<p>This may seem like a strange question, but why do colleges put so much emphasis on extra curricula's? Are a student's choice of EC's truly a measure of how successful they will be in college or how involved they'll become on campus? </p>
<p>Just curious.</p>
<p>~Agent 99</p>
<p>There are so many students with good grades and test scores the EC’s will help differentiate otherwise similar students. Also, in American HS’s it is easy for good students to do the work and therefore EC’s show what is done with the extra time. American schools are more than just the classroom, it is expected that students do elective activites to round out their lives. You are more than just your academic profile.</p>
<p>You can look at this two ways. Cynical perspective, if everyone has basically the same gpa and same test scores, how are you going to decide? And if someone is doing really great stuff in high school, wouldn’t it be great if the person continued to do great stuff and the college could claim credit?</p>
<p>Not cynical, education is more than just taking classes. Would you rather be around people who are engaged in activities and ideas outside the classroom or just eat lunch with people and discuss the latest tv show. Which do you think will inspire you to do “better” whatever that may mean?</p>
<p>They show what the student is capable of doing BESIDES getting good grades. </p>
<p>OTOH, ECs aren’t “so vital” for most state schools - being a resident and getting OK grades will get you into most state campuses. Obviously, such prestige state schools as UCLA, Berkeley, U Michigan, UVA, etc. are an exception.</p>
<p>At a very large university the probability of having some of every kind of person is quite good. You could take any random sample of 30,000 students and there would be people to run student government, fill teams, play music, etc. At smaller schools and more presitious schools, they want to be sure that there is a mix of kids to keep all of those programs energized and running. Kids who are active and enterprising in high school are more likely to ba active and enterprising in college which makes the place more vibrant and does add the the prestige of the school when they do really great things.</p>
<p>I just fail to see the practical side of EC’s in terms of how well a student does once he/she arrives on campus. It’s impossible to continue all the volunteer work, sports and other activities once one is enrolled. So other than a sorting process, is there a practical reason. </p>
<p>You can’t tell me CalTech and MIT care if you taught preschoolers to swim.</p>
<p>How would you admit less than 2,000 applicants out of an applicant pool of over 25,000 who all have the same/very similar test scores and GPA? EC’s are one way of differentiating applicants</p>
<p>I think it is just another way to illustrate an aspect of who the applicant is.
They may be replicated on campus, but often not.
For example my oldest who was riding staff @ a residential camp & who had accumulated 2000 volunteer hours @ the zoo’s pony barn, hoped she could continue her riding after she got to college. However, easier said than done.</p>
<p>Likewise her sister, who in middle school was on two soccer teams & who in high school was on a rec soccer team as well as school sports teams, finds that the more casual teams are more to her liking at her university.</p>
<p>They both were admitted to all their choices.
You don’t have to have just academic EC’s or be president of the club to show you spent your time in a meaningful way.</p>
<p>I would also mention that having an after school job can also be an important EC- anything that shows responsibility & committment.</p>
<p>Its a way to get more caucasion students, as oposed to asian.</p>
<p>Full discloure – I am american of irish heritage.</p>
<p>Is there a measure of EC’s? In other words is it the quality, the quantity or both? D would never sleep if we let her do everything she wanted. I wonder sometimes how she maintains her grades and is involved in so much. Makes my head spin.</p>
<p>Its a way to get more caucasion students, as oposed to asian.</p>
<p>Why do you say this? Asian students are fully involved in ECs in local high schools.</p>
<p>Emerald, I agree that asians are fully involved. But have you read the lawsuit re the Ivies? That they dont value piano, violen, etc? It is very discouraging to me. It seems that ECs are a way to cut down on number of Ivy admits from asians.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Why? They could just cut down the number of admits by cutting down the number of admits. They don’t need to justify it to anyone, since admissions is completely private. Your statement doesn’t make any sense.</p>
<p>Huh, do you understand that there are discrimination laws. colleges have to find a way around to cut down on asian- americans</p>
<p>[Student</a> claims Harvard, Princeton discriminate against Asian-Americans - College, Inc. - The Washington Post](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/student-claims-harvard-princeton-discriminate-against-asian-americans/2012/02/02/gIQAkIZYkQ_blog.html]Student”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/student-claims-harvard-princeton-discriminate-against-asian-americans/2012/02/02/gIQAkIZYkQ_blog.html)</p>
<p>I disagree with you Agent99 that the ECs won’t be replicated on a college campus. Maybe the exact EC won’t, but kids with ECs generally are kids who like to be involved, are curious, etc. The school needs kids who are going to play sports, run IMs, lead tours and more. I’d always pick the kid who had strong academics AND an interesting non-academic life over the school grind who are all about grades and only grades.</p>
<p>Ds1 is a sophomore at a LAC and has played on probably a dozen IM teams (captain of several), has a radio show on the college station and is a peer leader for a campus program. Plus who knows what else. I’m sure the college isn’t surprised by this as his app included varied ECs. They gambled that an involved HS student would be an involved college student, and they were right.</p>
<p>People who do lots of extra things in high school are likely to do a significant amount of extra things in college, even if it’s not as much as they did in high school. (Actually, in many cases it’s more, since they don’t have to spend as much time in class or other required activities, and the stuff to do is more interesting and engaging.) People who do nothing extra in high school are not so likely to do extra things in college. Relatively small, residential colleges need students doing extra things to maintain the kind of community that creates a quality college experience, keeps kids happy and loyal to the college, and expresses the Establishment vision of what a college community should be. Plus, I think people believe that these “do-ers” will continue to do extra things in their communities after college, thus becoming leaders / greater achievers and reflecting credit on their alma matres.</p>
<p>In addition, high school activities like sports or other substantial, time-consuming group activities teach teamwork, leadership, self-discipline, and time management – all extremely valuable things both in college and after college.</p>
<p>You are completely wrong if you think MIT doesn’t care about extra-curricular activities. MIT believes that there are thousands of kids who can be taught to be good engineers and scientists; it wants the ones who are going to be engaged with their communities as well and will have an impact beyond their labs. Of course, they are happy to have some students who won’t have much of an impact beyond their labs if they look like potential Nobelists for what they do in the lab, but you can’t fill a class with those students. You can’t even fill a seminar with them.</p>
<p>And . . . enough with the Asian-American discrimination whining. There are plenty of threads for that.</p>
<p>I appreciate everyone’s input regarding the EC’s. I agree that well rounded people are far more interesting and provide a much richer college experience for their colleagues. D’s current high school classmates are very aware that EC’s are vital and I wonder how much is too much?
D enjoys being active and involved and has interesting EC’s .Our son is not as inclined. But he has time to consider his options.</p>
<p>I also want to add, I think it isn’t the quantity of EC activities, but rather the quality. My HS senior daughter has only ever participated in dance and cheerleading but she has traveled all over the country dancing since three years old and been very active in her cheerleading squad since 3rd grade. Just 2 but put all her heart and energy into these activities. I think that is just as impressive as someone who is in 8 clubs etc…</p>
<p>(not that being in 8 clubs is bad, but you know what I mean…)</p>
<p>It’s not how successful the student will be, but how successful the campus community will be. The schools want to build a class of students with different interests and a track record of persuing those different passions. Somebody has to try out for the play, edit the paper, run for student counsel, play the oboe, hike the football to the quarterback, etc. or the place doesn’t fit together too well.</p>
<p>JHS, I am sorry if you regard my statement as asian whining. Trust me. I am not asian. But I stand for equality and am against discrimination.</p>