Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
41,936 posts, read 37,202,891 times
Reputation: 40641
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nlambert
Extra-curricular activities are not a necessity to succeed. Kids are led to believe that, but it's far from the truth. I was in the Beta club, on the baseball team, played a few years of football, and was in the high school concert and marching band throughout all of high school. None of that landed me a scholarship. Academics did. None of my extra-curricular activities helped me get a job. My work history and degree did.
Extracurricular activities are very very very often the difference between one applicant gaining admission to a university while another equal or even better academically gifted person being rejected.
One of my kids had the incredible good fortune to land a flexible position with a very successful, privately-owned, small retail chain. She works the summer and over holiday breaks and then fills in very occasionally on weekends and in-service days for full-time employees during the school year as long as it doesn't interfere with her studies. It has been fabulous for her, and she loves her job! Although her primary responsibilities are to stock and cashier, her father and I have encouraged her to ask for opportunities to explore all aspects of the business, from purchasing to event planning to shipping & receiving, as she intends to pursue a business degree at university. I think there is always a place for motivated teens in the workplace, and a good employer can provide incredible mentors for an aspiring business person. I also recommend DECA for any high schooler planning to pursue the same path.
Last edited by randomparent; 07-14-2016 at 09:52 AM..
Extracurricular activities are very very very often the difference between one applicant gaining admission to a university while another equal or even better academically gifted person being rejected.
And this is truly sad, because not every parent can afford for their son or daughter to be involved in these extra-curricular activities. These things cost money.
Fast food - Learned to be on time, perform inventory counts, manage my time, manage multiple stations at once, and learned problem solving skills (when equipment went down you had to learn how to keep cooking using any other equipment that you could make get the job done). I also learned to follow set processes and procedures to provide repeatable results.
.
I had always been a crappy math student, but when I had to start working as a cashier my math skills went way up - out of necessity. And this was over 25 years ago using cash registers that didn't do all the "work" for you. I had to count out my drawer at the end of every shift and make sure everything balanced out. This helped me learn money management skills. When I graduated from college, many of my friends who never had to do these types of jobs had massive credit card debt, couldn't pay their bills on time, and seemed to have no concept of finances.
My parents told me I could not work during the school year because school was my job, my priority. Thanks to that, I was able to be involved in a lot of activities and get very good grades. During summer, I could work.
Extracurricular activities are very very very often the difference between one applicant gaining admission to a university while another equal or even better academically gifted person being rejected.
Here's the thing...... parents and students alike bought into the myth that extra-curricular activities must be school sponsored. That isn't true. An extra-curricular activity is anything that you are productively dedicated to. (I said productively, so video games and watching tv don't count.) The schools want to see active involvement in something that provides an impact. A part time job, helping out at home, writing a book or poetry in your spare time, playing in your own band, drawing or painting, and tutoring your siblings at home are all qualified by colleges as extra-curricular activities despite not being school related. One could do all of these things in lieu of sports, beta club, etc.. and still have quite the respectable list of activities for college applications.
Here is some brief research to back this up (plenty more available):
"However, students who forgo a pricey summer activity or an unpaid internship in order to earn for college have not necessarily hurt their chances of admission at all — and could well have helped them, to say nothing of easing the financial burden on themselves and their parents."
In an interview, Southern Methodist University’s director of admissions, Stephanie Dupaul, provided the reassuring words that some of the best personal essays she’d read were the result of a summer working in fast food.
“It demonstrates that students are working hard,” she said. “We look for students who haven’t turned off over the summer.” Similarly, Ann McDermott, the director of admissions for the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, said that she looked favorably on any summer job, especially when there was a financial need. “I applaud any student who is either helping themselves or helping their family,” she said. “You do still need to pay attention to the bottom line, and that is a dollar amount.”
"The director of admissions at American University in Washington, D.C., Greg Grauman, said that he particularly liked to see students who “follow their professions.” A student who wants to be pre-law, for example, will take a receptionist job at a law firm, or an aspiring doctor will do administrative work at a hospital."
"Colleges do indeed value work experience as an important extracurricular activity. If you come from a disadvantaged background and must work to pay for your own basic expenses, admission officials appreciate the challenges you face. On the other hand, if you come from a more privileged family and choose to be self-supporting anyway (at least to some extent, we're not talking about making mortgage payments here!), then admission folks will applaud the fact that you don't take your good fortunes for granted. In other words, it's really a no-lose situation."
My 16 year old will be a senior this September. She just started her first job as a cashier at a national chain pharmacy. The state mandates how many hours she can work per week, and how early/late she can work. She is learning how to be responsible, how to be punctual, how to work with the public, time management, the value of the money she earns, how to budget that money for savings and spending.
College counselors advise that students have a summer or year round job, internship, steady volunteer position, etc. going into senior year as well.
I'm not sure weather this belongs on the parenting forum or work and employment but I'll post it here since its mostly employment.
Do you guy think high school kids should be employed while they are in school or is it a bad idea until they are out of high school and start college?
I know it teaches them to be a good employment but its bad enough for HS students to go to school 5 days a week already from 8:00 AM to 3:30 PM.
What do you guys think would you let your kids start working at that age and how would the employment world be for them at that age? It mostly seems they could either work in retail or fast food at first.
To me, it depends. Is it a job that they can use the skills learned, or is it just a "Job" for pocket change?
Now with the death of the paperboy jobs and other previously easy type to learn and earn jobs, it seems the more technically inclined may be better off studying for their college exams and the others going to a trade school....
To me, it depends. Is it a job that they can use the skills learned, or is it just a "Job" for pocket change?
Now with the death of the paperboy jobs and other previously easy type to learn and earn jobs, it seems the more technically inclined may be better off studying for their college exams and the others going to a trade school....
All jobs teach a skill. It's whether or not people recognize that they are actually learning a skill and figure out how to apply that to their daily life and in future jobs that makes a difference.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
