Can you get into college with no Extra curriculars?

[Anonymous]

Another here with a kid with limited ECs. And is also a gamer. Fortunately, he’s in band/marching band and has his various service hours to count as volunteering. He’s done them with the same handful of orgs, so it looks a bit beefier than it is. He also got his first job for the summer—working at a county park. That will help a lot.

Limit the gaming time. I take away the monitor so he can’t be on it day and night. His grades plummeted when he spent too much time online and didn’t have the self control to step away. He gets a few hours on the weekends. That’s it. He still spends too much time on his phone, but it’s far better than when he had unlimited access to his desktop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just lie on the applications.

How do they know he didn’t play sports outside of school or wasn’t part of some club or take lessons? They don’t.

My kid lied on his as he had zero interest in all that crap (much like yours, just liked video games) and guess what? He’s finishing his sophomore year at UVA as a biochem major. As long as you have the grades and test scores, that rest is fluff and filler that meant nothing 10-15 years ago.

And before someone is all ZOMG you raised a liar! Yep. I’d rather have a liar than a stressed out little robot that I read about on here a lot. Just lie. Simple as that.

I have a kid like that and I don't personally subscribe to this EC, charity work crap. It's not like this town is filled with Mother Theresa's. I know.

Can you give me some examples of what you can "get way with"? Need to start thinking about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I grew up here and summer jobs and interning were a big thing here. There are so many places to get internships, some unpaid but that's fine if parents can afford it. Kids can get jobs, it just may not be a job they want.

I know kids who have plain old boring jobs stocking shelves at Harris-Teeter or working the counter at a quick serve restaurant.

I'd definitely want those kids over the ones with lofty sounding internships where they didn't do much because they were too young to be make a real contribution (see PP's reference to bullshit voluntourism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I grew up here and summer jobs and interning were a big thing here. There are so many places to get internships, some unpaid but that's fine if parents can afford it. Kids can get jobs, it just may not be a job they want.

I know kids who have plain old boring jobs stocking shelves at Harris-Teeter or working the counter at a quick serve restaurant.

I'd definitely want those kids over the ones with lofty sounding internships where they didn't do much because they were too young to be make a real contribution (see PP's reference to bullshit voluntourism.

My kid had a hard time finding a summer retail job at the age of 16/17. So it was occasional odd jobs and some volunteer work. We also took advantage of the opportunity to take a nice family vacation over the summer. That was nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just lie on the applications.

How do they know he didn’t play sports outside of school or wasn’t part of some club or take lessons? They don’t.

My kid lied on his as he had zero interest in all that crap (much like yours, just liked video games) and guess what? He’s finishing his sophomore year at UVA as a biochem major. As long as you have the grades and test scores, that rest is fluff and filler that meant nothing 10-15 years ago.

And before someone is all ZOMG you raised a liar! Yep. I’d rather have a liar than a stressed out little robot that I read about on here a lot. Just lie. Simple as that.

I have a kid like that and I don't personally subscribe to this EC, charity work crap. It's not like this town is filled with Mother Theresa's. I know.

Can you give me some examples of what you can "get way with"? Need to start thinking about it.

What the actual f**k. Have some integrity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing during the summer? Time to end that.

Honest question, but why? From a college admission perspective it doesn't look good, but outside of that I see nothing inherently wrong with a teenager just being able to chill for the summer. Why be a camp counselor or library volunteer if their not interested in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just lie on the applications.

How do they know he didn’t play sports outside of school or wasn’t part of some club or take lessons? They don’t.

My kid lied on his as he had zero interest in all that crap (much like yours, just liked video games) and guess what? He’s finishing his sophomore year at UVA as a biochem major. As long as you have the grades and test scores, that rest is fluff and filler that meant nothing 10-15 years ago.

And before someone is all ZOMG you raised a liar! Yep. I’d rather have a liar than a stressed out little robot that I read about on here a lot. Just lie. Simple as that.

I wish to God I had the balls to tell my kid to do this. I just can't bring myself to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People on here are crazy. Teenage summers do not need to be FILLED with activities. That is a new development within the last decade. My teens go to the pool (not a life guards), go on bike rides, spend time with their grandparents and cousins. They will all go to and get accepted into colleges.

Not new. I graduated in 1984 in flyover country. Every kid I knew (public and private school) had a summer job, and a few volunteered.

Back then most kids worked, and not to impress colleges but for spending money. Most teens did not do many extracurricular activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing during the summer? Time to end that.

Honest question, but why? From a college admission perspective it doesn't look good, but outside of that I see nothing inherently wrong with a teenager just being able to chill for the summer. Why be a camp counselor or library volunteer if their not interested in it.

Because life experiences are how people learn to function in the real world. Existing only in make believe worlds for months on end isn't a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing during the summer? Time to end that.

Honest question, but why? From a college admission perspective it doesn't look good, but outside of that I see nothing inherently wrong with a teenager just being able to chill for the summer. Why be a camp counselor or library volunteer if their not interested in it.

Because life experiences are how people learn to function in the real world. Existing only in make believe worlds for months on end isn't a good idea.

Isn't a kid in the "real world" enough during the 10 months of the year they are in school and won't they be in the "real world" soon enough anyways? How are they going to be damaged by spending 8 weeks of their 15th summer on the couch?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing during the summer? Time to end that.

Honest question, but why? From a college admission perspective it doesn't look good, but outside of that I see nothing inherently wrong with a teenager just being able to chill for the summer. Why be a camp counselor or library volunteer if their not interested in it.

Because life experiences are how people learn to function in the real world. Existing only in make believe worlds for months on end isn't a good idea.

Isn't a kid in the "real world" enough during the 10 months of the year they are in school and won't they be in the "real world" soon enough anyways? How are they going to be damaged by spending 8 weeks of their 15th summer on the couch?

Its about giving them life experiences. Even a crappy supermarket job teaches them how a workplace functions and other basics. When they apply for jobs or internships in college, people want to see work experience and a good worth ethic. I always worked in camps and day cares. It was very easy to get a job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People on here are crazy. Teenage summers do not need to be FILLED with activities. That is a new development within the last decade. My teens go to the pool (not a life guards), go on bike rides, spend time with their grandparents and cousins. They will all go to and get accepted into colleges.

Not new. I graduated in 1984 in flyover country. Every kid I knew (public and private school) had a summer job, and a few volunteered.

Back then most kids worked, and not to impress colleges but for spending money. Most teens did not do many extracurricular activities.

I did not work for spending money. I worked for the experience. My mom took all my employment and babysitting money and put it away for me for college to buy a computer and everything else I needed. She gave me going out money and a credit card to get what I need.

[Anonymous]

OP Does gaming cost money? Do you have to subsidize his habit with subscription fees or computer equipment? If so, I think you could insist he hold down a part-time job. Perhaps two four hour shifts a week at a Macdonalds/Baskin Robbins/Safeway etc. I agree that you can't force him to do a typical EC if he does not enjoy it but it is reasonable to expect him to learn some valuable life skills especially if he is spending a lot of time in an alternative reality. It will look good on his college application and it will get him out of his bedroom/basement and into the real world and teach him personal responsibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, he'll get a summer job cooking french fries. But that doesn't make him particularly compelling to any competitive colleges, right?

He shows no drive or enthusiasm for anything besides gaming. We couldn't afford any good summer camps or activities for him that his friends did. We sent him to the cheap county or federally funded stuff in middle school and he hated it and refuses to go to anything that's free or cheap anymore. Honestly they are really poorly run, so I stopped forcing him to go for the experience.

He has this idea he'll get into some competitive/selective colleges because of his grades and test scores, but I'm thinking that's not likely, and especially not likely for merit scholarships. State school is most likely?

If I had a kid like this, college admissions would be the last thing on my mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just lie on the applications.

How do they know he didn’t play sports outside of school or wasn’t part of some club or take lessons? They don’t.

My kid lied on his as he had zero interest in all that crap (much like yours, just liked video games) and guess what? He’s finishing his sophomore year at UVA as a biochem major. As long as you have the grades and test scores, that rest is fluff and filler that meant nothing 10-15 years ago.

And before someone is all ZOMG you raised a liar! Yep. I’d rather have a liar than a stressed out little robot that I read about on here a lot. Just lie. Simple as that.

I wish to God I had the balls to tell my kid to do this. I just can't bring myself to do it.

I don't. This is who I am and this isn't who I want my kid to be. If my kid didn't earn UVA, then there are plenty of other perfectly good schools that will accept a kid without a ton of EC.