EC question for Sophomore's Mom - (sorry, long)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm asking this question for my son, who has just completed his freshman year in high school. </p>

<p>His ECs, for the most part, are athletic. He has a couple of non-sport ECs, such as Latin Club, JROTC-related activities, and he was just selected for a community-based leadership program that will run throughout his sophomore year. </p>

<p>Other than those, however, his time is mostly spent on sports. His freshman year, he ran cross country, swam (qualified for state) and played tennis. Outside of school, he is a nationally-ranked triathlete and cyclist. These activities take 15-20 hours a week minimum.</p>

<p>Academically, he finished his freshman year with an unweighted 4.0, (4.08 weighted) and is taking all the honors classes offered. So far so good there!</p>

<p>His question is this - should he try to get involved in other types of ECs, just to have some on his application? They would have to be at the expense of his current activities, since there are only so many hours in a day. His passion lies with cycling and triathlons - not miscellaneous clubs.</p>

<p>Would colleges look down on ECs that are primarily athletic? BTW - his chance of getting recruited for either is slim, since only a couple of schools have Div I cycling teams, and he's not looking at them right now. </p>

<p>I realize he's just a rising sophomore, but he'd hate to find out his junior year that he really should have joined more clubs, etc.</p>

<p>Thanks for any opinions -</p>

2

<p>I was very much like that in my freshman year too. I played 6 Varsity sports and well studied very little. What i suggest, for his own sake, is that he use his sophomore year to perhaps try a few other activities that he is interested in - perhaps a position on the council, or SRC, or even getting a job. This is not so much to expand his EC list but to determine what he truly likes about high school.
I d say your son is one of the few that actually comes off as some one with a passion which is great. But yeh, let him TRY a few other activities, he thinks he may have been interested in. Do not in any case, try to create a large diverse list of ECs, coz i believe the admissions panel will look through it.
Good Luck :) (save the worrying for your senior year)</p>

<p>PS: this is my view on the whole college process. I don't know which unis you are looking to apply to, but this is what i have derived. check out the essay long post at : <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/507610-foreign-student-i-m-hypms-right-7.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/507610-foreign-student-i-m-hypms-right-7.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>BUMP - anyone else have an opinion?</p>

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<p>I just sent you a lengthy private message with my thoughts. You can open it in the upper right hand corner of your screen.</p>

5

<p>I personally think he should just stick with what he loves doing. In my case, I wouldn't quit varsity basketball or football and take up band just because some college told me to. If he actually wants to take a break from current activities, then go for it. But don't just do it for the college application process. </p>

<p>If he has those grades, and is really that good at sports he should have no problem getting in most places except for maybe the most exclusive schools. Even kids with a broad list of activities get cut from those schools though, so just do what you enjoy.</p>

<p>Also, since he was able to qualify for state as a freshman, I would imagine that he'll have some college scouts looking at him for swimming so that could be another way to get into a top school. My sisters friend got into Cal-Berkeley that way a few years ago.</p>

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<p>Here's another thought. His grades are excellent and his cycling and other sports show passion. However those sports are heavily weighted on individual efforts that show he's comfortable with lots of alone time. If he found an EC that was interesting (sports reporter for the school paper; start a cycling club or run a fundraising cycling event) and also showed he works well with others, it would round out his profile. The idea is not to take away from his true focus, but to give him some other experiences which 1) might connect him to the school community and 2) might even translate into very interesting essays.</p>

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<p>Madbean - excellent point. We have actually considered the fact that he doesn't show a lot of strength in the "teamwork" department (with the exception of JROTC drill team). He just honestly does not enjoy any of the typical team sports - i.e. baseball, basketball, etc. And, unfortunately, the service academies do place some weight on teamwork activities.</p>

<p>Starting a cycling club at his high school is an excellent idea. I'll suggest that to him for next year, as school is finished here for this year. </p>

<p>Thanks again for all of the replies.</p>

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<p>Most colleges want to see depth rather than width. So, I would definitely reccomend expanding on the cycling aspect, as it is a pretty unique activity. Having mostly sports as ECs is not a bad thing at all, as long as you show dedication to a few things rather than a couple of years of a lot of different things. Colleges want to know that you'll continue some activities in college, so showing great dedication in cycling would be a great plus.</p>