<p>i live in a small rinky-dink town with a bad public high school system. i commute a good hour away to go to school everyday. then two hours south (hour to my house, then another hour south) to go horse-back riding everyday. i don't get home until nine and have to leave my house at 6:30 to go to school. will colleges look at this as a passion for excellence in both my academics and my riding? i've been commuting to riding for seven years now and am a freshman in high school. will this show my high tolerance for stress and time management?</p>
<p>I think it’s your mom who will get the credit or who ever does the driving, that person is a saint. Lot’s of kids commute to school and activities, you’ll have to find another way to stand out.</p>
<p>haha yeah she is a saint! thanks for the input =]</p>
<p>In these bad economic times, you are fortunate your family has the resources and disposable income to give you daily riding lessons and gas to commute long distances, driven by a parent. Be prepared to be flamed by posters on this forum.</p>
<p>Our family can relate to all the driving, livelylegend, and we are thankful it will be done soon. The commute stinks, but one of the problems you will find when you start your applications is that no where does it ask how far you drive to school though it takes a HUGE amount of your time. I think where the issue of commute could have been harmful for my daughter was that it really cut out any extra time she had for community service (and friends which is another thread). This did not hurt her for getting into colleges, but it may have impacted some of the small scholarships she applied for because she had very little service time.</p>
<p>Anyway, where it might benefit you is if you can incorporate how much drive time there was in quenching your thirst for learning and love of your sport. I understand the drive time, and bad economy or not, it is really hard on everyone in a family to put that many hours on the road each day. Think about how great it will be to live in a dorm and walk to class.</p>
<p>Like you, I live far from my high school and commute more than an hour with traffic and had to wake up at 5:30 every morning to be ready to leave by 6:15. While I don’t participate in a sport, I had marching band after school until at least 5:30 every day in the fall. Like you, by the time I got home I was wiped out, had lots of homework, was filthy, hungry, and got very little sleep. I don’t think colleges care one bit. </p>
<p>See if you can get recruited by equestrian teams. My oldest sister did that by making a video of her riding and mailing it and jumping photos of her at horseshows to the equestrian coaches, and it helped her get accepted. GOOD LUCK to you! :)</p>
<p>We were in a similar situation. See if you can incorporate it into your essays. It does show perseverance and a desire for a quality education. I for one commend you but as someone else said, you’ll get slammed by some here. Good luck!</p>