Anonymous
Post 12/11/2025 11:33     Subject: How are students supposed to build good extracurriculars when everything is impossible to join?
Anonymous wrote:Do you not understand what people are saying in the thread? Do you know how to read?
People are saying these opportunities are impossible to get. Summer programs are very selective. Research and the other stuff are unobtainable for most students


I do know how to read. I said take a look at mentoring/summer programs through local nonprofits not pay-to-play. My kids both secured research spots with local university professors through cold emails. We happen to live near our state flagship, so there are definitely professors looking for HS students who will shadow and will help with the grunt work (data entry, etc). The point I was trying to make is that most of my kids' ECs were done outside of school, and that volunteering, part time jobs and working with local nonprofits can create an interesting application with plenty of depth.
Anonymous
Post 12/11/2025 05:03     Subject: How are students supposed to build good extracurriculars when everything is impossible to join?
Anonymous wrote:Play football. Football teams never have cuts.


1. Most parents don’t let their kids play football

2. You have to start playing long before high school if you want to start on varsity, especially if you aren’t a linemen
Anonymous
Post 12/10/2025 22:58     Subject: How are students supposed to build good extracurriculars when everything is impossible to join?
I hoped my DD would participate in the program that handwrites letters to seniors in nursing homes. It seems like such a wonderful program. She was too busy with sports, so never had the time. Any kid can volunteer to do that from the comfort of their home.
Anonymous
Post 12/10/2025 21:05     Subject: How are students supposed to build good extracurriculars when everything is impossible to join?
I am a new poster and agree that in-school EC are not necessary. You dont need to fight the battle of joining competitive school clubs or varsity sports. They are really not that special. There are so many ways a kid can develop and explore interests independently. Be creative and think outside the box. Colleges like kids who are smart, curious, engaged and bonus points for showing leadership and impact. Impact can be defined in many ways. And leadership is not about titles, it's more about what you've done. None of our kids won national awards and they weren't big school student leaders. However, they were high academic achievers and pursued 1-2 interests deeply, and on their own.
Anonymous
Post 12/10/2025 21:03     Subject: How are students supposed to build good extracurriculars when everything is impossible to join?
Play football. Football teams never have cuts.
Anonymous
Post 12/10/2025 20:40     Subject: How are students supposed to build good extracurriculars when everything is impossible to join?
Anonymous wrote:My kid at an Ivy had mostly non-school related ECs- musical instrument (never did school band), research at local university, mentorship program/tutoring, PT job lifeguarding. Second kid applying to schools now has similar ECs, a couple school sports (small private so anyone can participate) but main sport is outside of school. Look for local volunteering opportunities, summer jobs, other mentoring/summer programs through local nonprofits. If you’re worried, take a peek at the supplemental essays for a handful of schools you think your kid might enjoy, and have them brainstorm ideas for these, then try to expand on those ideas through deeper involvement in particular activities over the next year.


Do you not understand what people are saying in the thread? Do you know how to read?


People are saying these opportunities are impossible to get. Summer programs are very selective. Research and the other stuff are unobtainable for most students
Anonymous
Post 12/10/2025 20:08     Subject: How are students supposed to build good extracurriculars when everything is impossible to join?
And it’s frustrating when everyone assumes this only applies to getting into T20s. Even getting into Virginia Tech is extremely hard
Anonymous
Post 12/10/2025 19:32     Subject: How are students supposed to build good extracurriculars when everything is impossible to join?
My kid at an Ivy had mostly non-school related ECs- musical instrument (never did school band), research at local university, mentorship program/tutoring, PT job lifeguarding. Second kid applying to schools now has similar ECs, a couple school sports (small private so anyone can participate) but main sport is outside of school. Look for local volunteering opportunities, summer jobs, other mentoring/summer programs through local nonprofits. If you’re worried, take a peek at the supplemental essays for a handful of schools you think your kid might enjoy, and have them brainstorm ideas for these, then try to expand on those ideas through deeper involvement in particular activities over the next year.
Anonymous
Post 12/10/2025 18:56     Subject: How are students supposed to build good extracurriculars when everything is impossible to join?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:This is one of the main reason parents pay for private school. They will make sure your child has every EC opportunity. That plus grade inflation + poetic recommendations = T20 admissions.


Ummm, privates don’t have grade inflation. And good luck making a spot on the team where basketball has 6’10” freshmen recruits and football top NFL prospects, baseball an MLB straight out of HS. That’s our private.


Ummmmmmmmm, yeah, right.


Well sure, Harvard Westlake is an exception.
Anonymous
Post 12/10/2025 17:40     Subject: How are students supposed to build good extracurriculars when everything is impossible to join?
Anonymous wrote:Move to Idaho. Or West Virginia. Problems solved. The talent there is so scarce that an average striver in DMV easily stands out, makes National Merit Semifinalist, and enjoys geographic diversity when applying to colleges.


But the you have to live in Idaho or West Virginia.
Anonymous
Post 12/10/2025 17:35     Subject: How are students supposed to build good extracurriculars when everything is impossible to join?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:This is one of the main reason parents pay for private school. They will make sure your child has every EC opportunity. That plus grade inflation + poetic recommendations = T20 admissions.


We need regular sized public schools. 500-750 students. Insane we've let these massive schools be developed!



A public high school with 500 students would be very poor by school standards. Even in a reasonably UMC suburb. You're looking at really minimal AP options and an almost non-existent sports infrastructure. The only way you can find successful publics at this size is in big cities where you have magnet schools. Like School Without Walls in DC is around 600 students I think. But that's because the school is essentially just a G&T program for the district housed in a separate school. It's not at the top of a high school pyramid with elementary and middle schools feeding into it. It can offer higher level programming because they've selected only students who can handle it, which means they don't have to offer remedial or even standard programming. And even Walls has pretty minimal sports and EC offerings for a high school -- it's not a great school for a true student-athlete who excels at both, unless they have wealthy parents who can pay for private sports opportunities.


Not true. Tons of small high schools in wealthy suburbs in the northeast. We’re in a CT suburb outside of NYC, 550 kid high school.

In southern states like VA and MD schools are run at the county level and are run like giant soulless prisons to save money. In the northeast schools are run at the town level, so wealthy towns invest a lot in them and they are smaller with smaller class sizes much like private schools. Unfortunately this means they are also more segregated. But it also means every single kid is from a wealthy family and therefore more likely to be high achieving. Tons of advanced offerings here.
Anonymous
Post 12/10/2025 16:39     Subject: How are students supposed to build good extracurriculars when everything is impossible to join?
Anonymous wrote:This is one of the main reason parents pay for private school. They will make sure your child has every EC opportunity. That plus grade inflation + poetic recommendations = T20 admissions.


Strong private schools do not have grade inflation. Weak private schools do. Same deal with public schools where there is a great variation in grade inflation.
Anonymous
Post 12/10/2025 16:30     Subject: How are students supposed to build good extracurriculars when everything is impossible to join?
Anonymous wrote:DS is an Eagle Scout. All of his friends in the Honors College at UMD were also Eagles. Coincidence? I think not. Some were ROTC as well.

My DD tried BSA for a while. It just wasn’t her thing. But I noticed that a lot of kids were doing it to check it off the college list. Get their ranks as fast as possible, etc. It shows that you can jump through hoops. I think what you get out of it really depends on the kid. She quit after a summer camp bc she felt BSA was too “cultish.” Oh well.
Anonymous
Post 12/10/2025 16:24     Subject: How are students supposed to build good extracurriculars when everything is impossible to join?
DS is an Eagle Scout. All of his friends in the Honors College at UMD were also Eagles. Coincidence? I think not. Some were ROTC as well.
Anonymous
Post 12/10/2025 16:11     Subject: How are students supposed to build good extracurriculars when everything is impossible to join?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:This is just untrue, OP. Be careful about adopting a defeatist attitude. If your kid wants to compete for and do the same activities that everyone else is vying for, then yes it can be tough to get in, but colleges do not care that you have the cookie cutter resume. They just want to see that your kid is involved with *something* they are passionate about. For example, if there is a cause they care about deeply they can volunteer and do some good for that organization. They can play an instrument or join a chorus or other community arts group, and it doesn't even have to be the competitive group. They can get an actual job after school or during the summer. The point is to be engaged in something they care about and where they can demonstrate initiative, responsibility, or skill.


Being mediocre in everything you do isn’t compelling for admissions officers

So the options are National level or mediocre? No in between?