College class vs ECs?

Parents Forum
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<p>I'm back after a three week hiatus, and once again could really use some advice. Here's the situation: D's a junior and taking 3 APs, Spanish, German, JROTC, 2 study halls (the school has 8 blocks) and Arabic at the local cc. </p>

<p>She's interested in double majoring in Arabic and psychology and wants to take Abnormal Psych at the cc (which she could do since she got a 5 on the AP Psych exam last year). This would give her a total of 8 college credits this semester. </p>

<p>Problem is that ECs are so weak. All she has is
varsity cross country 9-11
Spanish club 10
Spanish honor society 11
Girl Scouts 9-10 (she's still in but wants to drop it because she says she hates it, plus if she adds the second college class there will be a time conflict with group meetings)
two JROTC drill teams 9-10, commanded one in 10, currently in one </p>

<p>If she adds the second college class, she wants to drop drill team as well as Girl Scouts, which would leave her with only cross country for her junior year EC. Says there are not enough hours in the day for both. I understand and don't want her to overextend, burn out, and get senioritis a year early.</p>

<p>Summers she likes her cross country team practice and does road races (she's a member of the local track club) and write screenplays on her own, but she's not interested in volunteer work and with this economy, the job prospects don't look good. </p>

<p>The guidance counselors here are nice and seem caring, but can't help much with private or oos because the top graduates almost always go to Flagship State U. D's top two choices are U of Texas - Austin and UCLA, both oos (alas). With a 29 ACT and 3.9 unweighted GPA, both look like reaches. </p>

<p>I don't know whether the second college class or the ECs would be best for college apps, and more important, best for her. Has anyone else faced a similar dilemma?</p>

<p>Any advice would be greatly appreciated - from parents or any students who might be reading this. Thanks!</p>

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<p>The drill team does give her some leadership since she commanded one, but sounds like she is currently a participant because of lack of interest or lack of time? Why did she drop Spanish club?</p>

<p>Girl Scouts- this could be more flexible if she has the interest, but it sounds like she does not. She could be independent (not part of a troop) and do leadership and service related things on her own, but only if she had the interest. Does she hate the program or hate the girls/leader? Also in her troop, what is she doing? If she just goes to meetings and isn't doing anything which she can show that has impact, it is also not good to continue just to keep the membership going.</p>

<p>So I'd say the class sounds neat and I think adding it would show her interests, if there is a way to keep the drill team that would be good. If cross country is only in the fall or all year? If the former, and if drill team doesn't fit with the college class, is there anything else she can do for the rest of the year, maybe a different sport or any in school activity she could do during a study hall, maybe a project with a teacher.</p>

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<p>ECs don't have to be at her high school. My feeling is that since she's excited about Arabic and wants to drop Girl Scouts and/or drill team that's the right way to go. I wonder if there's something she could be doing that would expand on her interest in Arabic - volunteer type stuff perhaps, but not the work in the soup kitchen type stuff. Perhaps there's some sort of Arab-American friendship organization?</p>

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<p>Thanks, jackie. You're right that she's only participating in drill team because of lack of time. Arabic turned out to be easier than she expected, and at the beginning of the year she did not want to make a committment to lead when she didn't think she would have the same time to dedicate to it as last year. She's also losing interest in it -- I think she overdid it last year and sort of burned out on it. She dropped Spanish club because she never wanted to participate in the first place (she could still join since the teacher who leads it is very flexible and understands that they have other activities).</p>

<p>With Girl Scouts, it's hard to say if her lack of interest is the troop or the program. The troop is focusing on a cruise they want to go on senior year, which D is not interested in at all (many of them are friends outside school/GS and don't include her). She had an innovative idea for a Gold Award project, but it seems unlikely to be approved.</p>

<p>Cross country is only in the fall. She was going to run track in the spring, but had a running injury and doesn't like the track coach anyway.</p>

<p>One problem with drill team is that practices are in the morning before school, and if she takes two college classes, that will mean three late nights. </p>

<p>Your idea of a project with a teacher is great -- maybe she can do what she wanted for Scouts as an independent project with a teacher. Thanks!</p>

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<p>Thanks, mathmom. Maybe she could ask her Arabic professor about something like that. If there's some sort of friendship organization around here, that would give her a chance to practice her Arabic also. </p>

<p>D's not big on ECs and socializing in school, so it's helpful to remember that ECS can be out of school, too.</p>

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<p>I am a believer in doing what you like to do, not doing something that "looks good". Running can be her main EC. She can detail her summer running and self training in her application. It just isn't worth it to be stuck going to an activity one resents.</p>

<p>Finding a way to explore her language interest and psychology interest by taking classes shows a lot of initiative. Not many people could make that work out for them, either as a priority or in time management issues. I give her credit for that.</p>

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<p>Required</a> HS Courses | Freshmen | Be a Longhorn</p>

<p>Since she is interested in UT you might want to make sure she is taking the courses they recommend for admission: 4 yrs English, 4 yrs math, 3 yrs science, 3 yrs social studies and 1/2 yr fine arts. (The State of Texas now requires the 4x4 plan for high school students which is four years of English, math, science and social studies.) Above is a link with more information. I'm not familiar with the UCLA requirements but you could probably easily find those on their website. UT takes very few OOS students so hopefully she can find some other schools she likes. </p>

<p>I agree with the above posters that if her primary interests are arabic and psychology then it seems like her EC's would reflect that. Can she get involved in some clubs (maybe outside of school) or do volunteer work related to either of those? It sounds like she is very talented in languages and could do a lot with that interest.</p>

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<p>It seems to me that she should do what interests her and then find a school that fits. Do UCLA and UT even care about ECs? Aren't state schools mostly interested in the numbers and grades in their list of required courses? </p>

<p>With all of those languages and international interests, she might be looking at Georgetown's language school or Macalester, just to cite a couple of examples.</p>

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<p>twomules - that is exactly what she wants to do, make running her main EC. She has a good chance of being named co-captain senior year. She's also talking about training for a triathalon -- just finishing one would be a stretch because she's a good runner but not much of a biker and barely swims. She thinks the class will be interesting (that unit was her favorite part of AP Psych) -- hope she's right.</p>

<p>dsultemeier - thanks for the link. She'll have the 4 x 4 (and 5 of Spanish, 2 of German), but I have one question -- does UT consider high school classes taken in middle school to be part of the 4 x 4? </p>

<p>D had Algebra I and Geometry in middle school (they show up on her hs transcript), and Algebra II and Functions (non-honors pre-cal) in hs. Chose not to take more math because she had a terrible time in Functions (we found out she has nonverbal learning disability) and take three languages instead -- yes, languages are easy for her. I'll look into clubs outside school -- she dislikes her hs, so that might be a better option for ECs.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>Related to the math classes, my son also had Alg I and Geometry in middle school and his counselor said he needed to take 3 additional years of math in high school. The counselor recommended taking 4 years so that he wouldn't have a year off and forget everything. But that is from his counselor and not really related to UT. My son is a sophomore but has decided his doesn't like math very much. I am hoping he might like statistics. Could your D try statistics? To me it seems somewhat related to psychology. </p>

<p>I envy her language abilities. I have tried to learn several languages but never progressed beyond a beginner stage.</p>

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<p>Definitely have her choose the activities- academic or otherwise she wants to do. Do not try to second guess any admissions office at the expense of her optimizing the last of her childhood for her benefit. Years later she will look back at having enjoyed her last year at home, not at regrets for not doing something. Pay the most attention to her needs/wants, not to playing the college admissions game.</p>

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<p>Consolation - UCLA and UT say they consider ECs, but I think that you're right that at large state schools it's largely a numbers game of GPA/rank/test scores. Both of them admit so few from oos that I'm trying to encourage her to look at other schools. Hope I can convince her to apply to Georgetown and Macalaster, but right now she says "no cold weather" -- maybe that will change by next year.</p>

<p>dsultemeier - if she majors in psychology she will have to take statistics. I'm trying to talk her into taking it next year, but she says she wants to enjoy her last year of high school. D has a real problem with math (last year she spent more time on Functions than everything else, including 2 APs, put together) and it doesn't help that, except for two of them, the math teachers at her school are not very good. It's only thanks to a terrific tutor that she salvaged C's in math last year. I'll try to get her to think about taking statistics at the cc this summer.<br>
Is your son going to take math all the way through hs? D's counselor also recommended staying with math, but the psychologist who tested her said to leave it up to her, and that math was causing her a great deal of stress.</p>

<p>wis75 - thanks. She's looking forward to the class and thinks that it will actually be fun, unlike her hs classes. She even started reading the textbook before it starts next week, which is telling me something. And yes, I do want her to enjoy these last years of her childhood. She's a great kid and I don't want her to get all stressed out.</p>