<p>Thanks CT1417. All of the testing (and paying for it) is the worst part of the college app experience for me as a parent. </p>
<p>I have no experience with college admissions since my DS is a high school freshman just this year. Can the experienced parents out there let me know just how important extracurriculars are? My DS is a dedicated dancer outside of school and really has no time for any other ECs that are school related. He basically goes to school all day, does 2-4 hours of homework, dances for another 2-4 hours and then sleeps. I am looking at all of these posts and wonder how these kids do it all. Any suggestions for things he could do in school that wouldnāt take tons of time?</p>
<p>My son has a friend who is a dancer. He choreographs the schoolās musical and teaches dance classes to younger kids. I think it is ok to have only dance related ECsā¦it shows passion!! </p>
<p>@jedwards70ādo any of the school clubs meet before school? Our HS has a fair number that meet in the morning b/c athletics are so dominant after school. The AM-only clubs are not the heavyweight ones but they do offer students a chance to meet others who they might not otherwise meet. </p>
<p>Otherwise, I agree with Felicita that your son can pursue other dance-related activities. </p>
<p>@jedwards70 ā I have a senior awaiting college decisions and a freshman. The general consensus from schools and parents is that itās important for them to do something they love, and that itās more important to be dedicated to an ec than to be involved in many activities just on the surface. Clubs at school and service projects are always nice to round out the resume.</p>
<p>Spygirl, the senior, has two very ādeepā ecās. Sheās been involved in each since she was 5 years old. Sheās also busy with clubs, NHS, school plays and a school sport. Definitely a first child, overachiever. But Spykid has a completely different way of approaching life and thatās okay too. He has one long time EC, a couple rec sports and clubs. And Iām okay with that. </p>
<p>Course selection for the young patriot is done. He will be taking:</p>
<p>English 2 H
World History AP
Precalculus H
Spanish 4 H
Chem H
Constitutional Law H
Film as Literature</p>
<p>As far as EC the young patriot is an all sports kind of kid. Football, wrestling, lacrosse. He is coaching lacrosse also.</p>
<p>Our school has opened up a few zero period classes(classes meet 1 hour before regular school starts) now DS has to decide if he wants to take Latin II as a zero period so he can fit in Band in his schedule. He wasnāt able to take band this year because he only had 1 elective available and he wanted to take Acting. Now that he hasnāt played his trombone since last summer. Not sure how good/bad he would be after such a long breakā¦ </p>
<p>@MichiganGeorgiaāI am guessing that clubs cannot meet before school when the school offers zero period classes. I had never heard of that before. </p>
<p>It is very frustrating for musicians. They can either forego a āfreeā in their schedule or never have the opportunity to sample the excellent electives.</p>
<p>I agree that it is difficult for musicians to take many electives. My middle son finally had the chance to take an elective other than band his senior year and he wound up taking chorus!!!</p>
<p>So, summer plans-any of your 2017 kids have plans yet? My daughter is one of those kids who never met an opportunity she didnāt want to try out for/sign up for and as usual, our summer will be planned around her activities. As with the past several summers, sheāll be assisting at a summer camp for low-income minority kids, then our family is going on a college tour down South. When we get back, sheāll turn around and pack for a week at a state collegeās HS at college program. Then if sheās chosen, her school district is in the midst of selecting kids with an interest in social service to go to Africa. Itās an amazing opportunity offered by an organization at no cost to the kids, so of course sheās applied. That trip will be a week before next school year begins. Oye!</p>
<p>@sseamom. Wow, those are some serious plans!! My S has a summer job and will volunteer for a camp for two weeks. Good luck with the Africa application. That sounds amazing!</p>
<p>That is an ambitious summer @sseamom! Where in Africa? </p>
<p>Spykid has a few things lined up: counselor at 4-H camp, Fair, and 4-H leadership conference and maybe go on a few missions with Max. Other than that we are taking it easy this summer. We did our big 6-week European tour last year and Iām happy to stay home and putter in the garden.</p>
<p>My S17 will have a moderately busy summer, but nothing as substantial as sseamomās D. We are going on a college road trip to the southeast with D15. We are making it a family vacation w/college tours thrown in for fun. He is hoping to be a student aid again for a 1-week math camp for 12 and unders held at our local university. He has 2 computer camps lined up. And then rounding summer off with Boy Scout camping, golf, working at our shop, and (he hopes) massive amounts of time playing on the computer with his friends.</p>
<p>Itās a trip to Ghana. Another group is being chosen to go to Guatemala. After they get back, they will spend the entire school year doing additional work and service projects based on what they learn there. Just hearing her plans exhausts me. Sheād do even more if we didnāt draw some lines and have budget limitations. Believe me when I say we do not push her into anything.</p>
<p>Agentninetynine, I love your user name and your references to SpyKid and Max. They are among my favorite names on all of CC.</p>
<p>@sseamom - I hear you. Spygirl is like your daughter, she really doesnāt know where to draw the line, so on occasion we need to step in and do it for her. Still, that is an amazing trip.
And thanks, I always loved Get Smart.</p>
<p>Swimgirl continues to have a great freshman year with all As. She was on an academic team this year and plans on joining a service organization next year. Her course selection for next year will be STEM based with 2 AP courses and the rest honors.</p>
<p>This spring she plans on getting her lifesaving certificate so she can work this summer as a life guard. We will travel to California at the end of the summer for a national level meet. This will be a good opportunity for her to swim in front of college coaches who have started to recruit her.</p>
<p>The young patriot is going on three college lacrosse recruiting trips this summer. Two to New England and one to Charlotte. He will also be playing on his regular club lacrosse team and participating in summer football training (running and weightlifting).</p>
<p>Anyone thinking of having their D17 or S17 take the SAT next year before they make the proposed changes?</p>
<p>Probably not officially. She took the PSAT this fall so we have a baseline to work with. She may do one of the āofficialā tests in one of the workbooks and will definitely be doing so with an ACT test so she can see which one plays to her strengths. All of the colleges sheās looking at accept both, and with some both are even optional. Iām curious myself to see how the new format works, but she doesnāt really have an opinion at this point.</p>
<p>The class of '17 can take the old format exam Oct, Nov, Dec or Jan of their Jr year; they do not need to sit for the exam next year as the new test will not be administered until March of 2016. They will, however, have to take the new format PSAT in Oct 2015, and that cannot be avoided. </p>