<p>She should do what interests her and not worry about what will be most impressive to the colleges. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that she is at an age where kids frequently change interests. When D was in 7th grade she was very into travel soccer. She had just started back into dance classes. By 9th grade she was competing in dance and dropping the soccer team. Never played HS soccer (but was on the HS dance team). Not at all what I would have guessed when she was in 7th grade. And I know a lot of other kids with similar stories.</p>
<p>My D. is in 7th grade, just starts to think ahead. She and a friend of hers were talking about their worries and EC was one of them. She is a very good student with 4 GPA and is ready to take SAT for a talent search, expects to do reasonably well. Her ECs do not have anything academic though. She wants us (her parents) to give suggestions so I came here to ask for help. The following is her current situation. (as I said, ECs don’t have anything academic, or showing leadership, is the major concern.)</p>
<p>She is a very good musician, plays two instruments, tested both with Trinity College, London. She is a competitive figure skater, tested with U.S. figure skating. She is learning French and is reasonably good in Chinese which in our area is a rarity (probably two kids in the whole county speak this language.) She plays in school band and county honor band. </p>
<p>In school, she is pretty good in almost every subject, esp. English, social study and math. Her plans for future change day by day, but pretty much will be in humanity area. </p>
<p>We want to get some suggestions for ECs, which are enjoyable, educational, and help in her future application to a good (very good) college.
Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Any ECs that allow her to explore, develop and run with her talents could help her get into one of the very few colleges that consider ECs as part of admissions. Those colleges are places like Harvard that have such an overabundance of high stat applicants that the colleges can pick and choose from among those outstanding applicants to select the ones who’ll most contribute to creating a student body that’s diverse in all ways including ECs.</p>
<p>Your D should select ECs that interest her. If she decides on new ECs, you should support her in doing so, not chain her to her previous ECs out of some misguided idea that she should stick with the old ones to impress colleges, something that isn’t true.</p>
<p>Thanks. I appreicate your comment, Northstarmom. My d. and her friend told me they talked to their principal, wanted to start a math peer tutor after school program and the principal didn’t like the idea, (“no school bus” was the main reason given) said some discouraging words. I told them try again in high school when they’re older and have a new principal. She loves people and likes working with peers.</p>
<p>It’s wonderful that your D wants to offer that kind of service. Would it be possible for her to offer it in an elementary school or at a place like a Boys and Girls Club? Perhaps she could offer it at a Boys and Girls Club or similar place during school vacations. I imagine that such a club would be happy to have volunteers like your D and her friend.</p>
<p>The principal summarily dismissed the idea of the peer math tutoring program? Sounds like you need a new principal.</p>
<p>The peer math tutoring program at our HS works a little differently. Teachers identify students (or students can lobby) who they believe would be good at it, guage their interest in doing so and place their names and contact info on a list, which is distributed. Students (or parents) will contact the tutors and make arrangements for tutoring sessions. Sometimes it is after school on campus. My S could never do this since he’s on the water polo and swim teams. However, he’d always make sure to have time available on the weekends. He has taught MS and HS students in math and physics. They generally meet in the local library, or a coffee shop if the library is closed. (He gets in demand because he’s known as the math whiz since he took AP Calc as a sophomore.)</p>
<p>My S didn’t do just the called tutor gigs. He also helped teammates on his sports teams, and other friends. Since the “dark room” time in his photo class was boring when one wasn’t in the dark room, he also did some tutoring in this down time as well. He just likes to do it. He’s happy this year to basically have one client, a junior taking calc and physics.</p>
<p>Our HS also has a Link Crew peer mentoring program. Twice a year before finals week, Link Crew members will help the underclassmen study in a “cookies and cram” session after school, which I hear are well attended.</p>
<p>7th grade and worried about her ECs? Honestly, at this stage the best thing you can do for her is to tell her that it’s too soon to be thinking about this. All she needs to do for the next two years is focus on being a good student and finding the activities that she enjoys.</p>
<p>It’s great that she’s thinking of being involved in her school and in her community. On the other hand, if she’s thinking of finding some “magic” ivy-league-explicit EC, then you’re approaching this topic in the absolutely wrong way. </p>
<p>She’s only in 7th grade, and that should mean you’re focused on 7th and 8th grade things. Don’t get far ahead of yourself. “talking about her worries”? She should be enjoying middle school, not worrying about getting into college, and she needs to be reminded of that! *We want to get some suggestions for ECs, which are enjoyable, educational, and help in her future application to a good (very good) college.
*. Just stick with ‘enjoyable’.</p>
<p>I’m with M’s Mom on this one. Her EC’s should either arise naturally from her own interests, or have a passion ignited from being exposed to one.S1’s EC’s ranged from sports to robotics club, but those were his interests. He got involved in rock climbing by way of an uncle, loved it and now is a certified instructor. Let her explore her interests, and offer opportunities for her to experience new ones.
Just please, don’t let her make HS nothing but 4 year long resume filler.</p>
<p>Lets assume the daughter is wide open on what activities she might want to take up in high school. There are some extracurriculars that look particularly good to colleges. If she is thinking about which ones she might want to try in high school, she could consider:
Debate team
Science Olympiad
National History Day
If she likes one of these, stick with it.
If she doesn’t, try something else.
I agree completely: It needs to be something she really enjoys, something she has a passion for. (Band and figure skating are fine as extracurricular activities.)</p>
<p>7th grade doesn’t count for college applications – colleges don’t care about middle school. She should be having fun right now, instead of worrying about something that is 4-5 years away. </p>
<p>But I will add that if she sticks with ice skating and has a high rank, that’s a really good EC. </p>
<p>EC do not have to be academic. They are whatever you enjoy doing, whether it be playing soccer, working at an animal shelter or drawing cartoons for the school paper. For many kids, school is academic and ECs are fun. You do not need an “academic EC” to get into a good school.</p>
<p>Tell your daughter that when she gets to high school, there will probably be an activities fair or some way for school clubs to advertise. She can decide then what she wants to do. (And many kids do nothing their freshman year and don’t get involved until sophomore year – and still get into “good (very good) schools.”</p>
<p>The way I read the OP, it looks as if the D is older than middle school now. With that in mind, I suggest that she share her interests (whether dance or sports) with others less fortunate, perhaps volunteering with Special Olympics for soccer or dancing with senior citizens. My younger D shares her love of horses with the developmentally disabled. If she sets up a project independently with an organization and/or raises funds to support it that comes across as even more impressive.</p>
<p>I agree about NHD - my older D went to Nationals twice and it ended up being mentioned at most all of her college interviews (especially the high school project since the school only supported projects at the middle school level and she loved it so much she went on her own)</p>
<p>FWIW - both my kids wound up doing work at nearby museums (one a major museum in our metropolitan area, the other a specialty museum). While their interests are very different (one is into science, the other is into history / humanities), without giving away too much of what they do, I think they’ve done things that are unique enough to provoke some level of interest. I’m not a huge fan of the school-club thing, myself, unless it’s really organically driven by the kid.</p>
<p>Don’t overlook a part-time job as an EC as the kid gets older. I think my D has grown tremendously from having one.</p>
<p>I honestly think you are going about this the wrong way in the sense that it sounds like you are searching for ECs that boost the college resume or “look good to colleges”, rather than just let them emerge through interests. Granted it is really obvious so so many children are doing this with the coaching of their parenst, but its really sad. It was never intended to be so! The whole point was to have kids demonstrate they aren’t just grinders, that they have a real life, with a real personality and real interests. Now so many are jumping through different hoops and, while it’s not studying per se, but it’s not a whole lot different. Just more instrumental game playing and collecting the levels to look good on the college resume. This has nothing to do with being a future leader and changing the world, or showing passion, or just being an interesting person, which is what looking at the whole child was supposed to capture! It’s just turned into more instrumental game playing. </p>
<p>And the outcome?: 12 year olds with ‘worries and major concerns". Something is seriously wrong (not with you or your child, but the friggin’ insane college admissions system). </p>