Daughter needs some extracurriculars. Any ideas?

[Anonymous]

Well, just make sure you don't put your name down on DD's applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think many people are being super witches here. OP asked an innocent question. If you can't be helpful, move on. She doesn't need your nasty preaching or condescending attitudes.

OP -- I can be helpful. My little plan worked for my dd who graduated from an Ivy. I would need to know if your child goes to a public or private school and what year they are in. Most people start too late. If child is older than rising freshman, it is late in the ballgame.

Top Ivies want people who are the best in whatever their passion is. So, if your child likes to write, as you say, then she will need to enter and win some writing contests.

For volunteering to have any recognition...child must start something themselves. Must have excellent recommendations from the people served.

Good luck! Don't listen to the naysayers. Check out fastweb.com for some ideas of all of the scholarships and contests out there. Mine won about 6 or 7 national contests and was a recruited athlete as well.

Helicopters at 12 o clock - incoming!

+1
Honestly, I would rather my child do one really average extracurricular that he was actually interested in - or even [b]no ECs and just come home and read books for pleasure every day - than micromanage him into doing things just to catch the eye of the admission committees. What a complete sham. [/b]

I hope the "elite" colleges that require kids to jump through these manufactured hoops are aware that most of these kids are only doing so because the school requires it and because their parents are making them.

Schools can see through this, trust me. That's why the kids with real initiative do stick out. Talk to your daughter if she wants a sounding board, but let her figure it out. That's the only way what she does will come off as genuine.

[Anonymous]

Actually schools encourage this sort of thing by insisting that high school kids must have a "passion" by age 14 and that they should spend 4 years of high school creating a "story" to show that they have followed that passion. It us a ridiculous construct that leaves most kids floundering and wondering why they are losers for not having decided their future by the 10th grade. Of course it sends both parents and kids into a tizzy. I blame the system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually schools encourage this sort of thing by insisting that high school kids must have a "passion" by age 14 and that they should spend 4 years of high school creating a "story" to show that they have followed that passion. It us a ridiculous construct that leaves most kids floundering and wondering why they are losers for not having decided their future by the 10th grade. Of course it sends both parents and kids into a tizzy. I blame the system.

I agree - it's absurd.

[Anonymous]

The kid isn't going to demonstrate any 'passion' for anything if Mommy picks out her extracurriculars. She needs to get off her ass and figure this out for herself.

[Anonymous]

I've been encouraging my daughter to play trumpet in a hipster marching brass band.

[Anonymous]

OP,

I suggest you read "A is for Admission" and "The Gatekeepers". They were respectively written by a former college admissions officer at Dartmouth and a reporter who shadowed an admissions officer at Wesleyan. You will get an excellent idea of what top universities are looking for, despite the fact that they were written some years ago (the concepts are still valid).

Other good books to read are also "The Talent Code", "The Smartest Kids in the World", and "The Price of Admission".

The bottom line is that your daughter has to both stand out and do something she likes doing. Universities really like students that work real jobs, because they think the student isn't too sheltered. Stay away from expensive-looking activities, because they will hold your child to a higher standard if it looks like she's had the financial background to be helicoptered.

So earning money as a babysitter, working as a counselor at a preschool camp, taking early education classes at a community college, plus a great letter of recommendation from a parent client would hang well together.

She could also work/volunteer at a local newspaper, edit her high school paper, write and publish her own book (poems, short stories, novel), submit her writings for competitions, etc.

You have to create an easy image of your child for the admissions officers - they read thousands of files in a few short months and their brains fuse by the end of the process. Make it easy for them!

[Anonymous]

Also look into local church/other religious groups that might offer English classes to adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP,

I suggest you read "A is for Admission" and "The Gatekeepers". They were respectively written by a former college admissions officer at Dartmouth and a reporter who shadowed an admissions officer at Wesleyan. You will get an excellent idea of what top universities are looking for, despite the fact that they were written some years ago (the concepts are still valid).

Other good books to read are also "The Talent Code", "The Smartest Kids in the World", and "The Price of Admission".

The bottom line is that your daughter has to both stand out and do something she likes doing. Universities really like students that work real jobs, because they think the student isn't too sheltered. Stay away from expensive-looking activities, because they will hold your child to a higher standard if it looks like she's had the financial background to be helicoptered.

So earning money as a babysitter, working as a counselor at a preschool camp, taking early education classes at a community college, plus a great letter of recommendation from a parent client would hang well together.

She could also work/volunteer at a local newspaper, edit her high school paper, write and publish her own book (poems, short stories, novel), submit her writings for competitions, etc.

You have to create an easy image of your child for the admissions officers - they read thousands of files in a few short months and their brains fuse by the end of the process. Make it easy for them!

Thank you! I appreciate your great advice. I don't want to micro-manage my daughter. I just wanted to get some good advice and suggestions (like this post) from those more knowledgable.

[Anonymous]

http://www.gazette.net/article/20120425/NEWS/704259525/1094/mentoring-program-takes-off-in-montgomery-county&template=gazette

http://www6.montgomerycountymd.gov/apps/Council/PressPhoto/PP_details.asp?PpID=350

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been encouraging my daughter to play trumpet in a hipster marching brass band.

My brother actually does play the trumpet in a hipster marching band.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No need for snark. I'm just trying to get some ideas to share with my daughter. She will probably find a club or activities that interest her, but if DCUM had some interesting ideas I thought I'd share them with her. I keep reading about kids with "great ECS" and I'm wondering what types of activities these are. Sports? School newspaper? Yearbook?
The only reason I said top tier college is because she has a 4.0, although I realize that these days straight As and good scores don't necessarily get you into a top ranked school. That's partly why I'm trying to help her find some interesting ECs. She loves kids, babysits a lot and works in her schools childcare center.

Given what you have described, maybe she would enjoy tutoring children or adults with literacy challenges?

Any suggestions for places to tutor kids with literacy challenges?

[Anonymous]

ECs that my young teen-agers are doing:

1. DS -- Drama classes, community theater, drama camps, and drama club at school. Choir through his school. Karate through our local community center. He volunteers as an extra for any film/movie project that he can find and has a couple of (unpaid) credits for films. Comic Book Club through school.

2. DD -- loves robotics. Joined the robotics club at school and participates in the First team. Does some community theater with her brother. Participates in karate with her brother and cross-country through school. Anime Club through our public library.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think many people are being super witches here. OP asked an innocent question. If you can't be helpful, move on. She doesn't need your nasty preaching or condescending attitudes.

OP -- I can be helpful. My little plan worked for my dd who graduated from an Ivy. I would need to know if your child goes to a public or private school and what year they are in. Most people start too late. If child is older than rising freshman, it is late in the ballgame.

Top Ivies want people who are the best in whatever their passion is. So, if your child likes to write, as you say, then she will need to enter and win some writing contests.

For volunteering to have any recognition...child must start something themselves. Must have excellent recommendations from the people served.

Good luck! Don't listen to the naysayers. Check out fastweb.com for some ideas of all of the scholarships and contests out there. Mine won about 6 or 7 national contests and was a recruited athlete as well.

Helicopters at 12 o clock - incoming!

Do you really think most kids get into Ivies without a boatload of advice and guidance from their parents?

They don't. Kids don't know what it takes to get into an Ivy. If you want your kid to get into an Ivy, you better help them do what it takes to get into an Ivy. If you don't care (or your kid doesn't want to go to an Ivy), then feel free to back off.

[Anonymous]

What about summer classes? I'm not talking about e pensive college courses but for credit classes a school might offer so kids can get a jump on the following years curriculum.