<p>My daughter is currently in the process of filling out her online application. I have a question on how to fill out her extracurricular activities. They have a section where you fill out the school/community long term activities such as being part of a high school club, volunteering at a hospital, playing on a high school sports team, etc., but there is no place to add "extra" things like any awards they might have won or special camps (like an engineering camp) or seminars they might have attended. In other applications that she has filled out, there has always been a space to put those type of activities, but there is nothing like this on the Wisconsin application, and I am not sure what to do w/those types of activities on this application.</p>
<p>Here are some examples, my daughter attended an a week long engineering camp last summer and also a 10 day long medical conference. She also fulfilled her school's requirement for "Silver Cord". This means that at her graduation she will get to wear a "Silver Cord" on her gown to signify that she has completed a certain amount of community service hours in order to be given that special distinction. It is a pretty big deal at her high school. She also was selected for and attended a leadership conference for high schools in our area - only 20 students were selected by the teachers and other faculty to attend this conference. I feel like these kinds of activities are important to the review process, but there is no where on the application to include them. The other 4 schools that she applied to all had a "box" where you could enter these types of activities that did not exactly fit the mold of traditional extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>So, I am just looking for advice on how to include these things on her application. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!</p>
<p>Her summer activities are not part of her school year activities. Often those activities are dependent on the ability to pay or fitting them into other plans regardless of the academic ability required to take part in them. Badger State is the only one I can think of that is a direct consequence of a school award. They do not show how a student was able to keep up the workload of school and still have time to persue more. She has “honors and awards”, those also don’t seem to me to be the same as extracurricular activites. I wonder if she could work any of these into an essay if they are among the most significant things she has done, accomplished or been influenced by.</p>
<p>You have to remember that what is a big deal at one school may not count for as much when the whole applicant pool is looked at. Some schools may not give the same opportunities to be recognized although their students achieve more than those at your D’s school. Her guidance counselor can mention these and their significance. National recognition for accomplishments sets her apart from the many who will have equal credentials.</p>
<p>For me it was frustrating several years ago that unless the teacher/coach of cross country mentioned it it was a big deal at son’s school to make varsity- some schools get 10 boys on the team, son’s had around 60 and went to state. Therefore it was much harder to achieve that status. On the other hand, when I look at how much time he did not spend practicing his musical instrument to advance in competition… btw- he had academic accomplishments as well. In my HS eons ago getting into NHS wasn’t as time consuming as it was at son’s school- how does one show the extra hoops required for membership? You don’t.</p>
<p>College admissions will never see the entire person, they just get a snapshot view. The things she (it is HER application, not yours) doesn’t find a spot for on the application will have helped her become the person she is today. She did those things for HER, not her resume.</p>
<p>She did work the engineering camp into one of her essays. She did the camp at Wisconsin and worked it into the essay about what why she decided to apply to Wisconsin. I see what you’re saying about the extracurricular activities and juggling that w/school and also about how some of the camps/conferences are only available to those students who can pay. Some of the things though (like Silver Cord) take a significant amount of time to achieve. She has been working on her service hours since her Freshman year. I was just surprised that there was really nowhere to add accomplishments like this since some of the other schools (that are similar Big 10 colleges) that she is applying to did provide a space for these type of things. I guess everyone that applies to Wisconsin is going to be in the same boat though and will be only able to list their extracurricular activities that take place during the school year.</p>
<p>Also, I wanted to note that there is a place to state what you feel your most important extracurricular activity is, but she already put the National Honor Society for that and doesn’t want to change it because it really is the most important activity to her. Also, I know that this is her application and not mine. I am just trying to advise her as much as I can because this particular application is really important to her, and she wants to make herself look as appealing as possible to the university. That is a good idea about her seeing her guidance counselor and having her fill out the recommendation form listing some of these type of accomplishments for her.</p>
<p>I don’t want to hijack this thread but on a related note, I want to put some non-school related accomplishments such as national merit semifinalist and ap national scholar but I don’t see a space for that on the application. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>So this is what it says at top of Activities section.</p>
<p>Please list below, in order of importance to you, your principal extracurricular, community and/or volunteer activities (high school students include activities in grades 9 through 12 only), as well as honors/awards earned. You may include involvement with school organizations, religious and service organizations, family obligations, employment, and/or participation in the arts, athletics, publications, etc. </p>
<p>We read that to be inclusive of every sort of thing. Did we misunderstand it? D put everything in she could think of. It didn’t limit her to 10 like some apps do. Though since it’s all in one section 'in order of importance, it turns out not very organized.</p>
<p>Remember it is your daughter’s application, not yours. You need to drop the “we” from your thinking. I like the importance order. Students are required to think about their activities and not just list to impress. It tells something about a student. It also means the most important activity doesn’t get lost at the end of a list.</p>
<p>Wis75 ~ I like the importance order as well and for the same reasons you do. My daughter was able to talk to her high school counselor and she is going to write her a recommendation letter and list all the other activities for her that she was not able to put on the activities list.</p>
<p>As a side note, I really like the way the University of Washington-Seattle does their application. There are multiple writing sections where the students are able to highlight their extracurricular activities and accomplishments. In the activities section, they can list up to 5 of their extracurricular activities and then write an up to 200 word essay about what the activity was about, what it meant to them, what they learned from it, etc. There are also several other writing sections where they are able to expand upon extracurricular activities. It’s a lot of writing, but the university will really get a feel for the what the student is about as a whole, above and beyond GPA, class rank, and test scores. Wish more schools had applications like theirs.</p>
<p>Anyway, her application is in to Wisconsin and they have received all the necessary materials. So, now she waits for the decision. Does anyone know when Wisconsin starts sending out their acceptances?</p>