<p>Worship is a component of the dance, and an important one, but there are many ways to worship. Dance somehow touches your D and this is meaningful to her. It is spiritual. It’s also social. She would feel the difference between an active, committed group, and just a few students who are interested. This could make a difference in how she experiences college.</p>
<p>If you can come up with a good size list of of colleges that meet your D’s criteria and visit them, she will get an idea of what fits her. She’ll get a feel for the colleges over time, even during senior year after she applies- so keep possibilities open by applying if there is still any interest. College “fit” is individual, and for your D, it could be both academic and spiritual. </p>
<p>@sseamom I noticed in your earlier post you mentioned that your D was a founding member of her current praise dance troupe. That suggests to me that it may be most important to find the place of worship that she’s comfortable with, and the dance could follow. If the church is open to praise dance, even if it does not currently have worshipers participating, forming a new troupe could be an opportunity for her as well. </p>
<p>My D is the one mentioned by @saintfan earlier - she did liturgical dance in HS, and continued to dance at Wellesley, but it was not liturgical dance. But if liturgical style dance had been important to her, she probably would have found a way to continue it.</p>
<p>Penny-that’s what D has done-found schools that meet all her criteria, and all but two offer praise dance in some form. We’ll be visiting all of them this summer as a starting point. I’m sure in another couple of years she’ll have the chops to do much of the choreography needed to start a new group if necessary, but my initial post was really to see what others’ kids did about EC’s they were deeply involved with. If nothing else, my D is practical and methodical about her life plans and I would expect that she’ll find a way to make it all work. But I’ll definitely check out the other thread.</p>
<p>I guess my long answers were because my kids’ EC’s were deal breakers- those with religious ties and some without, so the colleges on the list had to have them to some degree. Because of this, I tend to encourage other students with strong interests to include them in a college search. </p>
<p>However, the EC’s were not the only criteria and some colleges with large and active Hillels came off the list because they did not fit in other aspects. Fortunately there were other choices that fit. I think your D will find what fits her too. She might find that those two colleges are great fits, or find out that they aren’t. Hopefully more teams will develop over the years in schools that also fit her well. </p>
<p>DD’s major EC from third grade on was choir. She did not wish to be a music major but continuing to sing in a choir was enough of a priority for her that we visited prospective LACs long enough to meet the choir director and sit in on a rehearsal. That being said, she did not apply to or attend the schools with the best choirs but a choir director’s conduction was the last nail in the coffin for one school. The school she now attends gave her a music merit scholarship, and she is required to sing in the choir which she would do anyway. She likes the conductors but not the choirs which are probably no better than average high school choirs. Her job and other ECs keep her too busy for voice lessons which is a shame, but hopefully she won’t pick up bad habits that can’t be reversed in the future.</p>
<p>My son wanted to attend college in a “major league city,” i.e., one that has major professional sports teams. While his most significant EC’s in high school were debate (he was a state champion) and journalism (editor of the opinion page and also winner of awards), his major hobby was sports analytics (sabermetrics) and fantasy baseball. He didn’t want to pursue debate in college, but did write for his school newspaper(s). More importantly, however, in college he lived out his childhood fascination with sports by attending baseball, basketball, and football games in his spare time. A good part of his career since graduation is as a sports analyst and a journalist. His choice of colleges, in particular the location, allowed him to pursue his career dreams.</p>
<p>My D has been doing her EC since the age of 3, and cannot imagine life without it. This was one of her few non-negotiables for college. So when she was putting together her college list, she looked for schools where she could continue to be active in it. It worked out.</p>
<p>I thought about this some more - all of the things we were sure my daughter would continue to pursue in college she did not - choir, working on the school newspaper, yoga, and Italian . We made sure all the colleges she looked at had these activities/classes available. Starting her first semester she joined different ECs and “reinvented” herself. It has worked out great for her and I don’t think she would have wanted anything to be different!</p>
<p>thumper, we will be in a similar situation in a couple of years. DS plays a brass instrument in the symphonic band and jazz band, and he is an accomplished pianist. He is not planning to be a music major - not sure whether he will want a music minor. Can you tell me which schools you found with good music and good private instruction that would be available to non-majors?</p>
<p>My D wanted a serious dance program, so only looked seriously at schools with at least decent dance options. She wasn’t planning to major in that though, and for the most part has switched to Ballroom Dance which is very active at her current school. The Ballroom Dance or dance programs though, were very important to her and it has continued to be in college and great for her health and mental health.</p>
<p>I think the difference here is that it’s not what <em>I</em> think my daughter will want to continue, but what SHE wants to continue in college. While as with any component of college choice outside of the obvious such as cost, majors, etc., I would caution her not to hang her choice on this one EC, I would be doing her a disservice to expect her to stop doing it once she gets there.</p>
<p>I see a lot on these forums about how younger HS students don’t know what they really want, don’t know what they really want to study, how they’ll change everything once in college, etc. but looking at my own kids and all of their cousins, most of them have stuck with some level of interest in the things that always brought them happiness, in or out of college. My son has always loved tinkering and always has-he just tinkers with bigger stuff. His sister will still go out kayaking or off-road biking or hiking when she can, just as she did in HS and college. My youngest lives to dance. She deals with stress by dancing. She deals with a down mood by dancing. She celebrates by dancing. If she doesn’t continue with praise dance, it will be some other kind, and her college needs to have some dance outlets for her.</p>
<p>Like others on this thread our D was a musician, she played viola. She was good but knew she didn’t want to study music. She did want to continue playing. She is now finishing up her freshman year at Purdue while playing in one of their two orchestras. They do not offer a music major or minor so other than being an easy 2 hour A it’s just relaxing and gives her a group of like minded students to be around. </p>