<p>I'm sitting here on College Confidential (yes, I know, you really can't * sit * on top of a website.. but you get the picture).. and I've realized something. </p>
<p>This is not some new idea that I just came up with, and in reality, I'm probably just recycling some old thoughts.</p>
<p>Why is it that after reviewing post after post of What are My chances threads and such.. the ECs look awfully cookie-cutter-esque? Have I been staring at the computer too long (no, I haven't.. I just got online).. but some of these ECs are starting to look exactly the same.</p>
<p>Granted, there are a few people who have done some amazing things (RSI, went overseas to help the international aid organizations..) and I admire them greatly. But .. after months of being on CC.. All the ECs are starting to blend in now...</p>
<p>I rarely visit the What are My Chances boards but when I used to read them, one thing I noticed was how few kids' EC lists included athletics which I found surprising. That is a significant activity that many in our school participate in, and actually almost all the top students are also athletes here. I realize many who post on CC are top students but there does not seem to be that many who are also athletes as is the case here as well as with my own kid (and her ECs are not unique or anything but do differ from the typical poster on those threads in this way). I do not think my D's ECs are unusual at all. Once someone posted how they never saw a hip hop dancer on those posts and I laughed and posted that my Ds take hip hop! and I never think of that EC as unusual at all! I realize I never see alpine ski racers on those posts either but my D is one and that also is not unusual in my neck of the woods. I definitely do not think my kids have any unusual ECs even if their lists differ from those on those forums. </p>
<p>Another thing I noticed on those posts were many ECs, often that a huge number of kids have, that NOBODY around here has.....things like debate, math team, MUNY, Interact, Key Club and many other commonly mentioned ones that are not offered here. </p>
<p>In many schools, the athletic teams are cut sports. Only the top athletes make the cut. S's school encourages athletics and many teams accept any students who want to play as long as they show up for practice and follow the team rules. This philosophy has not hurt the school in the league standings. One year three different sports won section championships. If S had attended our local HS, he would not have had the chance to play football. In our California town there are organized football leagues starting in kindergarten, it seems. If you didn't start back then, there was no way you'd be playing HS football. He dropped football after freshman and sophomore years because he knew he would not be able to keep up with the workload of his AP classes. He has watched several of his former football teammates switch from AP classes to the regular class during the school year for this reason.</p>
<p>Yesterday's Boston Globe carried an article about overscheduled kids and another one about sports travel teams that begin as early as 3r or 4th grade.</p>
<p>When I think of what my kids do compared to what I did as a kid, the ec's seem pretty cool. I worked every summer. period. During the school year I did homework, helped out with some political campaigns during junior and senior year and worked. For most kids, sports was something you did during the school year. There were no sports camps that I was aware of. The only camps were for boy scouts or girl scouts. "Breezing the Freeze" was the highlight of the evening. Jeez, no wonder I couldn't wait to grow up and get out!</p>
<p>I think there are more parents of athletes on this board than athletes themselves. My son simply doesn't have the time to read this board but I print out information here that is relative for him to read late at night. He simply doesn't have the time to do anything but practice and study; he leaves the house at 5:30 in the morning for practice and then studies all night/evening. He is a swimmer and when they have a mid-week meet, he will get home at 9:00 or 10:00 pm and then have to study and do homework.</p>
<p>If you are a varsity athlete there isn't much room for a bunch of other ECs. My son is a runner- and this year with the addition of indoor track that is three seasons of intense training. He does a few other things, but the high level of running achievement is going to have to fill up the EC block......</p>
<p>Tookie...like your son, my D never would have had the time or inclination to post on these forums. </p>
<p>Karen, it is true that varsity sports are huge time commitments, not leaving much time for other things, other than homework. However, my oldest child was someone who loved her sports but also loved many areas of the performing arts. Often kids choose one OR the other but she did both which was a balancing act, let alone meant numerous hours devoted to ECs each day and weekend. She loved that though. One of her essays dealt with this (calling herself a 21st century Renaissance woman, lol). Right now at college, however, she is unable to participate in performing arts with her varsity sports commitment but might be able to when the season ends and she will be in club sports in spring. We'll see. </p>
<p>Where we live, many of our best students also juggle varsity sports which impresses me because they have less time available for homework but just are motivated and good at time management, I guess. </p>
<p>Perhaps it's really just too much for most kids to try to be a top athlete AND a top scholar. And, I agree with others who have said that the kids who ARE excelling in both won't have time to post about it on CC. I've commented before on finding my son in his room at 1am- jacket, basketball uniform and shoes still on-asleep with a book on his chest....... basketball absolutely cuts into much of his study time.</p>
<p>Karenindallas, be thankful your son has achievements in his sport. A lot of the athletes spend these hours and don't have achievements or leadership (being captain) to show for it, but they love it. It is very difficult to do a sport and much of anything else, and I greatly admire the ones who can do it. Mine does recreation league sports and it's only 4-5 hours a week, but even that is sometimes hard to work in to the schedule. </p>
<p>It depends too on whether the school values academics or sports more. Our coaches (with one exception) think nothing comes before practice or games. The administration apparently supports the coaches. Kids have had to drop academic activities or get cut. I disagree with this policy and am thankful I don't have a student in this situation.</p>
<p>I am a student and was an athlete until my junior year. Like others have said, athletes have no time for any other ECs... plus, some coaches(namely mine) care more about performance on the field then in the classroom. I played softball(on three teams at one point) and fieldhockey and I was getting the feeling that I was putting in so much time into a meaningless task and other more meaningful tasks were being compromised. I was not able to take all of the classes that I wanted to because of concerns of overwhelming myself(I wouldn't get home til 8pm most nights, and sometimes 10+ on away game nights) and was always cutting out of my EC meetings early to go to practice. At the end of the season I had a talk with my coach and explained my frustration with my scheduling and her outrageous demands and we basically came to the conclusion that I would have to choose: sports or everything else... I quit and as the previous seasons team captain everyone was stunned. They couldn't understand how I could quit but I couldn't understand how I could do anything but quit. </p>
<p>I worried for a while if colleges would look down on my quitting, but I think I've done so many other things which I enjoy far more and done more beneficial things- gotten a job, taken classes at a college- things that I could have never done in conjunction with sports. </p>
<p>I'm sure it is different at other schools, but sports at our school are a big deal and if you're an athlete you are just an athlete- not student council president, not a member of the debate club, not in overly high academic standing.</p>
<p>What would you expect?....Average 17 yr old does not have to many opportunities to participate in many 'unique' things. They have to pick and choose from what a school offers. Once in a while some one will go outside the routine and do something different.</p>
<p>Ugh, can you guys (Soozievt) make me puke any harder? I've been a long-time college confidential reader and if I hear Soozie brag about her daughter's athletic involvement and academic scholarliness I think I'm going to go crazy. Please-look up the word "vicarious" in the dictionary.</p>
<p>There's a quick and easy remedy for your nausea:</p>
<p>Don't read any of Susan's post or the parents forum (since we could all be accused on bragging from time to time). Since you've been on CC so long, I'm surprised you continue to repeat the behavior that makes you ill.</p>
<p>I'm with you Momsdream! As the parent of a former college athlete, I can tell you that about a quarter of the kids who went to college as recruited athletes that I knew quite well stuck it out. This includes D-1,2,3 schools. It is really a tough row to hoe.</p>
<p>I find the discussion about athletics particularly interesting right now. My son just finished up freshman football and is being heavily recruited by the coaches for the JV team. His grades for the first quarter were fine (mostly A's with some B's in tough honors classes), but he admits they probably would have been much better with out the time commitment of practice and games. JV requires more of both. He definitely will not have time to do any other extracurriculars during the season. And, he will be taking at least one AP class, possibly two next year in tenth grade.</p>
<p>I have mixed feelings about whether he should play again next year but he seemed to benefit in so many ways from his participation this year. In the end, I suppose it will be his choice but to be honest it's tempting to insist that he focus on academics and less time consuming extracurriculars instead.</p>
<p>At our school, you must take the athletic block both semesters if you are on a team. It is unweighted, and it kills the GPA for the top scholar athletes. Unfortunately some are forced to make the choice between keeping their rank, or doing what they enjoy. I find this so sad. I wish they would fix the grading system so that band and athletic kids were not penalized for taking those unweighted classes. </p>
<p>As for the variety, I think you can make your application interesting even if you have a lot of the same ECs, it's just a matter of how much and what you do while you participate in them. I wonder if you can really be involved in 15 ECs at one time and do them all well.</p>
<p>At my S's school, since 2 years of PE are required, after that, you can take Athletics as a pass/fail and it doesn't count against your GPA. The 2 years unweighted PE did hurt his GPA but he still did pretty good - 13/659.</p>
<p>To me the ECs on CC do seem to look fairly similar and I would guess not typical of the average collge bound high school kid. The kids who post on CC seem to be pre-selected to be incredibly high achievers and very academically focussed. I would guess the average ECs of a UMASS applicant (my state U) has a lot more sports, class play, and marching band type ECs and a lot less debate, writing, and science competitions than the average CC poster. It's an amazing set of kids and not average in almost any way.</p>