<p>This summer I want to be a biology/English tutor as well as volunteer at a local hospital. My parents won't let me do either, since they believe I need to 'study' and doing all these activities are a 'waste of time.' They have really limited the amount if activities I do; last year they forced me to stop working at this local Saturday school as a tutor, and they refused to let me do debate in school. Their only reasoning is that it's a waste of time and that my grades will go down if I do extracurricular activities, but I'm a good student and when I volunteered at the school my grades did not plummet or anything. I'm really worried because I know colleges look at what you do outside of school, and I barely have anything to show. I wish I could do more, but my parents simply refuse to allow me to do much.
Is there any way to communicate this in my college apps? I'm trying to write online for a website so thy don't have to know, but I really want to tutor and work in the hospital this summer as well. If you have overprotective parents, how did you convince them to let you go out and see the world?
Thanks for reading</p>
<p>Have you talked to your parents about college (and how you’ll pay for college)? Do they have any rules about where they want you to apply? Do they understand that extracurriculars are important for selective college admissions?</p>
<p>Often times, people don’t realize what it takes to be a competitive applicant until they do a few college tours/admissions sessions. Those are a real eye opener! Especially when done at an elite college/university. Can you get your parents to attend a few on the fall? There are usually open houses Columbus & Veterans Day weekends.</p>
<p>Also consider picking up ACCEPTANCE by David Marcus(sp?) and the Gatekeepers((the authors name escapes me right now). It pretty much spells out what adcoms look for. The Gatekeepers is from the 1999 admissions cycle, but still very contemporary in its advice.</p>