Can you get into college with no Extra curriculars?

[Anonymous]

DS is a sophomore. He has few activities outside of school. Grades and test scores are fine. He does nothing in the summers except computer gaming with his friends. He is involved in one non-competitive team sport, spring and fall, as of this year. He did earn all his required service hours as a freshman but nothing really sparked an interest in further volunteering. He was involved with one academic club at school in 9th grade but didn't continue it this year.

What are his college prospects? How important are ECs to a student who gets good grades and test scores, but has no particular interests?

[Anonymous]

Yes there are 4000 colleges in US. I am sure she can get in somewhere.

[Anonymous]

I don't think community colleges care about that stuff. There is no way in hell I would let my able bodied high school aged child do nothing in the summer. Take away the controllers!

[Anonymous]

Nothing during the summer? Time to end that.

[Anonymous]

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

+1 My DS is also light on the extracurriculars in his freshman year but at least he works most of the summer at a camp.

[Anonymous]

He needs to get a summer job or internship.

[Anonymous]

Honestly - it does not take much to fill in the activity section. You have mentioned plenty of things to be competitive.

[Anonymous]

If his GPA, Test Score and course rigor are good then he'll get into college.

[Anonymous]

There is a place for everyone. If he is 16 this summer, a summer job even a few hours a week would be a good experience.

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[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.

There is a happy middle ground that exists, neither a liar nor a robot is something to aim for or be proud of.

[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?

It's important to be realistic (not harsh, but realistic) with him about what it takes to get into a selective school-maybe on College Confidential you could find some profiles of students getting into the schools he thinks he's interested in. And, he can get a great education at a state school, even a non-top-tier state school, but he should realize now that he is making choices about his future. Does he get an allowance/everything provided by you? Maybe a job and providing for some of his own wants would be good for him.

[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.

eh, my kid got into Biochem, too, w/o lying on his application. He had extracurricular activities that were not school related and he mentioned them on his resume to show that he's fairly well rounded. He also had some school related extracurricular activities but nothing amazing.

What did your kid lie about? Did he say that he played in the school band or was on the football team? I'm trying to imagine what sort of fake "fluff" he padded his application with.....