The no interest in ECs thread sub conversation about colleges wanting students who will get involved, got me thinking about what activities my daughter continued in college.
In HS she had a ton of music related ECs around piano performance, competition, and accompanying; theater; engineering/robotics/sci oly; sports, leadership stuff at school; her summer job; and lots of volunteering. She was very busy.
We told her to pick one fun activity and one resume building activity when she went to college, which she did for her first semester but then adjusted up accordingly when she had a better sense of course load/studying. If you had asked me when she was in HS I would have predicted that she would have continued with piano and maybe join an engineering build team. Instead she stuck with theater, has three leadership roles in various organizations, her co-op, and has some side hustles both as a tutor and course grader. She still plays piano but more for herself and stress relief. She seems happy and satisfied. I think she is still too busy but she still seems to have time for friends and fun and her grades are great.
What are your college students involved in at school? Was it the same as what they did in HS or something totally different? Any surprises?
My son (BS/MS ME) was also a high level musician, but dropped that almost completely. He played occasionally, but didn’t study or work up pieces formally at all. He also played soccer and skied competitively, but did very little of either of those.
He was inducted into TBP his second year, but was never highly involved. Ditto the ME honors society. How well these are run and whether or not they are worth time is variable from school to school.
He was a member of Formula SAE and CubeSat.
He spent most of his “free” time on a campus job he really enjoyed (12-20h/week). Beyond that, it was hiking, surfing, or just hanging at the beach with friends.
As with your student, very different than HS.
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My daughter basically kept up all of her ECs in college. She’s stuck with a club version of competitive gymnastics and added club crew team, she still participates in dance performances, does her art and gets it shown in school galleries and exhibits, and volunteers when she can. I don’t think she dropped anything, really. She also added some weight lifting this semester. She loves having a really full schedule, and with her fun stuff, her jobs, and her classes that is exactly what she has.
I’m wondering if my younger daughter will pick anything up in college. She doesn’t have any ECs except dance, but she’ll be a dance major so it won’t be an EC anymore. She used to play flute but dropped that the minute she graduated high school (she’s almost through her gap year). She’s mentioned wanted to join the club surfing team.
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Still pretty much the same EC’s in college as in high school: college orchestra, smaller string ensemble group and occasional paid gigs (in NYC). One change from high school is that my son ('22) joined a capella group, as well. He’s also been involved in weekly free violin lessons to local youth orchestra kids since starting college and continued through the pandemic via Zoom. Instead of tennis (he was #1 singles in high school varsity tennis team), he’s been hitting the gym more for weight training. He still plays tennis when he can find additional time. All in all, no surprises.
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Just want to echo the idea that for first semester or even first year, it is sometimes a good idea to take it easy with EC’s while adjusting. Even limiting to just one. Granted, EC’s are a great way to meet people and every kid handles transitions and stress differently.
Interesting that several dropped music EC’s.
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Older S helped start a Quiz Bowl team at his school. He later dropped out deeming it not as fun as HS. He joined a frat that took up a lot of social time. He also got into weight lifting and hiked a lot. I’m not sure if ref’ing soccer is an EC, but he kept that up too.
Freshman year, younger S did intramural basketball and club swimming, but then covid killed most of that. He also got bit by the weight lifting bug and still plays basketball and soccer with friends - both at school and home.
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My D was on the board of the Outdoor Club, on the club softball team, and joined a sorority at her first college. At her second, she joined the club crew team. S joined a car club (he’s a freshman, so there were very few opportunities at his school this year due to Covid). ETA D is also a TA, not an EC really but she spends a bit of time on it.
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My kid was a great musician. She played in the college orchestra for four years and took lessons. She was a member of her school booster club for four years. She also ran a few Relay for Life events while in college.
She didn’t play any sports in college but was a statistician for a couple of club teams.
She also had a great job working in undergrad admissions and running an accepted student program.
She was plenty busy…double major in engineering and biology.
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My son has done ecoCAR - oh, and this year has a girl friend - that’s another activity. Not as much as you’d think - but as he said - class is kicking his a$$.
Has a great internship this summer at a major automotive plant - two days in and he’s jazzed. Not a ton of engineers got them (after 2nd year) so hopefully it’s a leg up. Last summer he worked too detailing cars - any experience is good experience.
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S19 was heavily involved in music in high school - played clarinet in the school concert band and the regional concert band, played in the guitar orchestra, took guitar and piano lessons, and played in a rock band. His only other significant EC was DECA (business case competition). In university he’s stuck with music but has dropped the clarinet and now only plays guitar. For the past 2 years he’s been an instructor in the guitar club and has played in the orchestra for a student produced musical. Next year he will be co-musical director but may not be playing in the orchestra because he will be on internship for 8 months starting in January.
Last summer he worked for a bank and this summer he has a research internship on campus.
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