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[QUOTE=vicariousparent]
They do also ask how many weeks a year. My D added up the hours spent per year and divided by the total number of weeks when she is engaged in the activity at all.
[/quote]
That’s what my son did, too.
As to travel time, I think he counted some of it (e.g., where it included loading and unloading school equipment), but not just driving to and from the venues. He didn’t have any seven hour bus trips, mind. :)</p>
<p>wow - I agree with momthree and hope this is just overthinking things.
I guess the student just has to be prepared to answer truthfully if asked about the amount of time. DS works 25 hrs./wk at one job and 10 hrs. at another, during Marching Band season (25+ hrs./wk) plus school, homework (sleep?) it doesn’t look possible on paper but we all know the kids do it, may not be easy at times, but it’s not that unusual.</p>
<p>S2’s hours divide up as mostly football in the fall, debate and MUN kick in November through March, weight training is Nov.-late May, then July-mid-Aug., karate is year-round, occasional volunteering during the school year (more along the lines of targeted projects), then lots of it during the summer, etc. There were other things he’d like to have continued doing (namely stage crew), but the time commitment plus IB conflicted with too many other things.</p>
<p>I’d second the don’t overthink advice and just put down the actual number of hours. Lots of kids are heavily involved in ECs and are also good students. It’s not unusual.</p>
<p>I agree with a previous poster. Some stuff like Musical theatre has INSANE hours(albeit not all the time)</p>
<p>For me personally, we do three shows/year(10 weeks each)</p>
<p>Fall Play: 2.5hours/day weekdays + 4 hours saturdays= 16.5 hours a week
One Acts: 3 hours/day 3 days/week+ 5 hours saturdays= 14 hours week
Musical: 3 hours/day 5 days/week + 7 hour saturdays= 22 hours a week</p>
<p>And that’s just theatre. When you add in Debate(5 hours/week), Work (10 hours/week) and everything else a year, I average around 33. It’s just the way it is.</p>
<p>I had a chance to do admissions. We were asked to take a close look at the number and amount of time devoted to ECs. 28 hours at first does not seem excessive might often reflect less than a critical eye for the admissions process. In high school I played 2 varsity sports was in student government and a couple of clubs. Yet my weekly avg. was lower than 28 hours. For example, most sports are seasonal and typically a member of the debate team does not attend all debate tournaments. Also I feel a bit weird about adding summer camps into the total. In my opinion attending a sport or debate camp is developmental activity not an EC. Think about it 225 hours on an activity over 52 weeks is ~4.3 hours per week. By the way the amount of time you devote to an EC is far less important than the contribution you make to the ‘group effort’. Finally, the AdComs are professional they have a good sense of what it takes to for the typical HS ECs. It turns out that the ‘stars’ (football or debate) have balanced lives which translates to more than 3 hours a week for life outside of school per day.
You might be interested in taking a look at this article on the admissions process. ([In</a> or Out: Inside College Admissions - TIME](<a href=“http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,57724,00.html]In”>http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,57724,00.html)).</p>
<p>^^ That is a very interesting article appdad but could you please explain what you mean?</p>
<p>I see that you do not consider summer camps to be part of an EC even though it is directly related to that EC? That is an interesting take on what constitutes an EC, since I thought that the extra- in EC would mean it could happen at any time of the year regardless of school. But let us put that aside, I truly do not understand what you mean by the statement: </p>
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<p>Are you saying that those who estimate 28 hrs are simply not doing the math right? Or that, as I said in my OP, the adcoms will either assume the student is lying or has no social life?</p>
<p>I was confused by that, too.</p>
<p>I just looked at my D’s common app- there is a question “When did you participate in this activity” and then two boxes, one for school year and another for summer, and you can check just one or both. So for a debater who attended summer debate camp it would make a lot of sense to check both boxes and report all the hours and weeks together in that section. </p>
<p>Anyway, now I am definitely overthinking it. I think the LORs, awards and music supplement should back up the hours quite nicely.</p>
<p>I get what appdad is saying. Play a sport or two or three per year (or substitute music or dance or theater), a part-time job and maybe a club or two plus study time and maybe some volunteer hours and the week if gone. Of course kids have more time in the summer but many kids work more hours in the summer than during the school year and realistically much more than that and you are counting crumbs. Kids socialize, too. They “hang out”, play video games, read books, watch movies, go on dates, help around the house/yard, …all that normal stuff that isn’t an “EC.”</p>
<p>I’m with who ever said this is a bad question. It throws everyone for a loop every year and is just poorly designed. Given it is a computerized form why not something like
Jan Feb Mar … Dec
Baseball 36 80 100 0
Drama 0 0 0 80 </p>
<p>Put the total hours per month in each box - this kid had a play in the fall and played baseball in the spring.</p>
<p>^^What a great idea^^
So it’ll never happen…</p>
<p>That was me LOL that thinks it’s a “bad” question. I joked with my S2 last week that he should put down “hanging out with friends” and assign some hours. I’m betting that would come back as a question in an interview LOL. I can hear it now, the admissions person looks down, looks at my son and says "So what do you and your friends do when you are “hanging out?” It happened again to S2 a couple weeks ago, we were finishing up a tour and the college president was cutting across campus and came over and asked the kids questions including what are you thinking of majoring in. Of course the girls went first with these wonderful dreams and then S2 the only boy on the tour mumbles, “I dunno” to which the college president laughed and said, we like kids like you, college is a time to explore blah, blah, blah. Sorry, but I’m one who doesn’t think all colleges look for “perfect kids”, with perfect resumes filled with wonderful “things” and no time for dreaming, thinking, hanging out. Maybe I’m living in a dream world, but deep down I suspect not. Of course the top schools look for someone unique who has some passion about something but if you are just a normal bright kid, you look like a normal kid on paper who has interests, things they do, dreams, etc. Unless they are a world class athlete or an uber-intellect who has been programed since age 5 toward a specific life course, most kids are “trying life on”, they aren’t fully formed yet and can’t be reduced to x hours at this and x hours at that.</p>
<p>That is light for some varsity sports. If you have a three season sport varsity player, then they are probably spending at least 35 hours each week on their sport, year round during the school year. Some sports also start/continue training in the summer.</p>
<p>In our system, most varsity sports practice 3-6 M-F during season, swimmers 5:30-7:30 am and 3-6 pm M-F during season, plus games/meets, etc. Summer and off season varies by sport and athletic association regulations supervised vs. on one’s own or if they are in a travel league.</p>
<p>The varsity teams usually set a 3 to 4 limit on varsity team practice. If your HS requires 7 hours of practice per day during the school year something is wrong. If your goal is to play for top 25 college football or basketball program then I can understand committing equal time to sports and academics. However, if the goal is to go to a Ivy or T10 LAC the focus is on academics. Look at the rules they have in place designed to assure the proper balance between sports and academics. The adcoms at selective colleges will be looking to see if the applicant made ‘intelligent’’ decisions with respect to time devoted to ECs and academics. In the final analysis the outcome depends on the skills and effort of the applicant. My brother played 3 varsity sports won numerous awards and was even drafted by the NFL. However, in HS like me he was required to practice no more than 3 hours per day. If the applicant spent 35 hours a week on sports and earned 3.0 GPA I hope they are not expecting to get into a selective college.</p>
<p>Appdad, I don’t know how old your brother is or where he played, but here in our district, the football players have to be there at 6:00 a.m. for morning runs (school starts at 7:40). Then, they lift weights after school, have their team meeting/review films, and then practice until 7:00 p.m. (School ends at 2:20.) Sometimes the coach keeps them longer and my son walks in the door after 8:00. So that’s at least 6.5 hours each day devoted to the sport. That is typical in our area. (Then, there are games or practices on the weekends…there is even practice on Sunday from 12 to 4 typically.)</p>
<p>It’s a lot, for sure. My son is not going to play football in college, but it doesn’t matter how good or bad you are, you’re expected to be there or be suspended from the next game. The only acceptable excuse is illness (and if you were in school that day, you are well enough to practice) or tutoring/make-up testing/anything academic at school. </p>
<p>I can’t say that I like it…in fact, I think it’s nuts. But it is certainly typical. I think that, fortunately, colleges know how much time is devoted to some of these sports.</p>
<p>Interesting!!! The NCAA has a 20 hour per week (max 4 per day) limit on team related activities for a student-athelete. All D-1 teams have a compliance officer who is there to make sure the rules are enforced. I have heard of coaches that try to work around the rule but I also heard it requires some skill.</p>
<p>I have attached a copy of the NCAA D1 20/8-Hour Rule.
<a href=“http://www1.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/43c919804e1d371bae28be9565dafefc/Agendas.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=43c919804e1d371bae28be9565dafefc[/url]”>http://www1.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/43c919804e1d371bae28be9565dafefc/Agendas.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=43c919804e1d371bae28be9565dafefc</a></p>
<p>ReadytoRoll, something doesn’t sound right about the practice times. There are very strict rules about practice and the amount of time. I know my son’s football coach emphasizes that the kids lift or crosstrain outside of practice hours and during off season, but it’s not mandatory and the coaches are not present. I sometimes wonder how the swimmers get around it.</p>
<p>I think “getting around it” is the key. In our state for my sons’ sports, for instance, during the offseason coaches are not allowed to be on the field “coaching” them. But that doesn’t mean they don’t practice. Ds1 does weights, running and field work three times a week in the offseason – not part of a conditioning class – and ds2 is working out with his team twice a week under the direction of the team captains. Plus, ds1 this summer did a league, so under this one EC he has a lot of hours throughout the year even though the season itself is technically only about 10 weeks long.</p>
<p>I’ve heard the same thing about marching bands at hyper-competitive schools. The directors get around it by making student section leaders conduct the “optional” – HAHAHAHA! – sectionals.</p>
<p>I think in both these instances, kids should put down the time they’re REALLY spending on these activities, rather than what the “rules” say.</p>