Do your teenagers do many things after school and at weekends - or are they not that kind of person?

[chomalungma]

So having a little debate with teenage son about hobbies etc - and thinking about how he'll be able to enhance his personal statement for Uni in a few years time - as really the only thing he does in the evening is play on his computer (apart from doing his school work which he is good at doing.).

He is not convinced that other people his age do much in the evening such as hobbies - but I am.

I suggested that there are many teenagers who do out of school activities - so the suggestion was to ask MN. Although apparently that's going to be biased and not representative of parents in general. Which is probably true

So is your teenager someone who usually does some out of school activities or are they someone who doesn't do much in the way of such things?

Meh to activities.
Well written personal statements showing a clear interest or passion in something will do.

My children were all into Rugby and Football.My daughter played tennis but it is fair to say that they also had fun with their friends ie too much booze in local park etc 😂They have all gone to decent university and are now feeling their way through life ...tricky at the moment!

my 15 year old will agree with your son.
He plays the guitar and that's about as extra as it gets. Waiting for covid to pass by and then he's planning to take up fencing. Let's see....

in his opinion and words:
he has vast knowledge of current pop culture and specifically in the anime/manga sub-cultures which lets him relate to english literature lessons more and derive a different perspective than the common European one.

(he is also into metal, on that:)
The fine details of the different sub genres of metal showcase ...sorry I started laughing here :)
I'm guessing he'll be a lawyer (hope not)

I've got teenage twins and they couldn't be more different! Under normal circumstances DD is out at acting/dancing/singing 4 nights a week, a singing lesson every weekend and intensive associates once a month. DS goes on his Xbox....

Ds1 - Orchestra, cricket x 2 training & matches, gym, basketball. (sporty bunny)
Ds2 - Orchestra, rugby x 2 training & matches.

TBF Since dc hit primary school they have always taken part in 1 x sport, 1 x music & 1 x social of their choice and this continued as they older.

They still had plenty of time for hanging out, gaming and being teens.
As they got older due to clashes they dropped the social but picked up more sports.

It seems to be all or nothing amongst my DCs friends, either they do several scheduled things a week or none. Mine used to do more different things when they were younger but it has settled into more sessions of fewer things as they get older. I do get the issue of "needing to be at a high level" putting people off, I do however see that the age ranges in groups gets more and more mixed as the DCs get older, teens do join the swimming club and swim with younger swimmers working their way up (DD's squad has 10-16 year olds in it), hockey has people of all ages starting all the time, I know girls that have started dance classes at secondary school age too.

DD(16) - yes
DS(14) - it's a hard no

Both are prefects at school though, which I'm relieved about because it will give DS at least something to put on his UCAS form 😂

16 DS - explorer scouts, skateboarding, football team, avid chess player, part time job

13 DS - scouts, rugby, walking with friends, reading a lot

I am tight with screens though. If I had given a free reign they would have Xboxed every free second!

Ds2 (13) - Scouts, piano, playing computer games while chatting to friends on phone
Ds1 (16) - on his computer, says he sees enough of people at school, no interest in sports or music
Dd (18) - watched tv, went out with friends. Lockdown drove her to take up embroidery.

Dd is now in her first year at uni. In year 12 she worked out what volunteering she should do to get into her chosen uni course, and did it. Ds1 wants to do computer science so I imagine on his personal statement he will talk about building his computer and writing games.

University staff here. It is not the case that all (or even most) universities care about out of school activities in general.

What we want to know is that you care about your subject and are prepared to work hard on that. A shedload of sports and outdoor activities, while no doubt admirable in themselves, don't necessarily mean you're going to be focusing harder on your history degree- and that's the only bit we care about.

For some degrees, out of school specific extra activities are essential, medicine is perhaps the best known one. Veterinary science is another one: they quite reasonably do want to see some documented interest in and experience of working with animals.

For many other degree programmes, the same thing would be useful: show us that you are interested in the subject and energetic enough to do something about it.

But whether you play cricket or go out with the Scouts is far less relevant.

One of my teens was heavily into youth theatre, the other did absolutely sod all. But as neither of them has gone to university, that is probably of less interest. The older teen did get into drama school, though, so another example of focused interests being useful, perhaps.

As pp said uni probably won't be that interested but dd runs, does boxing and teaches jujitsu (she's a black belt and a junior coach)

What we want to know is that you care about your subject and are prepared to work hard on that

That's good to know.

How can he expand that in a personal statement.....

Pre-lockdown my teen was a member of a theatre groups and a vocal group. He also has singing and plays the piano and in his spare time does musical theatre keyboard programming.

But he will be applying for music degreees so it's all relevant. Most universities (Durham is a notable exception) don't care about extra curricular, it's all about love for your subject.

"What we want to know is that you care about your subject and are prepared to work hard on that

That's good to know.

How can he expand that in a personal statement....."

What has he done outside of the school curriculum,. He can talk about books he's read, maths challenges (if maths), he can do MOOCS, watch podcasts, who in the field inspires him and what aspects of the subject especially interest him.

My two teens did do badminton, cadets and youth club. That's all cancelled due to the pandemic and I feel sorry for them.

DH was an admissions tutor. He wanted to see a genuine interest in his subject, this is a science one. He was also very impressed if people had worked even if just a paper round or had any responsibilities such as been a carer. Of course hobbies were useful as well I just remember he thought highly of people who had really had to graft and not for fun.

Hobbies, volunteering and all the extracurricular activities isn’t just for admissions and looking good on a cv. It’s good for general development, learning skills which will benefit them, getting away from constant screens and good for their physical and mental health.

Mine did do drama classes and met lots of her friends.

Now she spends hours perfecting her cats eye eyeliner flick

One of mine had several hobbies in her early teens but dropped them all for dance classes after school every day and all day Saturday throughout her teens until she left school.
My other had given up most of her hobbies by mid teens, but started a part-time job at 16.

DD14's only real interest is football - she's played for years and trains twice a week, matches once a week. Recently she's also been volunteering at a weekend training session for the younger players (think 5-7 age group) and really loves it so is looking to take her youth coaching badges once we get into the new year.
Outside of football her other interests are very much inside and solitary - reading, box-sets etc - so while sport does link into her career plan of physiotherapy I'm more glad that it gets her to leave the house!!!

Hobbies, volunteering and all the extracurricular activities isn’t just for admissions and looking good on a cv. It’s good for general development, learning skills which will benefit them, getting away from constant screens and good for their physical and mental health.

THIS.

What I'd say to young people is, don't live your life just so it can look good on your CV. If playing football makes you happy, then play football! An employer or admissions officer may not care, but you will care.

Totally agree.

My 14 y/o hasn't done extra curriculars for years, but he is a challenging individual who will not need to worry about making a UCAS form look good. My 11 y/o is a member of a football team and has been since he was 5, outside of covid restrictions he attends one midweek training session and a weekend match or additional training session. He intends to join and go to a host of after school clubs once covid allows those to run again, and in year 6 did Young Leaders and was part of a community group trying to reduce local littering. That said, he's 11. I was quite the joiner at 11, by 14 or 15 I had discovered makeup, alcohol and boys and dropped all my ballet/ Guides/ teen newspaper activities like large stones!