<p>I'm wondering what colleges will think about a good student who plays high school sports (but not at a level to be recruited) and doesn't have a lot of time for extra curriculars. Do admissions officers take into account the tremendous amount of time that high school athletes spend on the court/field/etc.?</p>
<p>^Well, keep in mind that others with straight A’s at private preps, sport (3hrs/day/6 days/week + meets, many out of town - just one example, and at the level to be recruited), music, art, school newspaper, volunteering, summer job at Research lab, shadowing, many various awards…</p>
<p>There are many of them like this. Your child will compete with them. Sport is an EC, but it is only one of many on other kids resumes. It is up to a child, whatever his goal is and as long as it is enjoyable.</p>
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<p>I have no evidence except my sample of two to prove this…but I honestly believe that a college would rather see a student who has a strong commitment to one or two ECs (and I agree sports are ECs) than to a student with a HUGE laundry list of ECs where there is no evidence of any strong commitment. Colleges are looking for well rounded CLASSES of students…not for EACH student to have EVERY EC under the sun on their resume.</p>
<p>I had ONE kid who had ONLY ONE EC…Music…but a very strong commitment.</p>
<p>Second kid had very strong commitment to music and one sport only. </p>
<p>Both got accepted to the colleges of their choice.</p>
<p>I strongly believe students should be pursuing EC activities because they WANT to pursue them…not to “pad” their college resume.</p>
<p>I totally get that it’s a very competitive process. I just find it hard to believe that kids who have the huge time commitment of sports have enough time to do the things they need to do to have an impressive resume. Maybe most kids need less sleep than mine or are more efficient in getting their homework done…</p>
<p>Do what you love, do it well, fit in what you can with moderation. You can never tell what is going to spark interest in an admissions rep. People will give you personal stories about the double varsity athlete who was accepted, or not, how ECs don’t matter at this type of school or that, but when it comes down to it the kids are all individuals and the only admission decision that matters is their own. </p>
<p>The vast majority of schools want to know that your kid was involved in something beyond their own little world of academics and facebook. They want to know how this student will fit into the university community, be it a job, club, sport, church group, combination of these, or something totally different. What is the picture your student wants to portray? That’s the only thing they need to answer.</p>
<p>One of my kids had one major EC only – and a smattering of minor involvements and summer activities in other areas.</p>
<p>The other kid had zero ECs in the usual sense but worked at paying jobs starting at age 14. (Gotta feed that software habit somehow.)</p>
<p>Both got into their first choice colleges – an Ivy for one kid and a flagship state university for the other.</p>
<p>The top colleges want you to have progressed to excellence in something. They like to see that you have attained some expertise in at least one endeavor, such as a state, regional, or national level achievement or some exceptional accomplishment. If your student can achieve to a high degree in an EC other than sports, then doing so would be preferable if college admissions is a high priority. But doing what you love brings happiness and sports participation offers many wonderful benefits.</p>
<p>My observation is that the ideal applicant has the trifecta profile: academics + sports (or some kind of active outdoorsy activity) + some other interest that involves the arts or community service. As noted, they don’t want a laundry list of clubs and memberships.</p>
<p>High school sports and academics do take up a lot of time, but if your son is looking a selective colleges he should find one more activity interest that he could devote time and energy to. It doesn’t have to be a club or a school sponsored organization. It could be artistic – music, drama, art; something involving his religion, local or national politics, community service, travel. Even an after school job!</p>
<p>The point is you can create your own EC – whatever interests you qualifies if you demonstrate a depth of commitment, knowledge and enthusiasm. A lot depends on how you present it.</p>
<p>I just have a comment about the prep school student-athletes with other significant ECs. At several prep schools that I have first hand knowledge of, many of these ECs are done during the school day, not as an after school activity as they are in most public school settings. Many of the time intensive clubs, particularly debate, student government and Key Club, meet during a free school period. So when these kids finish the school day, they have the time to devote to their athletics and still have all those other ECS on their resume. It definitely gives them an advantage over other student-athletes who have to fit their other ECs in around their sports schedules, after their school day ends.</p>
<p>thumper1,
I was talking about places where there are 15 spots with about 1200 applicants (as an example). Most of these applicants have huge list of EC’s where they show very strong commitment with strong evidence and numbers attached to every one. I agree, when kids create clubs and make themselves a prez. and meet 2 times/year, it is b s. I am talking about real deals, huge time commitments, real awards, accomlishments, record settings,…etc.<br>
It was not clear what kind of college program OP’s kid is aiming. There are palces that do not need any EC’s. Another point is that kids normally do not do these all keeping in mind resume. They do it because at this age, they just want to try and excell in many unrelated activities and some of them do, while being able to have a normal teenage life. Balance is everything.</p>
<p>My son participated in 2 sports Fr & Sph years, so I called the Admissions dept at my S’s ED choice, (anonymously of course) and was told by an AdCom at a “highly selective school” that they take sports into account when considering ECs. They said that they realize that kids have to have time to sleep and eat. </p>
<p>However, until the process is over, I take it all with a grain of salt. If a school is accepting less than 10% of applicants, it’s still a crapshoot, and nobody really knows. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Sports are pretty big (especially at schools like Notre Dame - I doubt you’re interested but if you are, check it out). </p>
<p>Try to get involved in something extracurricular activities if you can, but continue to focus on your sport and academics.</p>
<p>Yeah, sports are an extra-curricular activity…</p>
<p>And I’d much rather see a state champion in a sport than somebody active in _______ club…</p>
<p>^OP suggested “but not at a level to be recruited”, so apprently not a “state shampion”. Not everybody who is committed several hours every day will become a state champion. Some sports are just taking a lot (swimming, for example).</p>
<p>^^^not every state champion gets recruited. In fact, many of your state championship teams are full of athletes who aren’t recruited.</p>
<p>DD was on the swim team for four years. She was NOT a starter and really never a contender for any event. BUT she never missed a practice OR a swim meet and was a valued member of the team. The coach actually wrote her a letter of reference for college. She loved it…she just wasn’t particularly strong at the sport.</p>
<p>My ownd D. was the same as yours, thumper. She was pretty strong, but not state champ. Few colleges (privates, Div III) were heavily after her. She had her own goals and had enough of everything to get huge Merit awards. She had tried to continue swimming at the club during her college year, but even club was way too much.<br>
However, she has mentioned her swimming as an EC in all applications to UG’s and her major essay was about it. But she also had plenty of other EC’s, not the “clubby” kinds but the real deals with real time commitments, very serious ones. Some resulted in awards, one led to her minor in college.<br>
The point is, it all depends where kid is applying, who he/she is competing with. At some programs, sport commitment might not be enough, at others it might be more than plenty.</p>
<p>Unless your kid is involved with a sport every season, there is time to get involved with other ECs.</p>
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<p>In some instances, this is difficult. Some ECs require a full-year commitment. A student who is heavily involved with, say, a winter sport but not a fall or spring sport might not be able to make that commitment.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth–I have two friends who are alumni interviewers at two different highly competitive schools. Both tell me that a sport or EC matters a lot if the student is good enough to fill one of a school’s “boxes.” Schools want to have good sports teams, good singing groups, etc. If the student is able to fill a spot on one of these, that will matter a lot for admission. A certain number of spots in a freshman class are set aside for students who will fill a box. Essentially all other students, i.e., those who will not fill a box, go into a sort of general pool, where academics matter most, but a particular sport of EC, or a long list of them, don’t do much more than act as very hard to quantify tie breakers for kids with very close academic numbers. They both tell me that virtually every kid applying to their schools has a long list of sports/ECs, so in some sense they all cancel each other out if you are not good enough to be on a team, choir, etc., at the college. If you don’t have any it may disqualify you, but there really is no big distinction between having a few vs. a long list. This was the experience my son had–he was a good enough soccer player that a number of coaches at DIII schools offered to give him a “push” with admission. We never got the sense from any of the schools that he was looking at that his other ECs were going to make much of a difference. I know different topic, but when Swarthamore got rid of football years ago, it was not about money–Swarthmore probably is one of the wealthiest schools in the country on a per student basis–it was about having to set aside the 15 or 20 spots every year to fill the football box, at a very small school.</p>