Are higher grades more important?

[Anonymous]

My DS is in 9th grade at an all boys' Catholic HS. He has ADHD and takes medication daily. It wears off by 6pm or so. I've read about the important of extra curricular activities when applying to colleges but the issue is that many of the activities take up so much after school time. By the time he would get home from them, the medication would be worn off or close to wearing off which means his 2-3 hrs of homework would end up being much longer. He needs sleep because his alarm goes off at 6am. He does have one activity that only goes until 4:30 twice a week. I am thinking that might have to be enough in terms of activities since his grades are more important. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

We are in a similar situation. My son has ADHD, and low processing speed, and he cannot add too many extras to his schedule because it takes him so much time to do his work. It is what it is, and I hope some universities will still recognize his worth.

Please note that non-US unis consider grades and not extra-curriculars, so if this is an option for you... we are thinking of Canadian universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
We are in a similar situation. My son has ADHD, and low processing speed, and he cannot add too many extras to his schedule because it takes him so much time to do his work. It is what it is, and I hope some universities will still recognize his worth.

Please note that non-US unis consider grades and not extra-curriculars, so if this is an option for you... we are thinking of Canadian universities.

OP here. Do the Canadian schools help with getting student visas? I also read a thread about universities in the UK as another possibility.

[Anonymous]

There is literally a college for everyone and you need to find the one that suits them and meets their needs.

Will your kid get into Harvard or Yale without some other ‘something?’ Probably not. But there are many others where they would be welcomed and do well.

Talk to the college counselor at your kid’s school!

[Anonymous]

ECs are not a deal-breaker at many, many schools.

[Anonymous]

OP- my DS13 has ADHD (so, given that we haven't applied to colleges, you can decide if this is useful or not).

We're prioritizing grades and the executive functioning needed to achieve good grades, because, while ECs might help DS get into college, they like won't help him stay.

That said, because of reasons you stated, we're going outside of school for extras. DS13 plays the piano and we can schedule lessons and practice at more convenient times. We're doing summer camps that not only have academic benefit but might also have some some hooks, like coding, test-in math camps, language immersion, etc. Because DS was blessed with a high IQ, I applied him to scholar programs that we can use a) for summer camps and b) can go on his resume (Davidson, JHU, etc).

At school, DS will participate in band during school hours with only occasional after school practice-- he does the math team, but it's early (starts an hour before school). We would love to do school sports, but DS isn't interested + there is a big after school time commitment. We can't do that every day because with 2 hours of homework and a countdown to when his meds wear off, it will harm his grades and cause him a lot of anxiety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- my DS13 has ADHD (so, given that we haven't applied to colleges, you can decide if this is useful or not).

We're prioritizing grades and the executive functioning needed to achieve good grades, because, while ECs might help DS get into college, they like won't help him stay.

That said, because of reasons you stated, we're going outside of school for extras. DS13 plays the piano and we can schedule lessons and practice at more convenient times. We're doing summer camps that not only have academic benefit but might also have some some hooks, like coding, test-in math camps, language immersion, etc. Because DS was blessed with a high IQ, I applied him to scholar programs that we can use a) for summer camps and b) can go on his resume (Davidson, JHU, etc).

At school, DS will participate in band during school hours with only occasional after school practice-- he does the math team, but it's early (starts an hour before school). We would love to do school sports, but DS isn't interested + there is a big after school time commitment. We can't do that every day because with 2 hours of homework and a countdown to when his meds wear off, it will harm his grades and cause him a lot of anxiety.

OP-- I guess to expound a bit more, you might consider activities with a primary weekend commitment. For instance, I volunteered at a hospital when I was in HS- you could look at clubs vs. traditional sports if your DS is interested. There may be less of a formal time commitment or it might be more flexible + plus it's social and fun.
At DS's school, the math team starts off as a recreational team (open to on-grade or advanced math students), then the kids test for a spot of the formal team- so, for the kids who don't make it in, it's still a valuable activity to list for school participation + helps with academics.
If you decide on formal extracurriculars, maybe there is a way to get a lot of homework out of the way on weekends or during the day? One accommodation that our excellent private school is providing for DS-- a full year of study hall. So, while many of the other kids are filling that time with an elective, DS is using it to get a lot of homework done while he's in school mode and has teachers available to answer questions. He also goes to every tutorial and after school additional learning session -- he's managed to cut his homework load by over 50% and raise his grades by using his time and resources wisely-- a great skill to take to college.
Anyway, I'll stop- but we are in the same boat and this is what is/will work for us.

[Anonymous]

Regardless of ADHD, freshman year can be a rough transition.

My DS (now a Jr) also has ADHD and DD (now a freshman) does not. DS really struggled freshman year and we had to have him work with tutors and add medication but is now a Jr with straight As in challenging classes. It got a lot better sophomore year. He still does very little with extracurriculars at school but is involved in a few things at our church.

DD is taking a somewhat heavier class load than DS did freshman year and did an intense EC in Fall/winter. She was struggling a lot with organization and keeping up with the work and has decided to just do a light EC for the rest of the school year so she can focus on classwork.

I'd say OP's child should focus on classwork right now and not worry about ECs. If he wants to do more as he progresses through HS, that's great. What you do freshman year doesn't have to define all of HS.

[Anonymous]

I think your gut reaction is correct. If everything is going swimmingly, he can always add activities in later years. He could also look for single-day things like trips to a soup kitchen, helping with book drives, etc.

[Anonymous]

I’m general, many public state colleges are very stats based (test scores and GPA) and don’t really care about the elaborate ECs.

Also, as some have mentioned, Canadian and UK schools are like this as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS is in 9th grade at an all boys' Catholic HS. He has ADHD and takes medication daily. It wears off by 6pm or so. I've read about the important of extra curricular activities when applying to colleges but the issue is that many of the activities take up so much after school time. By the time he would get home from them, the medication would be worn off or close to wearing off which means his 2-3 hrs of homework would end up being much longer. He needs sleep because his alarm goes off at 6am. He does have one activity that only goes until 4:30 twice a week. I am thinking that might have to be enough in terms of activities since his grades are more important. Thoughts?

You could also look into a "booster" dose of ADHD medication for after school. We have done that in the past if my son needs to get home work done, but his long acting medicine has worn off.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone. He tried a booster in middle school but he was up until after midnight. He sometimes has trouble falling sleep even without a booster. He does do one individual sport outside of school once a week. We can pick from two different sessions which helps. He sees if he has a lot of homework before deciding. He just isn't interested in anything else beyond his one after school club. I'll look into the summer camp offered for that activity (cyber security). It just seems like every other kid is doing a lot of stuff outside of school and he has to compete with these classmates for spots at some of the same schools. He is bright and takes 3 honors classes which is just extra work. He is doing okay in the classes except for one which I am going to get a tutor for after midterms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We are in a similar situation. My son has ADHD, and low processing speed, and he cannot add too many extras to his schedule because it takes him so much time to do his work. It is what it is, and I hope some universities will still recognize his worth.

Please note that non-US unis consider grades and not extra-curriculars, so if this is an option for you... we are thinking of Canadian universities.

OP here. Do the Canadian schools help with getting student visas? I also read a thread about universities in the UK as another possibility.

PP you replied to. I actually haven't thought that far ahead! A student visa is one of the easiest kind to get, so I wouldn't worry about that, but more about distance and the fact that non-US unis are generally a lot more hands-off with their students, which for ADHD students can pose a problem.

[Anonymous]

Gotcha. I guess it makes more sense for him to be closer to home but things can change in the next 3 years. Who knows what will happen?

[Anonymous]

My son has a similar profile - is even at a local Catholic school - and he’s already been accepted to three colleges, one with merit. He did no extracurriculars except one that met mostly during the school day.

You are on the right path!