<p>Will it hurt college apps or scholarship apps if all DS EC's are band related? He is in Marching band which takes up 4 days a week, Jazz band and Pep band. He also plays in the Pit orchestra for musicals held at the school. DS is currently a sophomore. Does he need to cut back on band to be able to add a different EC?</p>
<p>No. Schools understand that some ECs take more time and discipline than others. Music is one of them, and schools like to see that kind of passion and dedication.</p>
<p>My d’s ECs were all dance-related, and her college results were quite good.</p>
<p>The answer is…It depends.</p>
<p>It depends on his grades and course rigor.
It depends on his ACT/SAT scores.
It depends on his class rank.
It depends on which schools he applies.</p>
<p>Focus 90% of your energy on GPA in the toughest courses he can take. Get the best score possible on the standardized tests.</p>
<p>If there are leadership roles or opportunities for him in any/all of those organizations and he is inclined to pursue them, that will help.</p>
<p>As long as he works hard and challenges himself, it will likely help both his admission and scholarship chances.</p>
<p>Gabby Douglas has done nothing but gymnastics her entire life. However, her dedication to the sport, and the accolades she has earned (including an Olympic gold medal) demonstrate more about her character than if she had been elected to Student Council. I would guess that she will be competitive at any college to which she applies.</p>
<p>There was an article not too long ago on Inside Higher Ed (or maybe Chronicle) about the changing interpretation of extracurriculars in admissions. I wish I’d thought to sticky this quote, but I’ll paraphrase from memory instead.</p>
<p>While in the 80s and early 90s many colleges wanted the well-rounded individual, now the focus is more on a well-rounded class of individuals. They’re not looking for an army of musician-jock-poet-scientists, but an overall class cohort that includes all of those elements with strong representation of each.</p>
<p>Google isn’t helping me find the article, but it did find this Washington Post article with several admissions pros expressing the same idea. [The</a> Answer Sheet - Question 3: Do colleges want well-rounded students or those with a passion?](<a href=“http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/college-admissions/question-3-do-colleges-want-we.html]The”>http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/college-admissions/question-3-do-colleges-want-we.html)</p>
<p>The arts eat up time and I’d think admissions officers could recognize that. It’s not just the structured time but all the unstructured practice time a child has to put in to be prepared. The trick, I think, is to find those coveted opportunities within the activity you love.</p>
<p>Mine does theatre and it’s easily a 25+ hour a week activity that she’s been doing since she was little. Like your son, she’s in a variety of theatre related activities. Some groups she’s a performer, some a writer, some a technician, some are projects of her own making and direction, she works as a theatre aid for a youth theatre, she’s the chair of a student board for a professional theatre, she’s put together entertainment for charity functions, organized and directed her school talent show. She organically found leadership, work experience, community service, self-starter opportunities… all doing something she loves and is skilled at. Now, she’s just in the application stage so can’t say “it worked” BUT, my point is, your son can stick with the music activities he clearly loves but still gain the skills and experiences that colleges are looking for. Encourage him to seek leadership. Encourage him to put something together on his own… a small ensemble to play Christmas music at a nursing home, for example.</p>
<p>Thank you all so very much.<br>
He is currently a section leader for French Horns. He has been nominated for Governor’s School for music. He is currently ranked 3 out of 404 in his class with all honor’s courses. His counselor has encouraged him to take SAT’s this summer so we will see on those scores. He had to take CogAt for Governor’s school and he scored a 98 so his counselor has high hopes on his SAT. I see the posts with people asking for chance me with all these different EC’s. His first choice is USCarolina, but no can go without a scholarship. As a mom I am trying to encourage him in anyway I can.
And no he doesn’t want to major in music but engineering instead. :)</p>
<p>I was told 40 years ago that a strong pattern of achievement in one extra-curricular activity was preferable to a smattering of clubs and memberships. My activity was horses – with Pony Club rankings, competitions, teaching, and volunteering to round it out.</p>
<p>I believe that the same is true today – several ECs in the music area including leadership and awards/recognition would be better than six varied clubs and a homeless shelter gig.</p>
<p>I asked this of all recruiters and college representatives we met with because my daughter is involved in pretty much nothing but orchestra related activities except for an anti-bullying club and national honor society. She sound similar to your DS. She’s in school orchestra, a city youth orchestra, electric orchestra, volunteers for pit orchestra every year, and has private lessons. </p>
<p>All of them said that being a student who is passionately involved in one activity is just fine and many of them said they prefer it to students who are shallowly involved in a large number of activities. I think they understand that the arts, like sports, are time consuming in a way that something like student council isn’t necessarily. Not saying that there’s anything negative about student council, just that it’s less time consuming as a general rule.</p>
<p>I think it’s a bit of a wash. You look a bit one-sided, but you also show passion for a subject. My older son was a comp sci nerd - his ECs were various computer related things, Science Olympiad and Academic Team. Not too well rounded! He got into some very selective schools and rejected from others. The comp sci program appreciated his depth, MIT and Caltech did not. (Though they didn’t reject him outright EA.) The most selective school on the list, not known as a comp sci powerhouse accepted him presumably to make a more well-rounded class. There are certainly plenty of schools that will consider the depth of his involvement in music a big plus.</p>
<p>Your son is similar to my daughter, a senior horn player. She’s applying for double degree programs (horn performance and engineering) and her ECs are heavily related to music. They include city youth orchestra, pit orchestra, solo competitions (including three wins), horn chamber groups (incl. performances with city civic orchestra and lyric opera hornists) tons of volunteer church performances, two years with community college chamber orchestra, substitute principal horn for professional community orchestra, private lessons (horn and violin) and horn camps. No marching band.
There is little time for anything else, so the only other thing she really has is academics. GPA, ACT, SAT and class rank are stellar. Taking seven APs plus wind ensemble this year and has 4 prior APs. She is in Math Club and NHS, a school leadership organization, and honor societies for math, Spanish and music. That’s it.
Her counselor told her she should not count herself out of the running for any school, but she’s applying to a range of schools that offer the dual degrees she is seeking.
Hope this helps a bit!</p>
<p>My S1 had good stats/class rank/test scores but other than two years of J.V. football, he didn’t have any EC’s that really meant anything. He was a member of Mu Alpha Theta, NHS and National Latin Honor Society but there was no big involvement there.</p>
<p>His biggest EC was his afterschool job. He started working at a big chain gro. store in his soph. year. He went from bagger to cashier to running the customer service desk at night. At 17, he was the youngest customer service manager in the store. He had the keys to the store and opened the store himself on Saturday mornings. </p>
<p>He ended up with a NROTC scholarship and two merit scholarships from his big state u. The NROTC interviewer was most interested in S’s job experience/ responsibilities and how he maintained a high GPA/class rank while working 25+ hours/week.<br>
So he ended up with a true fullride to college with very few school related EC’s.</p>
<p>DS was a senior last year. His EC’s were mostly just band, marching band,pep band. He
did not have any problems getting accepted into engineering programs well… except Harvard rejected him.
What we were told was that Colleges would rather have students that show commitment to an EC rather than a bunch of EC’s that are only done for a year or two.
I’m sure your DS will be fine.</p>
<p>One of mine was a band geek, too. Don’t worry about it.</p>
<p>Also, remember that a student’s summer activities can be listed as ECs. So if your son does anything non-musical (a job, volunteer work, whatever) in the summer, he can list it.</p>
<p>A family friend is an admisssions rep for a well regarded school. He always told my kids, “drill down deep with a couple of EC’s, don’t belong to every club and group” They want to see that a student has a passion and does something with it.</p>
<p>Colleges want well-rounded classes, which doesn’t mean all well-rounded individuals. Students with one focal interest add a lot to the mix on campus, and colleges like that.</p>
<p>Thank you again for giving me peace of mind in regards to EC. Normally he has only June and the first week of July off before school starts again. He does stuff with our church youth group that I tend to forget that is considered an EC too.</p>
<p>DS is an engineering junior in college. He did LOTS of music activities. He did a few other things too - Knowledge Bowl and church groups and a year of track come to mind. But mostly it was music. </p>
<p>I’d say it hurt him a bit in some areas. His class rank was dinged by the 10 semesters of unweighted music classes. Also when he filled out college and scholarships there was not traditional leadership roles. (He was composer and music director for some small school shows, but that didn’t really count.). </p>
<p>Nonetheless we have not regrets. Music makes him tick, and it was a good way to offset the heavy IB academic workload. You can’t plot out every factor of college admissions and scholarships. But you can encourage your kid to enjoy hs!</p>
<p>No - that will not hurt is application. Schools like to see a student committed to his/her passion. They generally are not too keen on applicants with a ton of ECs all over the place. Focus is good.</p>