Developing Depth and Breadth in Extracurriculars

Webinar Transcription

2025-02-18 – Developing Depth and Breadth in Extracurriculars

Lonnie: Okay. Hello, everyone. Welcome to CollegeAdvisors webinar, “Developing Depth and Breadth in Extracurriculars.” To orient everyone with the webinar timing, we’re first going to begin with our presentation. And then we’ll have the opportunity to answer your questions in the live Q& A. You can already begin placing your questions as you hear our presenter share out their material, and then we’ll get to those questions towards the end of the webinar.

If you’re having any technical difficulties, feel free to send a message to me, Lonnie, and I will do my best to support you. So with that said, let’s go ahead and meet our presenter.

Joanne: Hi, everybody. My name is Joanne Pluff. I am currently an admissions officer here at CollegeAdvisor. I’ve worked in higher education for just over 10 years, um, serving as a former associate dean at Hamilton College and associate director of admission at Utica College.

So I’m excited to chat with you today. I am coming to you live from Washington, D.C. So if you’re in the Northeast, I hope you guys are doing all right. I know you guys had a lot of snow in the last couple of days. Um, but hopefully I can give you a lot of information about your, how you can start preparing for your summer.

Lonnie: Thank you. Thank you. So before we get started in learning more about how to prepare for your summer and thinking about your extracurriculars. Just want to get a sense of what great you are in. So let us know. It gives us the opportunity to find ways to speak directly to those who are with us live. So I will allow the responses to come in and give it a few more seconds.

Okay. I think I got most of the responses. Okay, so we have about 50 percent are in the ninth grade. Then we have 17 percent 10th grade, 17 percent 11th grade. So no surprise to us that we have 9th through 11th grade representation, no seniors because they are applying and they are just trying to finish strong in their high school journey.

So with that, I’ll turn it over to you to get us started in our presentation.

Joanne: Sure. All right. Um, so the thing to remember for our students is starting in ninth grade is excellent. It gives you a lot of time and for planning and preparation. And luckily for you, you can get started on that as soon as today and start with a new year, um, new resolution.

So hopefully you can incorporate some of this in your daily activities. So I’ll give you guys a snapshot. Of course, like she said, The questions are available for you. Um, and I’m happy to take any at the end. So the first thing we should chat about is kind of how the application is set up itself. Um, because then this information will make more sense as to why we’re talking about these different few touch points.

So. Students typically are applying to colleges using the Common Application, um, is the most common, the Coalition Application, there is the SUNY Application, so the state applications, if you will, um, and then there’s also the, uh, Black Common App. So, within all of those application portals, what you’ll see is there’s a general profile.

That you fill out as a student, you give them your name, information, give them a little bit of information about the people in your house, your family, your current extracurriculars, your current academic standing, your classes, um, may allow you to put in testing and information about your parents. And then the next couple of pages is dedicated to your extracurricular activity.

So it’s one of the larger portions of the application. Um, when you’re thinking about applying, you want to think of your application as a big pizza, right? So, most universities do what’s called holistic review, meaning that we review everything that the student submits with their application. So, a portion will go to your profile, a portion is your a list of extracurriculars, a portion is your transcript, a portion is your college essay, and then a portion is your, um, your letters of recommendation.

So all of those things make up your application history. We’re going to focus on that list of extracurriculars, and for this purpose, we’ll also focus on using the Common App, which is, again, the most common that students use. So the Common Application allows students to add up to 10 activities, uh, that they’ve done throughout the year.

Now, 10 does seem overwhelming if you’re just starting out. So for our students in ninth grade, don’t worry, you’re not behind, you’re right on time. Um, that starting that application and thinking about this application now is what’s going to build that profile for you. And, um, naturally lead right into your list of extracurricular activities.

So based on that, how important are extracurricular activities in a college application? So to me, they are a big part of the puzzle. When we’re reviewing applications as a university, the university I currently work at, uh, we receive over 40,000 applications per year. And so here’s the deal, right? So we need to.

bring in students that are going to carry on the legacy of the university that we work at, students that want to take part in the activities, play sports or, um, give back to the community. We want students like that. So while that whole pizza makes up your application, this slice of the pie is super important because you’re adding to that community.

So for us, we’re looking to see do your Um, list of extracurriculars. Do they demonstrate commitment? Do they demonstrate passion? Is there leadership opportunities and initiative? Do they reflect your personal values and interests? And it also differentiates applicants because let’s say you go to Um, a private school and all of you all are required to take the same academic path.

What’s going to differentiate you from the person sitting next to you is the things that you do outside of school. And we want movers and shakers. We want people that are going to enhance our community. And the only way to get that is. to find out what it is you do in your spare time. And then, like I was saying, um, extracurriculars really do support that holistic application.

So we want to make sure that we have researchers, we have volunteers, we have musicians, we have singers, we have actors, all of that really makes up your college experience. So it’s important, the list of extracurriculars, I know that some people downplay it, but it truly is important in building, um, an incoming class.

All right. What different kinds of extracurriculars can students participate during high school? So this is a question I get all the time. Um, and we’ll definitely talk about, you know, the weight of different type of extracurricular, but I just want to also remember that while the things on this list are definitely official, but let’s also think about those personal projects and how they play into things.

So leadership roles. Are you. Um, in a club or activity that you are the vice president, are you the president of key club? Are you a class officer? Are you the captain of a team? Um, are you the coordinator volunteers for your church? Those are leadership roles. Every campus needs leaders. We need student leaders for government, student government.

Um, we need residence hall leaders. So it’s important to have some kind of leadership if that’s. That’s what you enjoy. Community service is also very important. The university I work at, our, um, our motto is in truth and service. So our students are very used to being a part of the community that gives back.

Almost every single student on our campus participates in non terminative spring break. So instead of going to like Miami or something like that, um, they do a service project and that’s really important. We want to be a positive part of the city that we’re based in. Creative and Performing Arts, have you guys ever been to a university that doesn’t have activities that plays or musicals, improv?

That would be really boring. So we need those students. We need band members. We need the choir to sing on graduation day. All super important parts of the, um, the, the extracurricular package. Research and academic competitions are also, I would say, something that a lot of students are after these days. Um, you know, I think there is this push for young people to have some kind of dedicated research, um, that’s been published on their application that specifically has to deal with the field that they’re going into.

And while that’s awesome, just Just know that it’s not 100 percent necessary, but we love to see any kind of like DECA competition. Um, if you’re doing quiz bowl, if you’re doing mock trial, those also are the kind of academic, um, options you can leave on your application. And then of course, there are more traditional things such as jobs, internships, and you could even include shadowing hours.

So, My big thing with the students that I advise is if you’re going into any kind of highly specialized field. So whether that’s the health field or business, we want you to have some kind of information under your belt. So I always recommend some kind of shadowing or internship opportunity so that our students can get used to the field that they’re applying to college for.

And then our personal projects and initiatives. Um, I put this caveat in there just because there are some students who do not have access to leadership roles, community service, creative arts, maybe isn’t a thing at your school, or maybe you don’t have a research opportunity and that’s okay. I had a student that self taught themselves, um, obviously self taught, but they taught themselves how to speak Japanese during COVID.

So, Even though it’s not an official school sponsored thing or something that, you know, you had to sign up for with an external party, make sure that you’re not discounting that. I would say the best part about COVID is it highlighted some of the inefficiencies that we had and the discrepancies. So we were placing a lot of, um, A lot of emphasis on the more, um, school based or organization based extracurriculars, but the reality is every student can’t do that.

So if you’re a student that can’t do, um, a community service project because you don’t have time, maybe you take care of an elderly grandparent. Maybe you’re a babysitter. Just remember to keep track of those personal projects and be specific, right? So we’re not talking about it. Thank you. Making your bed every day, because I’ve seen students write that on their application.

That’s on extracurricular activity. Extracurricular activity that may prohibit you from doing something else may be like babysitting. So maybe you watch your brothers and sisters, and that actually turns into be a leadership role. So think outside of the box, be realistic. Um, but just know that we’re going to try to give you as much credit as we can for some of those personal activities.

All right, so do admissions officers prefer students with lots of. extracurriculars or a lot of time spent on a few. So this is that conversation about death versus breath. Um, it drives me insane. So on the common application, it actually allows you to say how long you’ve been doing the activity for. So I personally do not appreciate when a student just does things just for the sake of doing things right.

So like, did you join mock trial club and then you joined key club for a year and then the next year you decided to do something else. Now maybe you truly weren’t feeling key club and you weren’t feeling mock trial, but if we see repeatedly that you’re not committing to things that, Really doesn’t so much jive with us.

We want to see that you have found something that you love and you’ve committed to it. Um, and it definitely avoids that checklist mentality. So you’re just doing it just to do it. So volunteering is cool, but just doing it for two hours. Not so cool, right? Like, what did you get out of that? We want to make sure that our students are spending time on the things that they enjoy doing, and that should show through your list of extra quick activities.

And again, of course, it aligns with that holistic review because we want to look at everything that you are submitting and supporting. Um, and jumping from item to item, activity to activity doesn’t show us that you really liked anything.

How can students demonstrate depth in an extracurricular activity? So first thing, number one, you’re going to commit to that activity over time. So if you really love playing the trumpet and you played trumpet from the beginning of the year, Your first year of high school to the last possible time you could play it.

Um, your senior year, that is commitment to an activity. And we appreciate that. If you have the ability to do a leadership role, cool. Now remember leadership isn’t for everybody and that’s okay. You don’t have to be a leader. You can just participate to participate. Making a measurable impact is something that I talk to my students about as well.

So, it’s really about you figuring out how you can enhance the activity that you’re doing. So, are you truly participating or are you just kind of kicking it in the meetings daily? Don’t go and kick it and waste everybody’s time. Um, take part. Do, pick up, design, help, sing, run, do whatever it is, but have some kind of positive impact on that thing.

And then, um, you know, with all of the students that I advise, we try to connect the activity to their personal growth and their goals. So if your goal is to be a psychologist, then maybe you work with, um, uh, suicide hotline, or maybe you really love sports and you like Baseball. So maybe you’re the bat boy for the local legion team, whatever it is.

I try to be as creative as possible to speak to everybody. Um, and we try to make sure that the activities that we, that we choose will also give them some personal gratification. The other thing as well is gaining external, um, recognition. So you will need people to do letters of recommendation for you in the future.

Volunteer coordinators, internship people, they all serve as great, um, options for you when you’re looking at your letters of recommendation and if you’re staying local. Think about this, you’re impacting your community locally, and you know, it’s a way to meet the people that you’ll be eventually living with to graduate college.

How can a student demonstrate breadth while staying true to their interests? So, to me, it really is about honing in on, um, the different aspects that you’re interested in. So, if, again, You really like playing an instrument, volunteering in, um, the Spanish club, then do that. You don’t have to do 97 different things to, to pique our interest in an application.

It’s totally unnecessary. Um, combining your interests. for sure will create a unique profile. I think about, um, especially with the languages combining a language with like a study abroad program, um, a summer J term or a winter term. Any of those will definitely give you that, uh, a little bit of a unique edge for your, um, extracurricular profile.

And then engaging in different types of activities, of course. So remember, I keep saying we don’t want you to jump from activity to activity, which is true. But we do want you to try new things. So if there is something that you’re interested in, try it. Um, and maybe you don’t have to stick it out, but if you can do it, it may not be your cup of tea, but think about the things you may get it out of it from the back end.

Every experience is worth it.

Lonnie: I agree. Every experience is worth it. So with that, we are going to do our next poll. Um, I’m pulling it up. So our poll question is where are you in the college application process? So we understand that for our live audience that you all are in the 9th and 11th grade and you’re learning now that that process starts way sooner than the summer leading up into your senior year.

So give us a sense of where you are. All right, I see the responses are coming in. So it looks like we have good representation across all areas. So we have 33 percent that haven’t started, but I know after hearing tonight’s webinar, even thinking about what you want to do for your extracurriculars. That is starting your college application process.

Okay, because you’re figuring out, you know, what is it that you want to share about the things that you’re passionate about? Um, 20 percent are researching their schools. 20 percent are working on their essays, which is really great to hear. And then we have about 10 percent that are getting their application material together.

So I love that. Great, great, great audience. So I’ll turn it back over to you, Joanne.

Joanne: Alrighty. So how can students balance their academic workload with extracurriculars that they love? Um, definitely have to plan and prioritize. So for the students who are ahead of the game doing their, um, almost through with their essays and stuff like that, amazing.

That’s great, um, time management and effective time management. So there is, there is a lot to be said about the time management and how you’re going to split this up. Um, most of my students will do the bulk of their, I would say volunteering and their shadowing internship research stuff kind of over the summer and more so saving their, um, school based activities.

For the school year, of course, so sports, things like that you can do, um, during the school year, your instruments during the school year. So it really is trying to figure out where you can place your activities and what part of life they can go with. So maybe it is something that you do only in December, like if you’re a bell ringer for the Salvation Army, that’s fine if it’s reoccurring, but again, it’s just about prioritizing what’s most important to you.

We don’t want you to read to overuse this time and not be able to do your academics. The best part about technology today is you can connect everything with everybody. So students, if you haven’t already done this, create a brand new email that you can put all of your college stuff in, utilize it for your applications, but also you can help, um, and map out what your weeks will look like.

This is tough for students to hear, but using your weekends wisely. We want you to take a break. We don’t want you to get burned out. But you do have to put a little bit of time and energy into the activities that you love as they will take you some of them outside of school to make sure you’re communicating with your teachers and mentors about what you have going on.

Um, never using an activity for an. Option, I would say, or an excuse, but your schoolwork obviously comes first. So, while all the different pizza, parts of the pizza make up your application, know that your transcript will carry the most weight. So, you’re not going to be able to get into college if you don’t have great grades.

The way to get great grades is to study and, of course, you understand the rest. Um, making sure that you’re staying healthy. The cool thing about extracurriculars, and I always push my students to do at least one fun one, is it’s good for the soul, right? Like, so, yeah. doing something for research that may be a little bit heavier, but maybe you do like singing working with the elderly.

So on Saturday afternoons, you go play the piano and sing for that. That kind of activity will help with the burnout. It takes a little bit of the stress off because it’s something that’s fun, makes you feel good. So think about integrating some of that stuff into your life, um, as well as your academics.

And then of course, um, a number one is being able to combine your academic extracurriculars and your personal extracurriculars together. So is there a biology club that you can be the president of, or you are aspiring to be the president of, um, are you pre law and you are the president of pre law society, whatever it is, um, know that we can help you figure things out, but also talk with your parents on how you can, um, mix and match to make sure that you have a good balance of.

academic that’s fun, but also things that you enjoy and you truly love.

All right, so what changes during junior, sophomore, junior, and senior year that might affect your extracurriculars? So sophomore year is really about expanding your interest in building foundations. So for your first year, think of that one as your freebie. That’s your year to go out and see all the different clubs and organizations and start kind of jumping around to see what you like.

Sophomore year, you’re really going to start expanding and building on those interests and building the foundation of the things you’d like to do because junior year is really when you hone in, it’s your year for leadership growth. Know that most seniors and upperclassmen are the ones that are holding those leadership e board positions.

So junior year is really honing in on that. And then your senior year is what are you guys going to do? So in my senior year, I was the president of a club. Um, It was called the American Field Service Club, where we did a lot of different exchanges. Most of the, the club participants before us did exchanges with, um, just in the, within the country.

And our big thing is we wanted to do an international exchange. So I went with my classmates to Spain and it was awesome. Um, so think about what is the lasting legacy you want to have, what is going to enhance your application that senior year and what are you leaving behind you and what have you set up?

What’s the foundation you’ve set up for the students in the classes after you?

All righty. So this is a little bit about me and what I participated in. Um, when I was in high school, I did varsity track and soccer. My high school was a large public high school that actually had. Grades A through 12. I was a varsity athlete from grade eight until grade 12 for both soccer and track. Um, like I was saying, I participated in the American Field Service Club.

So I did that from eighth grade to 12th grade. And actually by senior year, I was the president of the American Field Service Club. Um, and we left behind to set up exchanges, which was awesome. I was in the chamber orchestra, which also counted as an AP class. Um, it went through the Massachusetts Department of Education and was counted as an AP course.

So I played the cello for five years. I was also in the Key Club, mostly just because I liked setting up the dances. I thought that was super cool. Um, so I would help set up the dances, the semi formal, the winter formal, homecoming, um, the semi formal, and then I think prom, we would. Do as well. I was a class secretary for years 12, which was fun.

So I served as an executive board member. I still have responsibilities today. So make sure you pay attention to that. So I still have to do my class reunions. And then I also was a nurse’s aide. So that was my part time job about 15 hours a week. Um, after school, after practice and everything like that, I would go and work with a woman, um, that had MS.

I would do a grocery shopping, um, make some light dinners. I don’t know why people trusted me to cook though. But, um, those were the things that I did throughout all four of my years and our five years in high school. I knew going into high school that there were things that I wanted to do in college. So for me, um, these directly aligned with what I wanted to do when I grew up.

Um, and then how did these affect my college application? So every single university or college that I applied to had a pretty large commitment to community service and to community. Um, I didn’t want to participate in my instruments in college, but I wanted to go to a school that had a band, an orchestra.

I wanted to go to a school that had lots of sports. I really, really, really wanted to play my sport, and I did when I went to college, so it definitely helped with my submission. And then one of the coolest parts about high school was that I got to do. So it was like kind of a precursor to college and gave me a little bit of an idea of where I wanted to live in the world.

So when I did American field service or AFS as we called it, um, I did an exchange in Florida, North Carolina. There was one in California, one in Salem, Washington, one in Vancouver. And then of course the one in So I quickly realized I don’t like Vancouver. It’s too cold and it was really far. Um, Washington, same thing.

It was a little too chilly for me. Um, and I really wanted to be on the East coast or someplace down South. So being able to travel when you’re young, definitely as a benefit. I’m truly grateful. Not every student has the opportunity to do that. And then when we were able to go to Spain, it was an amazing um, experience to see kind of how people on the other side of the world lived.

So I think what, by the time I came to college, I had some stamps in my passport. I sort of could speak Spanish pretty well. Um, and it definitely gave me, like I said, an idea of where I wanted to be in the world. And then my extracurriculars. How do they affect my interest in career plans? So I’ve always been pretty service oriented.

Um, my parents definitely, I would say not harped, but, um, made the impression on myself and my siblings that we gave back. So I am an immigrant. My parents are not first generation. They went to college in this country, but my dad moved here when I was Five years old, um, to pursue an education. And he always made sure to give back to, um, to his community.

So his big thing was, I think he studied econ and math. Um, so his big thing was he used to do people’s taxes, so right from the get go, um, he’d do them for free. I always knew. Um. You know, giving back was something that it was really important to me and my family. So I always wanted to make sure that the colleges that I went to had a big emphasis on, um, opportunities to give back, whether it was volunteering, raising money, you know, walking for hunger or whatever the thing was.

I typically did all of those things when I was in college. Um. As you all noticed, I did most of my clubs and activities from eighth grade all the way up through 12th grade, so it was a huge time commitment to be that organized. Back in the day, you know, I had a cell phone. I don’t remember using the calendar like I would use my cell phone calendar now, but it definitely allowed me to have some strong time management skills.

Um, I never procrastinated because I Literally couldn’t. Um, sometimes I’d be coming home from track meets, getting home at like nine or 10 o’clock at night. Um, so I really had to plan ahead for homework projects, things like that. I utilize the math and writing center at my high school a lot. And, um, I would typically make sure that I was ahead of the game so that I could really rest when I got home from doing all the different activities.

Um, and then the other thing is I really liked fundraising. So my first job right outside of college is I worked for not for profit as the assistant director of, um, development. So Just used to getting used to raising funds, being fun, um, and raising awareness for different causes was kind of my jam.

Lonnie: Awesome. Thank you. I loved hearing your story and how that connected to your extracurriculars in areas that you You valued in your college decisions as well. That’s awesome. So with that, you now have the opportunity to ask even more questions to Joanne, how this will work. I will read your questions in the Q and a tab and then I’ll paste them into the public chat so that you can see what the question was.

Also, we do have a handout. That are available. So if you are interested in downloading the handouts, please go to the handouts tab and click on download and they’re readily available for you. Okay, so we’ll jump into our first question and it reads, how can I make the most of my extracurriculars if I started late in high school?

The extracurriculars.

Joanne: Yeah, I mean, starting late. I get it. You know, you should still do something and At this point, if you have the opportunity, let’s say, I think we had a couple juniors. That’s cool. Don’t worry about it. What looks bad is if you do like 15 things for one year, but find something that you’re interested in, um, and really beef it up.

So if it is biology and you really like doing research and you have a Girl Scout project that you can focus on that with, Do that. Um, we can definitely read through when it’s doing something just for the sake of doing it and not because it’s going to benefit you in the end.

Lonnie: Awesome. Okay, next question. How should I balance extracurriculars with academics and self care?

Joanne: Yeah, I mean, I think things are a little bit different than when I went to college. Um, I think really because There is this idea that young people can have self care. You do have needs and mental health needs.

So I think naturally the world is moving towards that. Um, but I cannot say how important it is to be organized with this process and really scheduling your breaks and times. Like even as an adult, I literally plan out, you know, For two months, what day I’m going to take a minute, even if it’s a half day, to do something that I really enjoy, or if it’s, you know, throughout the work week, if there’s an activity on campus that I really want to go to, I do it, and you should get in the habit of doing the same.

I loved going to high school. I know that some people dread it and it’s awful and it’s mean. Um, I was very grateful to go to a very welcoming high school that provided me an education and provided a lot of us opportunities to do things that we truly enjoyed with people that we really enjoyed. So I’m hoping that if you’re Having a good time in high school, you find time to take and stop and kind of just like take it all in.

It definitely is helping you be prepared for college, but also you’re still a young person, right? Like you technically have no responsibilities outside of school in these extracurriculars. So remember to just Stop a minute and smell the roses because this time is going to go by so fast and before you know it, you’re going to be on CollegeAdvisor having a webinar about talking to other students about the activities that you did in high school.

Lonnie: Very, very true. Time goes fast and make sure that you are embracing this experience. Um, once in a lifetime experience. being a high school student. Um, so with that, our next question is what resources can I use to stay organized and on track with deadlines?

Joanne: Yeah. So for college students, we have this process, um, this app called Corsical, and it literally allows you to put all this information in.

I don’t believe that they, the same thing, well, when I say information allows you to put your courses, you know, your work schedule, um, your syllabus information, all of that, and it keeps you on track. I don’t believe that anybody has duplicated this for high school students. I’m not sure that it’s like an important thing, but whatever.

I just tell my students to use, most schools are using Google, use Google to the best of your ability. Put all of your information on the calendars. Um, I’m a. Break proponent of spreadsheets and having somebody to be accountable with. So if dad drives you nuts, but mom is the better person to handle accountability, use her as your accountability, check in and make sure that you’re doing the things that you need to.

There’s no reason for not using technology at this point between all. Well, the different time management apps that we have, I’m sure that you can find one that kind of fulfills your need. So whether it’s Google, Apple, I’m not really sure. I don’t care. I prefer Google. Um, it’s the one that I use and that’s the one I use with my students.

So for my juniors, we have a massive spreadsheet of the things that they need to do. There is a short term tab, a long term tab, and then our year tab. And, um, What we do is we just check in about those things periodically just to make sure that everybody is on the right track. I think you can back me up here, Lonnie, that students typically gravitate towards like one person, one parent during this college application process.

And you should find out what parent that is now so that you guys can get into this rhythm because once things get going senior year, you’re going to couple your activities with, you know, being a student and then all these applications, it’s going to be a lot. But luckily, a lot of you are starting now and you can get into these good habits of writing everything down and putting it someplace that you can refer to and refresh when needed.

Lonnie: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Starting that system now. Um, you’re actually building skills that you’re going to continue to refine as you get into college, as you get into your profession, you know, like one day you might like writing things down. And then the next day you’re like, actually, I do want things to be digitally.

I’m always on my phone.

Joanne: Absolutely.

Lonnie: Well, starting some type of system to keep yourself organized now is really going to serve you in the in the long term, especially if you think about balancing it with your academics and your extracurriculars, too.

Joanne: Yes.

Lonnie: Um, okay. So the next question is, I heard you say that you played soccer in college, and I was wondering if you have any recommendations.

for being in college sports.

Joanne: Yeah, so this is going to be a little harsh. So just bear with me down this road, you guys. So look around, think about your team. Um, I think it’s like 12 percent of current high school athletes will actually play a sport in college. So my first piece of advice for you is be realistic about your Athletic abilities, right?

So, like, if you know that you haven’t gotten off the bench for a couple days and you have your sights set on Duke, you may not be playing at Duke. That’s the first thing. The second thing is, you have to go into it. Not looking to like make a lucrative goal. So I was very fortunate. I was recruited for both sports when I was in college and they ranged from division one teams to, um, division three teams.

And I ended up doing division three and I will tell you why I was, I’m very close to my parents. I think I talked to them at my mom at least seven times a day still. And I visited big schools out in California, schools down South. I had narrowed it down to the last two schools in Atlanta. Um, I was ready to go.

I was on my trip back up to new England and my parents were like, okay, cool. You made your decision. We’re going to pay the deposit. And I, and they were like, you know that we can’t come to every single one of your games, like you do. Like we do now. And I was like, well, what do you mean you can’t come to my games?

Like, I had never had the experience of being an athlete where I didn’t have a cheering section. And for me, that really mattered. So you have to figure out what it is you’re looking to gain from the sport and how you want it to impact your, your college career. So being a division three athlete, I will tell you we traveled just like division one schools.

There are not every division three, division one, division two are made equal. Um, I played a pretty high level and I was gone Thursday through that Saturday or Sunday sometimes. Every other weekend in September and October, not every student is down with that. There’s a higher expectation of student athletes.

We were required to have a certain GPA. So, you know, that’s not for everybody. So the first thing is you have to be realistic about your athletic ability. And start reaching out to coaches. If you are a junior and you have not started your athletic recruitment tapes, your websites, all of that, you’re a little bit behind, make sure that you start contacting those coaches.

Um, and at the end of the day, if you don’t love that sport enough to do it, college is in the place to kind of have to do it, my friends. It is a lot of commitment. It’s a lot of time. I think I spent more time with my. A my teammates than I did with my actual roommates throughout the season. So if you’re kind of half in it, half out, you really do need to decide, um, get started working on your tapes and things like that so that you can send out for colleges.

But the true thing is that you have to be realistic with your athletic ability. If a D1 coach has not called you and you are a junior. It is highly unlikely that you’ll be playing Division One and that’s okay. You can still be a great athlete and have a great time, um, at a different level and don’t feel disappointed because it is a privilege to play.

I would probably play with my non dominant hand if I could. If somebody gave me one more time, I would do it. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Lonnie: Really great insight and very realistic as well. So thank you to our audience member for asking that question. We are going to just take a short, quick little pause from our live Q and a, so that I can share more about the work that we do here at CollegeAdvisor.

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Increase your odds and take the next step in your college admission journey by signing up for a free 60 minute strategy session with an admission specialist on our team by using the QR code during this meeting, you’ll receive a plenary assessment of your academic profile, along with some initial recommendations on what you can do to stand out.

At the end, you’ll also learn more about CollegeAdvisor’s premium one on one packages that compare you with an expert, um, just like Joanne, who can support you in building your college list, editing your essays, and much more. Okay, so I will leave this QR code on the screen, and we will continue with the second part of our questions and answers.

So our next question, I know we had talked about recommendation letters. So when should I start asking for recommendation letters and how do I choose the right people?

Joanne: Yeah, that’s a great question. Um, so I think for the juniors, I would say you’d start in your junior year. Um, and I think about now ish is probably the right time, um, unless you’re truly bent on having somebody who is a senior teacher doing it, then I would think between junior and sophomore year is where you said.

should select the person from. So typically students have to have somebody from their core classes. So math, science, English, um, ELA, history, and then you can have like a personal person. Typically school counselors will do at least one letter recommendation for each student. And then, um, your personal person can be the volunteer coordinator for church, a troop leader.

It could be a, uh, a notable alum, from the institution. Those are great. You can ask and I would say the wrong time to ask is like October of your senior year because most teachers probably took their summer off and weren’t working on this and we’ll get started on those letters of recommendation in August to September when the bulk of them are due.

Do not ask somebody in November. Don’t ask them the end of October. That’s never good. And um, I, I can’t be responsible for, you know, what somebody says at that point. And as you’re getting prepared to ask them, make sure that you have a little bit of a resume and or a personal statement that you can share with them.

While yes, you want them to be a character reference and you want them to to really understand you as an academic and an individual. It is very helpful for a person who has to write many recommendations to have a little bit more background on you so that they can be refreshed.

Lonnie: Yes, absolutely.

Absolutely. Um, Definitely echoing that starting earlier versus later, um, really trying to honor your recommend, recommenders time because they are a professional and they are writing many, many letters. And so making sure that you get to know the teachers who are writing them for you and that you give them also like, which was give them what they need so that they can write the best letter for you.

Okay, so next question. Do colleges prefer school sponsor activities or can independent projects and hobbies count?

Joanne: I would say that we don’t have a preference, but my personal preference, um, would be a little mix of both. So have a little school, have a little personal that makes like a well rounded package to me.

I do like to see those personal activities because it gives me a little bit of insight on the student’s brain and what they got going on. So I always like, like, click quirky things. One of my students right now, their personal activities. activity, sorry, is that they, um, they paint little figurines for Dungeons and Dragons.

Super cool, right? Very highly specific to them. Um, but also with that, they’ve got a research project, an internship, and they’re in the school band. So you got to balance it out. I’d love to see personal things on there, but um, I can also appreciate some school based activities too.

Lonnie: All righty, this is going to more likely be our final question, unless there’s another question that comes into the Q& A tab, and it says, how should I create a balanced college list based on my extracurricular involvement?

Joanne: Yeah, I mean the cool thing about All of the colleges is we have very robust, um, student affairs, campus activities, websites that allows you to do your research. So if you have an inkling about a school and you can’t find an activity on there, um, and you’re okay with going to a school that doesn’t have your specific activity, then make sure that you have the ability to create one.

Because like I said, we’re looking for leaders. We’re looking for movers and shakers. Um, I don’t think it’s the best idea to solely base your list on your extracurricular activities, but you do want to make sure that they fall in line with some of the things that you like to do. So, like I said, I wanted to make sure that there was an orchestra and a band, that there were sports, and they gave back.

And the university that I found had a mix of all three of those things. Um, And each school is going to be different. Uh, Google will be your number one, heading back to that spreadsheet and organization. Another thing you’re going to work and as a student, your college is by, um, list major, all of that. So when you’re doing that research, make sure that those different activities that you’re interested in take note of if they have it, or if they don’t.

Um, when I was in college, a big thing was. Having, um, Quidditch as a sport on campuses, like from Harry Potter, cool, wasn’t my jam, but for whatever reason, students are really into that, and if that’s your jam, I’m sure that there is a college out there that has a Quidditch team for you, so go forth and do it.

Um, there is, I always tell students, you know, that first semester on campus is really, really tough, and students will say there’s nobody like me on campus, and I’m like, go find the crazy person just like you. Like, Find your fancy, find your person, match your energy. You picked this university for a reason.

So when you’re doing that research, make sure that it has the reasons, um, for the things that you want to do outside of school.

Lonnie: Awesome. Well, well said. Okay, so it looks like, oh, I have one more question that came in. Okay, let me read it because we have time. Alrighty, so this question says, I am in my freshman year of high school. So this is going back to the sports related question. Um, and you said I needed to be contacted by a D1 coach to play my sport in college.

Do they scout for players or should I try to make connections and contact them myself?

Joanne: So a first year student in high school is a little soon. Um, you right. So like. You could be a completely different person now, uh, athletic wise than you would be your senior year. So you can start making those connections, but some coaches won’t even entertain any kind of conversation until like the summer of your junior year, depending on the sport you play, um, or do or run or whatever.

There’s typically like summer activities that you can do. Um, like in my junior year of high school. Starting in this time of year, I went to a lot of different I. D. Camps, identification camps for both running and for tracks. So I would go and just go to practice and you know, all these different coaches would be there and then they would contact you after.

So depending on the sport, you want to start looking for any kind of identification camps. A big thing for scouting too is if you have nothing going on this summer, but you can do like a week of basketball camp at whatever college, that’s another great way for you to get noticed by different coaches.

Don’t worry as a first year freshman, you don’t have too much to worry about right now. Start thinking about that more the end of your sophomore year, beginning of junior year is when those coaches will come out. Typically the athletic timeline is a little bit, um, sooner for students. So. Most athletes know by, like, October ish where, what place they stand, um, if October of your senior year if you’re going to play or not.

Lonnie: Great. Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Okay, so that was our final question for our webinar. Thank you, Joanne, for this great presentation. And I know that our audience got some valuable information on how to continue to just approach their extracurricular activities and even just like how that relates to the college application process and to our audience.

We hope to see you. At an upcoming webinar, because we have webinars every week that are designed to support you with figuring out all things related to the college application process and just really enriching your overall high school experience in preparation for college. Okay, so with that, everyone have a great.

Evening, you can download the handouts and this webinar will be available for you to review again by tomorrow by visiting our CollegeAdvisor website. Alrighty, Thank you. Good night.