Our child has completed CM level 10 for piano. We are trying to figure out if continuing on to the Panel is a better use of her time than just letting her play for her own gratification and work on songs she likes.
This may sound like we are already biased in one direction, but we are not. Neither is our child. We are equally happy doing the Panel, if it will provide certain benefits when applying for college admissions.
I realize some might judge us for even thinking about this, and in that case, please be assured we already know those opinions and are not looking for them here. 
Thanks much!
There should not be any judgement on your planning child’s EC with an eye on college admission. Its not parents or kids faults that schools choose extracurricular(EC) as one of their admission criteria.
Having said that I think you should look at the cohort of kids your child will be in and see how unique piano CM L10 is. For a farm boy in Nebraska it may be a quite significant (as shown by a recent graduate who thought his violin playing EC were good enough to get him into all Ivies, but he could barely hold a tune IMO.), but for a CA middle class girl piano CM L10 is probably more like a hobby than an EC that can distinguish her in college app. This is just my opinion.
I have been on the music forum for years and have never heard of the Panel! I suggest you go on the excellent music forum here and ask this question.
Off the cuff, there is no right answer here. Is she going to try for conservatory? What else does she do with piano, what performances, awards, ensembles etc? Is she doing the level 10 with a teacher? What does it signify? Sorry, folks on the music forum with pianist kids will know a lot more!
If she isn’t applying to a conservatory, will she be submitting a music supplement to the common app? This usually requires enough talent to justify taking admissions officers’ time and should be at a level similar to other pianists who have submitted.
If she is not applying to conservatory, and is not competitive in terms of an arts supplement or competing with other pianists, then she should go ahead and take lessons, play what she enjoys and continue to have music as a pleasant addition to her life. She can put it down as an EC which is great- it shows lots of dedication already.
If she likes the structure and external motivation of a program like the ones you are describing, then she should continue with that and play what she really enjoys on the side.
So, it depends…
The best thing she can do is to continue to play for her enjoyment, and then submit an arts supplement if she wants to. And if she doesn’t want to major in music or attend a conservatory, the arts supplement might not matter.
When my D was doing her auditions after arriving at Wellesley her first year, a music prof asked why she hadn’t done an arts supplement. She smiled and said, “But they let me in anyway.”
My child completed all the the CM levels and skipped the panel. Did it have an impact on his admissions results? It’s hard to say. Is your daughter a conservatory level musician and has she won any piano competitions? The fact is that many kids in California go down the CM route. My feeling is that unless she is extremely talented and has won many competitions, it will not have a huge impact on her admission chances.
An arts supplement can matter very much regardless of intended major (and an arts supplement is not submitted to conservatories, they have auditions). However, to make a difference, it needs to show special talent and accomplishment (the supplement would include resume, performances, teachers, summer programs, awards, media etc.).
If there is not sufficient talent or accomplishment to justify admissions and/or music dept. taking a look, then it can actually annoy admissions, I have heard.
Again, you do not have to be a music major to have an arts supplement for music, or for it to help you. In fact, many schools are looking for musicians for their extracurricular ensembles, orchestra and so on.