Since I am new to having a child go to college I never really thought about what EC’s she was taking till reading on here and seeing kids with an amazing amount. I had no idea you needed them for college, lol. Wondering if she is doing enough or if she needs to add other things. I don’t want to chance grades suffering to add more unless it is really needed.
In Leadership: Freshman class president, sophomore class secretary, she will be the junior class president when school starts.
She was varsity cheer leader freshman and sophomore year but really started missing soccer (wasn’t aloud to do both). She had been in club soccer since she was 9 but it ended when she entered high school. She now will be on the varsity soccer team when school starts and most likely for her senior year as well. Will it look weird that she was in cheer for 2 years and then soccer for 2? Are you suppose to explain why that is, so they don’t think your doing things just to impress them?
National Honor Society most likely all 4 years.
Every summer she volunteers for a week at a camp for foster kids that is run by our church. I think next year she will be old enough to be a camp counselor. She also teaches Sunday school for kindergarten once a week at our church.
This school year she will be a teachers aid at the junior high which counts as one of her electives and will also tutor kids that need extra help.
Enough for what? Those activities aren’t going to get her into Harvard, but they’re fine for most of the colleges in the US.
My older son did two things at school Academic Team and Science Olympiad. Outside of school he did a whole bunch of things (volunteering, job, learning on his own) with computers. It was that stuff that really set him apart from the average applicant, though he had state medals for the contest stuff. Younger son did Literary Magazine, Orchestra and also did Science Olympiad (and won medals though not so many as older brother). He also did some interesting things outside school that he wrote about for his essays. But neither had long laundry lists of activities.
Then is this what would be considered depth? She just does usual high school stuff but I doubt anything really stands out. She is going to start job shadowing in the fall and will probably do that the next 2 years as time allows. We live in a very small town so not a lot going on around here.
I would never expect a college like Harvard, way to much pressure. I guess I didn’t realize all of those long lists of EC’s were most likely for kids wanting that kind of college experience. I thought that was what was needed to go to most colleges, lol. I guess I just don’t want to find out that she doesn’t get accepted anywhere because we dropped the ball in this category. Thanks!
Actually, if your daughter scores 35 or 36 on the ACT, and has a 4.0 GPA, those activities could get her into Harvard. You live in ND which will also provide her with some geographic diversity.
Job shadowing what? Oh I remember now…“premed”.
Your daughter should be dong ECs that are of interest to her. She should NOT be doing ECs solely to pad her college applications.
Her ECs don’t need to “stand out”. They need to be things she likes and are in areas of interest to HER.
What exactly are you looking for? As you are say…she is doing regular HS “stuff”. There is nothing wrong with that for the vast majority of college applicants.
These EC’s are fine and seem like they have naturally evolved. Leave it alone. I understand the worry but don’t :)(And the two years of soccer after cheering are fine and typical of the kind of evolution during high school that happens for many. Some go from sports to drama, or singing to violin etc.)
The main concern here is that you are starting to think about packaging your daughter, and maybe considering telling her to do certain things in order to get into college. I think it is much better to fit the college to your daughter and not your daughter to the college. Just let her enjoy high school and whatever things interest her, and she will end up in the right place. I think it can feel unhealthy to gear things to admissions, ultimately, and it really isn’t necessary.
ps from North Dakota she could indeed apply to some very selective colleges looking for geographic diversity, and her EC’s would still be fine, as someone else said
Many top tier schools value student council leaderships, especially as the President of her class. When she list it in her EC, she should write about what she did as the president of her class. As the president of her junior class, to “impress” adcoms, she needs to do something, not just going with the status quo. This is where I would go deep.
If your student has a lot of ECs, she can group them by Student Activities, Volunteer, Sports, Clubs… As an example, if she did one club for 9th and 10th, another for 11th, and another for 10th, 11th and 12, she can put all of them under Club Activities, list them on the right hand side of ECs, and check off 9th, 10th 11th and 12 as years of involvement.
Expanding upon what @thumper said, she should not be doing anything for the sole purpose of looking good for colleges. In addition to EC’s, students (and parents) sometimes think that taking one class vs. another will look more impressive for colleges; it won’t.
As others have said, quality over quantity. Just because the Common App has 10 spaces to list EC’s does not mean that she has to fill them all in. IIRC, I filled in about 5, and it didn’t hurt me in the admissions process.
We really didn’t want to change any of her ECs as they are what she likes and she maintains high grades. But after reading what other kids are doing you start to worry if she will get accepted anywhere. I need to stop reading those types of posts. Were so new to all of this as she will be the first to go to a 4 year college and actually has dreams to go even further. Thanks all for relieving some of the anxiety that we weren’t doing things correctly for her to hopefully achieve her dream.
Kid 1…had one very significant EC that he pursued both in and out of school. Only did one sport for two years. Did some community service related to music. Got accepted at a school that is around 50 in the rankings.
Kid 2…did one sport for four years (not a starter, not even all that good at it…but she did it anyway because she liked it). Had music as an EC both in and out of school. She was an officer of her HS band, and founded their color guard. Did community service with NHS. She got acceoted to a school that is a top Masters university on the west coast.
Both kids did what THEY liked. Both got acceoted to colleges.
My D had ordinary ECs and a musical instrument. She did after school clubs she enjoyed. She volunteered because we told her she had to, and she chose an organization she was happy to work with. (Before anyone shouts about being forced to volunteer, it’s because I volunteer myself and feel it is important for my kids to do something good for others, not just for college. Plus, it gives them real-world skills, and references for jobs.) She got into several good colleges. There is no right amount of ECs.
My kid did change her ECs based on her counselor’s suggestion. She wanted to know if she should do debate or newspaper due to tim constrain. Her counselor told her for debate to mean anything she would need to be ranked, and it would be very time consuming (to be a good debater one had to do a lot of research). She dropped debate and spent time on newspaper instead.
NO! Back off, mom. There is no should, there is letting her be the child she still is. It sounds like she is paying enough attention to her academics so her other time is for her. This even means doing nothing with her time if she feels like it.
Stop worrying as well. You need to love the kid on the couch as they say, not groom her for a future. So far it seems as though she has been involved in more than just doing school work- great. Let her passions dictate her activities. It is also fine to drop an activity that no longer interests her.
When the time comes she will/won’t get into various colleges/universities. There is a greater supply of top students than spaces in the tippy top or even elite other schools. So- she may not get into some schools. There is still a great future ahead for her. It is also important that she have a good childhood- life is not only about the future. You are a very lucky parent since your D seems to be doing well. You do not want to add to the pressures I’m sure she already feels to do well.
Relax and be proud that she seems to be taking over control of her life well.
@megr: We visited UVermont recently, and loved it. They said that they have kids from 48 states… " If you know any good students in OK or ND, encourage them to apply!" Just had to pass that along since I read you live in ND. Your D’s ECs sound fine!
Your D’s ECs sound fine!