<p>As long as you don't mind being wrong: death knell is two words, not one.</p>
<p>LOL</p>
<p>I said wrong, wrong, wrong, so I guess that means I get one more mistake today.</p>
<p>Also, this raises that same old question about how much we want to shape our kids into the perfect applicant for colleges.>></p>
<p>Absolutely Sjmmom. I'm wrangling with this with my son right now. He's a sophomore and has played two years of football. He's done very well, but recently told us that next year, instead of playing football, he'd like to try his hand at drama. </p>
<p>The coaches, and other football parents, are scandalized that we are even considering letting him give up football, but honestly, I think high school is the time to stretch your wings and try different things. Why shouldn't he have the chance to try something different, even if it means he won't have four years of the same EC when it comes time to fill out applications? Football is fun, but it isn't his passion and because of the year round practice it entails at our school, it effectively rules out everything else. How will he ever find his passion if he doesn't have freedom now to experiment a bit with other things that also sound like fun?</p>
<p>I think deathknell as one word is actually the nickname of Cornell's School of Mortician Studies.</p>
<p>LOL! OP - here's the title of a thread I started that you might enjoy reading. You'll feel like your DS has heaps and heaps of EC's after you read it...
Search for "Lack of ECs a major problem.." :) I think my DS will be applying to number driven schools and big publics!</p>
<p>BURNTHIS ~ In the current thread "Hooks that Work", OP said:</p>
<p>"I got into brown, and while this is just a part of my application, I'm pretty sure my 4 years of latin, and 4 semesters of college greek, plus my desire to be a classics major caught their attention."</p>
<p>There's hope! It's passion that matters!</p>
<p>Building on what Carolyn said in her post...</p>
<p>High school really is the time to experiment with a wide variety of interests and opportunities. And, it doesn't mean that outcomes will be poor.</p>
<p>My senior DS was a nationally ranked competitive swimmer who swam for 8 years and was being groomed for a DI school with major money. To my initial horror, he began a hiatus, possibly permanent, in his junior year. In spite of this, not only was he accepted into a college he really liked, which doesn't offer swimming, but which offered him significant merit money, he is now also being pursued by an NCAA swimming school that doesn't seem to care that his competitive skills may be a bit rusty.</p>
<p>It all works out</p>
<p>OrangeB, that gives me hope! My D's love is ballet/jazz/hip hop but she's rusty after a year off formal training. If she had continued without a year off (extenuating circumstances) she would have now been a candidate for Juliard next year or NC School of the Arts this year, but I digress... Hopefully Dance programs at the colleges we are looking at will see through her time off and give her a chance.</p>
<p>Kyedor ~ Any college worth attending should recognize her talent, understand her need for a hiatus, and welcome her return. Any that don't, I'd bypass. It's her heart that matters. Good schools will see that.</p>
<p>Just one more vote for encouraging kids to be who they want to be. I pushed and nagged my oldest to be more well-rounded, and to take high-level math her last year instead of a second foreign language. I'm still bothered by memories of her downcast look as she toiled through Calculus Senior year. She knew who she wanted to be--now she is conversant in five languages! </p>
<p>My second one? A single EC. Quit football after two weeks his freshman year, and stuck to it even after being cornered by the varsity coach who told him he was "wasting his talent." Honors English--nope. A couple of B's in regular English, though he did do outstanding in science and math. Volunteer work or student government--nope. He got into every school he applied to, including two Ivys.</p>
<p>Deathnell ? I hear it has a very nice campus and is one of the largest of the LACs. Very competitive, but I think he has a shot... oh, never mind, that's **Bucknell<a href="S%20going%20for%20a%20visit%20this%20w/e">/b</a> :)</p>
<p>After a short hiatus from CC this week (well, darn I really had to work), this has been a great thread to read as my re-enter into my primary EC, reading CC that is.</p>
<p>The deathnell/bucknell confusion is priceless.</p>
<p>With S1, who had a variety of interests, but hadn't focused them into quantifiable, college-app suitable bullet items, I encouraged him in his junior year to step up his level of involvement/commitment in activities he already had an interest in. With him, this suggestion worked well.</p>
<p>kyedor - My D had been also at that level of dance - ABT Summer Intensive in NYC, etc. However, she was injured and the intensive exacerbated the injury. So junior and senior year of high school her dancing was much less serious. Still, she was in the dance club and the grace was there even though the technique was rusty. So the dance teacher of her high school had some people come down from a professional company and choreograph something on her for the usual school winter arts performance. She got into both HYPS places where we sent photos and/or a CD of that performance, and was waitlisted at the places where we did not. </p>
<p>My theory, albeit without confirmation, is that the sight of these girls dancing also conveys their personality, in my D's case determination and poise, for other girls energy and humor, etc.</p>
<p>Good luck for your D.</p>
<p>From a speech by a noted admissions dean: "... Nor do we know you by tallying the number of you who are musicians and athletes and volunteers, that being many, many of you. In our profile we list those things on the statistics page, a page subtitled, "Notorious Liars."</p>
<p>NJres ~ Very cute!</p>
<p>idad ~ An admissions dean actually said that?! Unless I'm really missing something here, the person sounds like a real jerk whose college would immediately be crossed off "the list". True, we know applicants by many means...however, to toss all musicians, athletes, and volunteers into the "notorious liars" bin seems quite offensive to me.</p>
<p>It was in the context of a very good and funny speech designed to make students and their families "lighten up" a little during that first drop-off period.</p>
<p>Deathknell (one word) = a variant on WOW (minus the exclamation point), acronym for World of War or is it War of Worlds? and does it matter which is which? :)</p>
<p>I also noticed deathknell (as one word) in Dungeons and Dragons as well as WOW (World of Warcraft). Since my son was a WOW fanatic at one time, maybe that's where I picked up the mistake.</p>
<p>Ah, obviously not a D&D household here. I was wrong on the acronym. :(</p>
<p>You just need to wait a bit and deathknell WILL become a word. Editors are getting rid of hyphens all the time. Post-modern has become postmodern, anti-colonial has become anticolonial, etc...</p>
<p>
idad, are you comfortable naming the school? I ask because it sounds familiar to me, but middle age has struck hard, and I'm not sure where I heard it!</p>