<p>what the hell is a come-uppin</p>
<p>i want one</p>
<p>OMG jimmy. a come-uppin is something you get, like, in punishment in the end. let's see, why can i not be more eloquent...like, "backfire," almost? except not. more like "it will come back and bite you."</p>
<p>Anyway...good athletes are more rare than smart people. Oh well, thats life.</p>
<p>That's not true at all. People can train to be good athletes. People can't train to be smart. Sure, being olympic-caliber takes innate ability, but so does being brilliant. Getting good grades is - people like that don't count as the aforementioned smart people.</p>
<p>^^^ in general, being smarter is more valuable career-wise than being good at sports.</p>
<p>I agree with you that being smarter/brilliant is more USEFUL, but I'm just saying that in the eyes of a college it's like ohh wow this person has good SATs/ECs/whatev just like the other 200000 people. </p>
<p>But WAIT, this person can bring our school GLORY through sports! (With a really excited/astonished/evil grin on their face)Hahahah </p>
<p>Well, thats how I imagine it anyway...</p>
<p>LOL, that's true and being a great athlete may get you recruited to a top notch university, but even if you attend Podunk U. but end up finishing first in your class/major, you can likely pick any grad school you want.</p>
<p>I agree with the people who said showing dedication and passion. For example, IMO, 20 hrs. of ballet classes a week is more demanding than 5 hrs of being school president....</p>
<p>Going to Uganda during the summer and helping with AIDS victims 4 summers in a row.</p>
<p>I knew someone who did that...eventually she got accepted into Johns Hopkins.</p>
<p>It depends on the case. My captain for our volleyball team is top notch player in the state, nominated to the all american team. The leadership and charisma she displays outshines any of the presidents of whatever clubs I have ever known, and even the most briiliant/smart students in my school. btw, she was approached by the ivy league coaches.</p>
<p>I'm more academically focused, and being smart and stuff certainly brings more advantage in life later. But I think some of the stuff you learn when doing sports is what you'll never get under any other circumstances.</p>
<p>yeah, jssballet is right. Not even maybe hours, but if you have stuck with something like ballet, or soccer for 8 years, or you were active in a club at school all 4 years; that looks better than being in chess club 10th, 11th, the basketball team 9th, yearbook 12th, and hispanic honor society 10th.</p>
<p>The best EC for college is the one that the particular college covets at the moment. If you have what they want, the likelihood of admissions goes way up. The problem is that it changes, even within an admissions cycle. The orchestra might have a guest conductor of great authority coming and they want it stacked. Especially for his favorite section. So if they are light on cellos, the cellists get a break. But if there happens to be 10 great ED cellists, then the need is met, and the 11th cellist who is applying RD gets nada. That is how fickle it can be. The same with sports. Unless you are truly national level with the Big 10 schools panting for you in a high impact sport, you do not get a bye into the school necessarily. You may get nothing if you are in a sport with no clout and too many kids with that handle during this admission year.</p>
<p>The best EC is the one that no one else has.</p>
<p>I am glad someone finally plugged music. The second of my four children had such mediocre SAT's and grades that I can only surmise that his acceptance to a top university was due to his musical accomplishments - he had no other extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>iggal - to which university was your child accepted? and what were his (her) musical accomplishments?</p>
<p>what about speech&debate?</p>
<p>He got into Berkeley (and the other U.C.'s.) He started playing violin and piano at age 3, won some violin competitions at ages 8 and 10, played in his first youth orchestra at age 8, was accepted by the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra at age 11, was first chair in the World Youth Orchestra at Interlochen Summer Institute, and was a high chair at the All-State Honor Orchestra. He also composed and arranged music on his synthesizer and sold one of his compositions when he was 12. In high school he added drums and bass guitar and had a garage band. The ironic postscript is that, although he initially majored in music, he added economics as a safeguard, is now in grad school, and only plays when he comes home.</p>
<p>Yes, how good does speech and debate look if you win a few tournaments here and there...? What if you dont?</p>