College admission questions (maybe kind of silly)

[Sparx]

Thanks everyone.
I have a lot to learn! She goes to a private prep school right now. She may want to go to a more selective college (not Ivy league) -depending on if she is able to keep her grades up.
Her dad went to UNC Chapel Hill -but we are out of state -and I hear it is really hard to get into now.

being a legacy does give you an edge, sometimes, though.

 

[tar heel]

The five North Carolina public universities my children have applied to have all asked for extracurriculars. I think extracurriculars matter more at the more selective schools and in merit scholarships. I've told my kids that at minimum they should have one sport and one non-sport each year.

Your daughter would need extracurriculars as well as a high GPA and SAT for UNC-Chapel Hill, especially as an out-of-state student. It has become very selective. My youngest is a sophomore and he hopes to go there. He also is weak on extracurriculars at this point and didn't play a sport as freshman. I know that will pick up junior and senior year -- Beta Club alone is wonderful b/c it gives you a club AND a lot of volunteering.

 

[tar heel]

Sparx -- I think you mean a legacy.

When an alum's child applies to Chapel Hill, you get a nice letter from the alumni association that says they are really glad that your child has applied but that alumni children are not given priority. It's been a while, but I think it says something like the status would be considered only in a tie-breaker situation. This is a big change from how it used to be -- there was a time when out-of-state alumni children were considered as in-state for admission purposes.

 

[Sparx]

Sparx -- I think you mean a legacy.

When an alum's child applies to Chapel Hill, you get a nice letter from the alumni association that says they are really glad that your child has applied but that alumni children are not given priority. It's been a while, but I think it says something like the status would be considered only in a tie-breaker situation. This is a big change from how it used to be -- there was a time when out-of-state alumni children were considered as in-state for admission purposes.

sorry! word mix up, i edited.

i know that my college participates in the common market (i think that's the word?) where certain out of state students who meet certain criteria are able to attend with in-state tuition. i'm almost positive this is a public university program only though. but it might be helpful to research too.

 

[tar heel]

Clemson and USC in South Carolina offer in-state tuition to outstanding North Carolina students. I've never heard of the converse happening, but it may.

 

[Plannin'Shannon]

Ok, I looked up the application for your school online because it just seemed so strange that they didn't ask that and there isn't one single question about ANY activities for anything-weird. We had 3 pages of potential activities that you filled in what you did, for how many years and any "offices" held-example: Marching Band, 4 years, Drum Major.

Same here. Every school's requirements are different, OP, so I suggest you narrow down the list of potential universities early and research each school's admission standards. Applications were an extremely involved process for me, so my best advice is to START EARLY. If volunteer hours are necessary, for example, you don't want your daughter to be among those scrambling for hours at the last minute.

 

[clarabelle]

Thanks again guys.
I feel silly to even be thinking about it now -it seems far away. I just don't want her to have any regrets you know?

It seems colleges are much harder in general to get into now. Her dad was a good student -but not amazing or a real standout.

 

[SeaSpray]

Just want to add that when my DSs' high school guidance offices typed up their transcripts, all clubs, groups, sports, etc were included, so that's one way that the colleges knew none of it was made up.

As for volunteer work, the guidance office had asked any students who did volunteer work to provide a letter from the people/organization that they volunteered for, and that also was included in the transcript.

 

[Plannin'Shannon]

Thanks again guys.
I feel silly to even be thinking about it now -it seems far away. I just don't want her to have any regrets you know?

It seems colleges are much harder in general to get into now. Her dad was a good student -but not amazing or a real standout.

It seems far away...but it isnt. Trust me, it'll be knocking at your door before you know it! You sound like a thoughtful, involved mom, and she is lucky to have you.

 

[NC State]

Her dad went to UNC Chapel Hill -but we are out of state -and I hear it is really hard to get into now.

Very hard only 18% out of state can be accepted.

What major is she looking at?

 

[Sparx]

Clemson and USC in South Carolina offer in-state tuition to outstanding North Carolina students. I've never heard of the converse happening, but it may.

i found the program i was talking about, here it is.

http://www.sreb.org/programs/acm/acmindex.aspx

 

[clarabelle]

Thanks!
I did not know about that program!

 

[phragmipedium]

It may or may not make a difference in her admission, depending on the school, but it's definitely important for scholarships. When I was a financial aid counselor at a public university and scored scholarship applications, we looked for well-rounded individuals. Being involved in sports, music, and academic extracurriculars, particularly in leadership positions, holding a job, having volunteer activities (particularly in leadership/spearheading type roles), and having excellent and unique essay question answers are all important. They don't necessarily need sports AND music AND academic extracurriculars, but they should show interest and participation in multiple areas. An applicant whose life was *only* sports or *only* music with no other types of activities would not score as well as someone well-rounded. The depth (how many years of high school did they participate in these activities and how involved were they) is also important. And of course, grades and GPA and SAT and challenging coursework are particularly important - those were things that were automatically scored and factored into the scholarship scoring, so it wasn't something I needed to look at as a reviewer, but it holds huge weight.

It's a great time to start thinking about that as a freshman, as it's more and more competitive. Encourage your student to be involved in many things from the beginning of high school, especially leadership and volunteer roles, as it really does make them more marketable for scholarships. I highly recommend your student make a spreadsheet tracking all of the volunteer opportunities, hours, contacts, etc that she participates in, as well as tracking what other activities she's involved in each year. It makes it so helpful when it comes to college application & scholarship time.

 

[MrsPete]

My DD is in 9th grade a good student.
She is not however a joiner -and is not really doing any extra curricular right now.
I know colleges look at that kind of stuff -but when does it need to start?
How important is it -and what kinds of things are good -especially if she is not musical or athletic.
Thanks!

How important are these things? It depends:

A super student who doesn't have much in the way of extra-curriculars will still have no trouble getting into a middle-of-the-road university. That same student probably wouldn't make it into a more competative college, nor would he have much of a shot at scholarships.

A student with moderate grades and no extras will still be accepted somewhere, especially at some of the small private schools, but won't make it into the big-name schools.

In short, lack of extras won't prevent a student from attending college, but it may limit her choices.

Conversely -- lest someone get the wrong idea -- it's not good to over-do to the point that grades suffer; it's not good to be a member of "everything" just to prepare for college. Grades and choosing upper-level classes absolutely DO come before all the extras. A great extra-curricular resume will never trump lackluster grades.

Finally, keep in mind that church activities and community activities are just as positive on an application/scholarship form as school clubs.

 

[clarabelle]

Are there that many academic scholarships not based on need that would look at those kinds of things?
She will not qualify for any kind of need based scholarships or aid.

Thanks everyone for your input. We had a discussion in the car this morning about finding some things for her to do.

 

[allison443]

Even if she isn't doing official extra curricular activities at school, what else is she doing besides school? I am a firm believer in "keeping them busy" whether it's sports, volunteering, part time job, serious hobby, etc. Also, it can help them find an interest they may want to pursue in the future. For example, volunteering/working at a hospital, or with kids.

My dd is a college freshman, she applied mainly to state flagship universities and by necessity due to the sheer volume of applications it seems those schools are very numbers-driven, i.e. the gpa and SAT/ACT score are the most important factors. (They do not have any automatic admissions like another pp mentioned, however). However, all the schools she applied to (Penn State, UConn, Delaware, James Madison, Maryland, and a few others) ALL asked for extra curriculars. Also, they all asked for an essay and some gave the topic of your most important activity outside school or something like that.

I agree with the OP that college admissions have gotten tougher for the more competitive schools. If colleges are comparing kids with similar stats they may be more likely to choose the one that is more well-rounded and could "multitask" instead of just doing school, if you know what I mean.

Good luck to your dd...It's good you guys are looking at this now. I'm sure she will find something that she enjoys!

 

[allison443]

Are there that many academic scholarships not based on need that would look at those kinds of things?
She will not qualify for any kind of need based scholarships or aid.

The Ivies and a number of the more competitive schools award financial aid on strictly need-based criteria. As you go down the "tiers" there is more merit-based aid. At some lower-ranked schools the majority of the students receive scholarships.

 

[allison443]

Also, to follow up on a previous poster, schools often prefer to see a commitment to a few meaningful activities rather than just being a member of a list of clubs. For example, having a leadership position in a particular club, volunteering or working a certain number of hours per week, accomplishing a certain goal or project in the community-these are better than just saying "member of the Spanish club for four years", etc.

 

[clarabelle]

She studies, reads, surfs the internet and texts friends.
That doesn't sound very good does it? But she is a really sweet girl. A homebody. She almost never gets in trouble. Her teachers like her.

She has tried lots of sports and hasn't taken to any of them. She isn't musical and too shy to be in theatre.

 

[Becky2005]

Good Luck. My DD is a Sophmore and we have been basically just preliminary looking at colleges.

We haven't really been doing too much on the extra-curricular since it sounds like she might just end up at community college for the first 2 years. She is in drama club but due to medical reasons can't do the sports she used to. She won't be on any sports teams. She does volunteer at the animal shelter & she also does a ton at her church too. That's pretty much it.

I know our school has a program for volunteers where if you do 50+ year they give you a certificate that year & if you do that all 4 years it's noted in the graduation ceremony list. I don't think they ever check those though, the people sign it & give their phone numbers for verifyication but that is it.

We are hoping to go to some college fairs this year just so we can see what is out there and then start narrowing it down. Ours is a bit different since DD wants to be a stage actress at the moment, so looking more libral arts than traditional.