extracurriculars when I met her senior year. She was stressed out bc her kid had the stats and was smart but no extracurricular activities. He didn’t play sports. He didn’t play an instrument. No leadership. He was undecided and still undecided at UVA.

[Anonymous]

Find out what he wants to do and encourage it, even if it seems dreamy like music production. Also, cut back on dead time like video games and social media.

My kid was like this. He got into a Top 25 school but not UVa. He’s doing well in his classes but is still quieter. He’ll come out of his shell when ready.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA poster again. The friend who has a kid at UVA literally told me her kid had no extracurriculars when I met her senior year. She was stressed out bc her kid had the stats and was smart but no extracurricular activities. He didn’t play sports. He didn’t play an instrument. No leadership. He was undecided and still undecided at UVA.

Ok. Not our experience but obviously there are some kids like that. (More boys maybe)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid applied to Pitt without having to mention any ECs. Like other people have said, a job isn't a bad idea, even in retail or food service or seasonal summer positions. Also pursuing volunteering related to their academic/career interests is a good idea. Maybe they could coach younger kids in the sport that they play, volunteer/work at a related summer camp or referee youth games.

I know a kid who had extremely limited ECs (basically 2 sports) but top stats; in looking at bio/had some minor connections to Russia through lang and culture.
Ended up at T10 as a Russian language and literature major.

How?
Added 2 ECs as a rising junior (became library volunteer and creator of Russian Lit Book Club with active MeetUps) and then did virtual NSLI-Y and a few online seminars/courses in Russian Lit.
Pretty easy formula if the interest is real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA poster again. The friend who has a kid at UVA literally told me her kid had no extracurriculars when I met her senior year. She was stressed out bc her kid had the stats and was smart but no extracurricular activities. He didn’t play sports. He didn’t play an instrument. No leadership. He was undecided and still undecided at UVA.

Ok. Not our experience but obviously there are some kids like that. (More boys maybe)

We also know kids who are exceptional who ended up at UVA. One kid got a full ride (can’t remember the scholarship). Others may not have gotten into an Ivy or chose UVA over privates due to money.

But we absolutely know several not great extracurricular kids at UVA. Our school naviance has UVA with 4.4 GPA with 1500+ SAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior at a good DMV private- not one of the "Big 5", but the tier right below.
He has excellent grades (95+), and is scoring in the 1500-1540 range on his practice SATs so far.

The issue is that he is not motivated to do anything outside of what he needs to do at school and has no passion for anything yet. He plays a sport recreationally, volunteers here and there (no leadership position), and it's honestly been like pulling teeth to get him to do anything to stand out.

From everything I know about college admissions so far, they all seem to be after the kid who is great at one particular thing, has a great story, demonstrated leadership and impact ... of course grades and test scores matter but they don't seem to be enough.

What reach schools should he be aiming for?

Do you need merit? If not, ED will be very important.

Look at:
Public schools like UVA, UMichigan, UT, and UNC don't focus on ECs as much.
Depending on major, an ED at a school like Rice or WashU or UChicago could work with a bit of application finessing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one can advise you without knowing the school. Each private school has different matriculation result.

Did you look at Scoir or Naviance?

OP here. I looked at Scoir, but Scoir only tells you what grades and test scores students had to get into certain schools. There is a LOT more to the equation than just grades and test scores. Scoir does not tell you those (whether they were a recruited athlete, legacy, started a business or non profit ...

I am certainly not worried about the grades. I am more worried about the lack of any meaningful Extracurriculars and not being able to stand out.

Decent advice here (making ECs out of video games + doodling (art)):
https://www.tiktok.com/@tineocollegeprep/video/7357163861520387374

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid applied to Pitt without having to mention any ECs. Like other people have said, a job isn't a bad idea, even in retail or food service or seasonal summer positions. Also pursuing volunteering related to their academic/career interests is a good idea. Maybe they could coach younger kids in the sport that they play, volunteer/work at a related summer camp or referee youth games.

I know a kid who had extremely limited ECs (basically 2 sports) but top stats; in looking at bio/had some minor connections to Russia through lang and culture.
Ended up at T10 as a Russian language and literature major.

How?
Added 2 ECs as a rising junior (became library volunteer and creator of Russian Lit Book Club with active MeetUps) and then did virtual NSLI-Y and a few online seminars/courses in Russian Lit.
Pretty easy formula if the interest is real.

Only for uncommon majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior at a good DMV private- not one of the "Big 5", but the tier right below.
He has excellent grades (95+), and is scoring in the 1500-1540 range on his practice SATs so far.

The issue is that he is not motivated to do anything outside of what he needs to do at school and has no passion for anything yet. He plays a sport recreationally, volunteers here and there (no leadership position), and it's honestly been like pulling teeth to get him to do anything to stand out.

From everything I know about college admissions so far, they all seem to be after the kid who is great at one particular thing, has a great story, demonstrated leadership and impact ... of course grades and test scores matter but they don't seem to be enough.

What reach schools should he be aiming for?

If you can afford it, this is the perfect profile for the top UK/EU universities. If he can score 5’s on at least 3 AP tests and with a 1500+ SAT, he would be an easy admit at most UK schools (outside Oxbridge since that is a crapshoot and involves other testing/interviews).

In the EU: Copenhagen, Amsterdam, ETH Zurich, Maastricht, Science Po, Paris, Trinity College. If business, Bocconi. These are all top universities that focus on grades/tests. ECs are irrelevant here.

In the UK, just look at the typical top 10: Oxbridge, LSE, Imperial, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Durham, UCL, Bath, Warwick, Exeter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With high grades and SATs scores, he will get in somewhere. Coming up with a bunch of fake activities at this point seems silly.

"Fake" ones are awful. Distasteful.
But every kid can potentially find a part-time summer job.