My school is falling apart.

Applying to College
1

<p>Here are some bad things that happened at the beginning of September:</p>

<p>Community service hours will no longer be counted. (That way, I lost ALL of my service hours in my freshman year)
A limit of 3 afterschool activities is imposed. (what????)
Certain activities will run for only a semester instead of the usual year.
Many of the new teachers aren't motivated, can't teach well, and won't help me sponsor one of my clubs, which is affecting both my GPA and putting my ECs at risk.</p>

<p>What should I do, because I can't and won't tolerate this.</p>

2

<p>Start the first draft of your adversity-themed college essay. :)</p>

3

<p>Er, go to the school's board meetings, talk to your principal, etc. Those are some really drastic measures.</p>

4

<p>Parents make the world go round.</p>

<p>Get the parents to raise hell.</p>

5

<p>I asked the principal and they said that they were "busy". Anyways, the adminstrators, principal, and the conselor all decided this, so what can I do?</p>

6

<p>My school is the same way. Maximum of 3 extra-curricular activities at any given time (you can play three different sports though, if they're all in different seasons). And on top of that they limit you to 2 APs/year. I just do the maximum that they allow me to, and hope/pray that colleges will understand somewhat that I was limited by my school's policies.</p>

7

<p>
[quote]
Community service hours will no longer be counted. (That way, I lost ALL of my service hours in my freshman year)

[/quote]

Nonsense. Just because your school doesn't keep track of hours doesn't mean you can't put your volunteer activities on your applications. My high school had way too much to do to keep up with community service hours and extracurriculars; that was our responsibility.</p>

<p>
[quote]
A limit of 3 afterschool activities is imposed.

[/quote]

Some of the best ecs aren't school-related; only one or two of my ecs took place at school. In any case, three strong activities are perfectly reasonable for an application.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Many of the new teachers aren't motivated, can't teach well, and won't help me sponsor one of my clubs

[/quote]

Big surprise. Schools are having immense difficulties attracting qualified teachers. It's not surprising considering that the vast majority of the best and brightest (i.e. CCers) sneer at becoming a teacher.</p>

<p>Surely there's at least ONE teacher who'll sponsor your club. Check out the responsibilities of a faculty sponsor; teachers are more willing to sponsor clubs if they don't have to make much of a commitment.</p>

8

<p>holy **** your school is a fascist heaven. That reallly really sucks</p>

9

<p>It doesn't really matter--colleges get the school profile and will KNOW that you had no choice in the matter. All this means is that you can now focus on three activities that you really love AND can ace your classes (you'll never overload with only 2 APs) no problem. I don't see the problem. Hell, you can put your volunteer hours regardless of what your school does.</p>

10

<p>*** man this reminds me of communist russia. **** them y would they put a limitation on their students success???</p>

11

<p>thanks for the input. Do you think I should just wait it out until my HS career ends? </p>

<p>btw, "the school will only send out the academic profile, not infoabout the activities nor counting CS hours"- my counselor.
Now, I don't know how to solve THAT. ^</p>

12

<p>Ugh. Your school sounds like my parents.</p>

13

<p>I still don't see why it's a problem that the school does not report on CS hours and ECs. Can't the applicant do that on his own? And I agree with enderkin and warblersrule, just because the school limits your school-based activities doesn't mean you are stuck. If you want to do something they don't allow you to do, do it outside school. It would be a way to show that the activity is really important to you.</p>

14

<p>How on earth do they have time to make sure students are involved in no more than 3 activities?</p>

15

<p>Figure out what you feel most strongly about and get as many parents as possible to complain. They generally care what parents think.</p>

16

<p>my guess is the school has no control of non-school Ecs.....so why don't you look beyond the school walls.</p>

<p>lots to do out there in the "real" world</p>

<p>so, would you be willing to go outside of school?</p>

<p>its easy to do school ECs, its all right there, but to stretch and find something else, you will be amazed at what you might discover</p>

<p>and you gotta stop the attitude that everything you do is for applications</p>

17

<p>Honestly, I didn't know schools DID report ECs and community service. Mine never has. That's your responsibility; you put it on your application. Trust me, there are places for it. Don't sweat it.</p>