Reply to Convincing my son to do ECs!

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Er... unless you're the particularly forward-thinking parent of an elementary schooler, your question makes me think it's already too late for your kid, OP.

Your child should have been diligently pursuing a couple of interests outside of school since middle school. Colleges don't care what the activity is, they care about commitment, dedication, and reaching a high level of proficiency after years of effort. They're not interested in students who just sign up for a wide array of clubs in high school and then don't develop their interest in any other way.

When I mean years of effort, I'm talking about development in sports and music specifically. It takes so much time to be good at these things! You can win science competitions or develop great writing skills and be a yearbook editor with a couple of years of intense prep. But you can't plonk yourself down with a violin in 9th grade and expect to be musical, or be among the first at track without years of muscular exercise.

Ask your kid what they're interested in and orient them to pursuits they can realistically do in the short time they have.

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My kid does play two sports at the varsity level and was selected at the district level for their instrument.  I don't feel like that is sufficient.[/quote]

Those ARE extra-curriculars. Why did you lie?

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I didn't lie.  I was hoping he would pursue more academic ECs.  There are conflicting messages on all the boards about how sports are/are not valued.  Most of dcum threads say sports don't count for anything.  So I didn't count them.  Music is done at school so I don't consider that EC.[/quote]

You lied by omission. When listed on college apps, all that stuff goes in the extra-curriculars. School music included, since he was selected at the district level. Don't claim you didn't know this. You just wanted to exaggerate your son's plight to get more help.

Also, it's not that sports are not valued (if anything, they're way overvalued compared to Model UN or chess). It's that you need a high degree of skill to stand out, since a lot of kids play team sports. Ultimately what matters is standing out in whatever activity your child does, in a measurable way. Colleges need verification of achievement, which is why they defer to gpa, test scores, competition wins, letters of recommendation, anything that a legitimate third party can vouch for. Pick activities in consequences: babysitting, dog walking... they never count, because there's no one credible to certify those activities occurred and were done at a high level. Being employed at the same chain job year after year shows that the kid can survive in the real workforce and is appreciated enough to be rehired every summer, for ex.

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