Ideas for extracurriculars for an athlete with no time

[Anonymous]

Lifeguarding, he could also nominally join some school clubs like Art club, he could take pictures for yearbook of the school's athletic teams and events. But it sounds like he's doing fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like most swimmers, my son is in the pool about 320 days a year. He has his club team, HS team and summer team. He has very, very little time.
He coaches and gives private lessons too.
He has one good student government role (not President).

He’s hoping to be recruited to a D1 mid major or D3 SLAC. Grades will be ok - I’d guess a 3.8-3.9 UW with 6-7 APs. Current sophomore so SAT unknown.

Does he need to fill up his application with some more activities? I worry he has so much depth in athletics but other than SSL hours, he has very little else.

Any suggestions? My feeling is he needs one activity that is of some significance and maybe also Art club or related that is not too time consuming but highlights another genuine non academic interest. He is a very good artist but hasn’t had time to develop- maybe focus here?

What do colleges care about? I don’t want to bother with expensive teen programs everyone gets into and did just to put on an application.

Any activities that you think AO are impressed by?

These sound like ECs to me and are 100% in sync with his passions. Just be sure to pull out positive qualities gained/given from those activities - like leadership, mentorship, community, helping others, using swimming in non-competitive way, etc

[Anonymous]

At our school, there are lots of clubs that meet at lunch. They aren't big commitments (many of them are entirely within the school day). (They also aren't particularly 'impressive' for schools.). But if he signed up for these, he might have fun, meet new people. And he would have options if he isn't recruited for swimming or if he feels like he needs to add to the activities list.

(I agree with others that swimming will be listed as separate items-- swim team is different from teaching others.)

[Anonymous]

Summer is a good time to diversify. He could be counselor at an art summer camp, for instance (making money rather than costing money).