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]

Did you ask for activities "that counted"? No. You asked for activities, because supposedly your child was not persuaded that they mattered - even though he's doing them as we speak! Pants on fire, OP.

Whether or not you "count" an activity has less to do with what it is than how good your child is at that activity - don't you understand that?
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