Extracurricular activities in high school?

This all depends on what types of colleges he plans to apply to. Some colleges want a lot of diverse extracurricular activities and others don’t care so much. In addition, having a leadership position would be useful, but not mandatory. As an example, I played varsity soccer (but was no star) and had some other fluff for extracurriculars, and I was accepted into the Honors Program at a state school. My younger brother had no sports activities, but was involved in debate, academic olympics and yearbook (he was the editor) and he went to an Ivy League school (of course, he was also Valedictorian, so that helped a bit ;-)

Good luck to you and your son.

I have a different skew. I went to a university that has the largest number of applicants every year; its also highly rated every year in the US News and World Report list. I went to school with kids who had 4.9 GPAs; I don’t even know how one gets such a score. Problem is, these kids had very little to offer and contribute to discussions in class; these kids didn’t put down the books long enough to learn anything about the world. On the other hand, transfer students (myself included), whom might not have had the top grades and scores, were always more edifying in class discussions.Good grades and good scores are one thing, but being well-rounded, and having life experience is what truly makes someone educated. Extracurricular activities are great for this. Your kid will meet different types of people, and have experiences outside of class that will help him grow as a person.

There is more to life than academics. Some fun activities he enjoys can only help form him as a human being.

I was Director of College Placement for years in a very selective Independent Day School. Tell your son to live his life now in a way that makes sense to him, and not predicated on who he thinks some mysterious person wants him to be. He will end up in a college or university that is a match for him, I promise you.

i would say having cross country and rigorous course loads would be better….....and if he does not get straight A’s the college will take into account his rigorous course load and busy schedule

Harvard turns down hundreds of straight A students and Valedictorians every year. Admissions officers find a lot of these kids really overserious and boring.

Hear hear! Kids, even “big” ones, need to Live their lives, and love their lives. Your son needs to do what he loves, and he needs you to encourage him to do so. I’m sure you will.
Your son sounds like he is in the right track.

all of you , thank you very much

i would consider that cross-country along with debate may get to be a bit much in terms of after-school commitment time.

Colleges look for grades AND activities. If he’s already done two years of cross country and he wants to focus a little more on his studies, he should be good. Especially if he’s still going to do other extracurriculars, too.

Keep running.
No idea where you are but one of my kids ended up on a scholarship out of a J C because of Cross Country. He went to the JC so he could continue running cross country. The scholarship wasn’t in running but he made the contact through it. Contacts in school are just like the world. You just never know who you’ll meet.