Preparing Your High School Portfolio for College Admissions
Should every hobby lead to college?
from Chicken Soup for the Soul: Teens Talk Getting In… to College
When I was in third grade, someone told me that I could go to any college I wanted if I played the French Horn. The next year, I told the band teacher about my new passion for the French Horn, but ended up with a trumpet in my hand, because the teacher wanted me to start with the simpler instrument. I played trumpet for five years, but stopped before high school, when I would have switched to French Horn, because band would have conflicted with soccer, which was going to be my college sport.
So I gave up the French Horn for soccer, the sport that I loved, and I made the JV team as a sophomore. But I thought that I would never make the varsity team senior year, so soccer wasn’t going to get me into college. Then, someone told me that I could become a rower and get recruited to any college that I wanted.
I gave up soccer and switched to crew in spring of my sophomore year. But I was too small to row and ended up as a coxswain. I coxed the boys’ crew team for the next two years. We spent hours on the water in the mornings and afternoons but it was worth it. And after all, how many five-foot-tall girls get to tell eight six-foot-plus guys what to do, and have them listen? Senior year we came in fifth in a national regatta.
Finally, I had found something to get me into college and several crew coaches at top schools were interested in recruiting me. Ironically, I decided that I didn’t want to make a four-year commitment to a coach that I wasn’t sure I would keep. So I didn’t use my coxing to get into college either.
Early in high school someone had also told me that I needed to start a club in order to get into college. I started a political club and then spent an unreasonable number of hours organizing students and hitting the campaign trail, spending more time on campaigning and helping candidates than on schoolwork. I was planning to be a government major, so this was the perfect way to start down the path to my ultimate career in government and policy-making.
I never played the French Horn, I didn’t row, and I spent more time campaigning than doing my homework, in preparation for my political career. I didn’t use band, soccer, or crew to get into college even after countless hours devoted to those “recruitable” activities. And I haven’t taken a single government course in college.
It seems that I botched all of my get-into-college plans, but what I ended up with were amazing high school experiences. In addition, I could talk about them passionately and sincerely throughout the college application process.
And one of my high school passions, being a volunteer EMT, has actually continued, and today I am still an EMT on my college campus, as well as a pre-medical student, which I guess is where I was headed all along.
High school should not be viewed as just an entrance ramp to college; it should be its own journey.
By Ella Damiano
I am the mother of a college sophomore and have been through the process with her twice; once when she applied for her freshman year and again when she transferred to another university.
I agree wholeheartedly that our children need to follow their passions. There is too much emphasis on building the high school resume for the sole purpose of impressing college admissions committees. News flash: they see through blatant resume-building. They want to see a candidate who loves what he or she does and is willing to put in the time and energy required to excel in that activity.
Additionally, I believe the message we send to our children by encouraging them to pursue activities strictly for the college app is wrong. They will have many years of work ahead of them and they should pursue a field they will find fulfilling, not something that looks good on a resume. That road will surely lead to frustration and disappointment.