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<p>We had one of those, too! “Miss Firebird.” We also heard that she was on scholarship but since there were no baton scholarships, hers was for something like badminton, although she never played.</p>
<p>My guess would be that cheerleaders don’t spend much time on CC. I loved cheerleading. I just wish I could still fit in my skirt. It gave me great confidence in being in front of large groups of people and helped me hone my public speaking skills.</p>
<p>My D was a competitive cheerleader for 5 years, then she got involved in the music and marching band program in high school, after freshman year, the level of commitment was too great for her to accomplish both. Music won. Marching band is practice 5 days a week from August through November with competitions nonstop during October and November. Cheer requires practice also 3-5 days per week with competition season beginning in December. Coaches for competitive cheer do not like girls missing practice for school programs. Had to choose. Of course the competitive cheer went into essays for college admission</p>
<p>This is one of those subjects where what is and what ought to be might be quite different. I think it’s probably true that cheer isn’t as valued at selective schools as other ECs. And that’s probably, in large part, due to stereotyping.</p>
<p>But there’s another factor–and this is something that applies to a lot of ECs–highly selective schools are looking for students who have demonstrated very high *individual *achievements. Participation with a team, or any kind of group, is not as impressive, no matter how much work and commitment it takes. If the kid had a leadership role in the team or group, that may help–but I doubt that being a member of a team, or the marching band, etc., is all that helpful, even if it was a championship-winning group. I think this is something that is hard for some parents to understand–surely, all that work and commitment is valued? Yes, but the school isn’t admitting the team–just the individual.</p>
<p>Hunt, I agree and it’s very sad. My older daughter is a drill team member. They practice 2 1/2 hours a day, 5 days a week. They have 4 hour a day practices in the two weeks before school starts. Plus they go away to camp in the summer. There have been Fridays when they’ve performed 3-4 separate routines, that they’ve learned and cleaned in 1-2 weeks’ time. But what will the college app say: Drill team 9,10, 11, 12. No different than the teams that practice once a week after school.</p>
<p>I was so relieved when she made officer, knowing that schools will value the “position of leadership.”</p>
<p>^There is a specified area on most apps to say the number of hours one did the activity each week, and a larger area to describe one’s level of involvement, so her involvement certainly should not appear the same as teams which practice once a week.</p>
<p>Some yes, some no. At least a couple of years ago, Baylor’s application was actually a “check the box”…You would check the same box for “Theatre” if you’d volunteered to take tickets one night or if you’d had the lead in every show for four years. (They did offer an opportunity to download a resume, however.)</p>
<p>But I think there’s a bit of a Catch-22 in the amount of time spent. If you’re looking at the very most selective schools, I think they want to see that your time commitment results in measurable achievement by you, individually. If, for example, you spent all your time on a sports team, but you are not a recruitable athlete, I’m not sure this will help you much, when you are competing for admission against people who put tons of time into activities at which they excelled individually. This may not be fair, and it may be especially unfair if your activity is one that really doesn’t honor individual achievement–but it’s something you should understand.</p>
<p>My D1 was a high school cheerleader and is currently at an Ivy. She participated in both all-star and high school competitive cheerleading (which has placed in the top 10 at UCA Nationals for several years). When she went for an interview with a top school - the admissions counselor rolled his eyes at the mention of cheerleading. Since cheerleading was not a recruited sport, it was basically treated as a giddy club. On the other hand, cheerleading taught her to be cheerful even when things look bleak, to get involved and to be supportive. Cheerleading and other performance sports provide life lessons that probably help in other aspects. D1 has never been afraid to give a speech or speak up - I think a lot of it comes from cheerleading.</p>
<p>My D has been taking Ballet and Jazz dance lessons since she was 3 years old. Obviously, dance became her life. Due to lack of a Dance team at her high school, she joined her school’s nationally competitive Pep Squad Song Team (a.k.a. Pom dance and Jazz). This team cheers and performs at school events and competes nationally, and spends over 12 hours per week to practice its performance and competition routines. My D is the captain. Yes, this team experience taught my D spirit, strength, and leadership.</p>
<p>D has been an all A’s student for her whole academic life, and she is ranked at the top 1 % of about 700 seniors at a competitive high school in CA. She is a NMSF, an AP Scholar with Distinction, and a NHS member. She works as a volunteer at a local hospital 4 hours/week since her freshman year. Most of her EC and volunteer activities are related to either dance or hospital and hospice. She played piano for 6 years and flute for 4 years.</p>
<p>She applied to 6 IVY League schools and 2 UCs. Currently, she is waiting for her YALE SCEA result. Hope that her hard work gets paid off…</p>