<p>Consolation, I think (hope) the OP is pulling our legs.</p>
<p>I agree with consolation. Why not have the coach if S really enjoys it and is not being forced.<br>
As for a hook, it is his passion and that should be displayed in his essay(s). It may just make him standout. My S’s rock band and his essays about it ended up being the thing the ad coms mentioned in his acceptance letters. They had no recording contract, merely typical high school garage band achievements, yet it displayed his passion for music. Of course he had great grades and test scores too. 
So if chess is his passion, it becomes a hook and I bet his experiences will provide the basis for great college application essays.</p>
<p>DadII–I don’t think anyone here has suggested that he develop another interest because the likelihood of obtaining Grand Master status is slim.</p>
<p>On the contrary, what I read says that playing chess has many corollary benefits, in addition to being satisfying to someone who likes playing the game. These include mental development, strategic thinking, analysis, etc. And these qualities are beneficial in life and in college applications.</p>
<p>So if this is one of his interests, let him go with it. If he wants a coach and it works for you financially, by all means, let him have one.</p>
<p>DadII, if your son is genuinely interested in chess, you can check out UMBC (U of Maryland, Baltimore County). They have a good chess team and I think they recruit good players. The are one of the few schools I know of that a non-athletic team gets the whole school cheering for them. Their team regularly beat the ivy schools and such for the top spot in national collegial competitions. If your son’s interest in chess continues but not to the grandmaster level, he will still be able to find good players and support at UMBC or other schools that have ranked well in the national collegial chess competitions.</p>
<p>However, I would strongly suggest that you let your son’s interest develop naturally. Your posting makes it sounds like you are more interested in developing a hook for scholarsyip than to help your son learn to explore an interest and really develop skills.</p>
<p>You and your son may be interested in reading Josh Waitzkin’s new book, “The Art of Learning”. JW is the kid on which the movie “Searching for Bobby Fischer” was based. He touched on why he gave up competitive chess playing and took up taichi chuan and got in to pushing hand competitiion.</p>
<p>Chill and enjoy the game.</p>
<p>I looked up Harvard’s Chess team and found this:</p>
<p>[Harvard</a> Chess Club](<a href=“http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~hcc/prospective.php]Harvard”>http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~hcc/prospective.php)</p>
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<p>What is doesn’t say is whether the experts and masters get in because of their skills, or whether students with advanced chess skills just happen to be found among the profiles of the admitted class.</p>
<p>C’mon, DadII, let your son have a little fun with his new-found passion. He doesn’t need to develop a new interest just for college apps. Seems to me that your daughter was as successful as she was in part because she pursued her own passions and interests, sometimes in opposition to your wishes. Let your son follow his own path and he will also be successful.</p>
<p>Why would you pull the coach if your son is enjoying it? That seems highly counterproductive.</p>
<p>“Are you a high school chess-player thinking about applying to Harvard? While Harvard does not offer any chess scholarships, we do have one of the most active collegiate chess clubs in the nation. In almost every incoming class we receive a handful of strong players, including several experts and masters.”</p>
<p>Harvard has several hundred student-organized clubs, and the same could be said for any of them. Regardless of the EC activity, Harvard typically has some people on campus who are experts at it. “Experts,” though, means being nationally or internationally ranked, not just someone who is best in their high school or city or is president of their high school club.</p>
<p>do you all know how does much a coach cost?? He could pursue it all he wants but I got to make sure we have food on the table and $$ to pay tuition first.</p>
<p>All the efforts now from us should be getting him into a good university with merit or need based aids. Paying for a coach just to have fun seems to be a bad investiment.</p>
<p>No, DadII, I have absolutely no idea how much a coach costs (you may recall that I included a reference to the affordability in my post).</p>
<p>My point, and that of many others, is that your son can pursue his interest in chess simply because he likes chess. Coach or not. It will be good for him (and, incidentally for his college apps) if he truly loves it.</p>
<p>I do not believe that it works for parents to try to package our kids’ interest for collage apps and “hooks.” It will lack authenticity and will often backfire with deleterious outcomes to our relationships.</p>
<p>These opinions are not based on hypotheticals. While I have less experience than others on these boards, I do have an “unpackaged” son at a highly selective school of his dreams.</p>
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<p>All of your efforts should be into letting your kid grow, not getting him into a good university… You had no problem paying for a coach before when you thought it would make him look good on paper, why not continue? It shouldn’t be an “investment,” it should be because you like to see your son get good at something he likes to do.</p>
<p>“Action to take, stop paying for the chess coach; let son develop his own interest at whatever pace he wants; and ask him to develop another interest.”</p>
<p>Why are you asking him to develop another interest? Why, can’t chess be a worthwhile interest REGARDLESS of how good it looks on a college app?</p>
<p>Either pay for the chess coach or don’t – I can’t tell you how to spend your money – but it’s interesting how you’ll pay for the coach if you perceive it’s a hook for a top college, but not if it’s not. Let it be his INTEREST, Dad II. There is more to life than getting into college.</p>
<p>My opinion…it would be a hook if the kid could BEAT a Bobby Fischer type of chess player. Agreed with others…let this son follow his interests instead of worrying whether or not it will turn into a “hook”.</p>
<p>You can learn chess without a coach - or perhaps you could look for a free coach. If you’re near a major metro area, there might be a sizable club with free instruction during the week. It wouldn’t be personalized instruction but it would provide some direction. A good library can provide a source for books to read and good competition helps. It may be available online if there aren’t a lot of local strong players. And there’s always playing against a computer. It should be fun though with the motivation coming from the student. There can be quite a bit of study involved and I’d guess that it goes down better with interest.</p>
<p>BeKindRewind, </p>
<p>In all fairness, we do not know if DadII “had no trouble” paying for a coach before. But I agree that the “hook” should not be the only reason that he supports his son’s new interest, regardless of the form that support takes.</p>
<p>Hi Dad II, This is an issue I can speak to. I have an older son who seemed to be developing into a chess whiz in elementary school. His school provided some group lessons and we provided a private coach for many years. He did get better and better, and won a number of local tournaments. He went with his school team to state and national tournaments and was the best player on his school team. But he never put in all the studying which really needs to be done in order to make a huge leap forward. He dropped chess around middle school, but picked it up in high school and put together a high school team. He is in his early 20’s now but still plays recreationally. (But only in $$ tournaments. ;)) </p>
<p>I have a cousin who never had a coach, but was so interested in chess that he studied many books and he “made” himself into an expert chess player. So, it really isn’t necessary to pay for a coach if it is an expense you cannot afford. Over the years, I have seen hundreds and hundreds of kids in tournaments, including true prodigies. Those who achieve more than “expert” status (a rating over 2200), are likely to be looked at more closely just for the dedication chess takes. True prodigies (we know one who achieved grandmaster status in his mid-teens) may choose to play professionally and put college plans on hold. If your S truly loves chess and decides on his own that he wants to achieve a certain ranking, it can be done with self-study combined with playing in tournaments. You can also look up the “Internet Chess Club” online. Your S could play online with people from around the world.</p>
<p>DadII,</p>
<p>A hook can be something quite subtle and east to overlook. It can simply be an intellectual or moral perspective that comes through in the essays and recommendations. I think the usual hooks - sports, academic contests, music - can become pretty mundane unless they are at a very exalted level. But a bright, thoughtful kid with a truly unique perspective who puts together a compelling self-portrait in their application can be quite “hooked.”</p>
<p>The most mundane story can be extraordinary if it’s told well. Empower your boy to examine his life really carefully and creatively. Don’t try to cloud the waters with eleventh hour EC runs.</p>
<p>Thanks, especially to the the 3ms in #35, 36, and 37. Paying for something just for fun was, is, and will not be a high priority in our budget. We did pay for the coach for son to have that exposure and experiences. As long as he feels like he needs it, we will continue to fund the project within limit.</p>
<p>Son is playing on line alot and we have got him the chessmaster 11 (grandmaster version?). </p>
<p>Since DD did so well in her process, we have an excellent example to formulate our plan. Call it the 11th hour rush or whatever, we do feel that DS is lacking of EC in general. Whether it could be a hook or not, DS needs to get involved in some activities. If chess is his calling and his passion, we wil do whatever we could to support it.</p>
<p>Great post, mammall. Why can’t a hook be a kid who really likes to knit or do calligraphy (for example) and writes something very thoughtful and insightful about those experiences? Hooks don’t all have to be awards won, clubs started / led, or tens of thousands of dollars raised for charity. Caring for a disabled elderly grandmother, for an example, could be a hook in its own way if the kid shows maturity in terms of what he or she has learned from it.</p>
<p>I think a hook is what makes the person stand out / be different, not just an accumulation of awards, because at the top level everyone’s going to have so many awards, anyway.</p>
<p>“All the efforts now from us should be getting him into a good university with merit or need based aids. Paying for a coach just to have fun seems to be a bad investiment.”</p>
<p>Dad II – PLEASE – have you learned anything from this forum? Let him develop his own interests and see where they carry him. Stop trying to orchestrate it all. You don’t want to wind up like the relatives you mentioned, where the children are “successful” by outward appearances (Harvard law grads, etc.) but fundamentally unhappy with their relationship with their parents because their parents only saw one vision / dream for them.</p>