Do A level students need extra curriculars?

[CooksDryMeasure]

DD has just started her A levels. She is travelling about 1.5 hours to reach college which will obviously impact on her capacity for extra curriculars. She used to do a lot but has dropped them all gradually over the last year, finally dropping the last surviving hobby this summer to avoid a dicey ex.

she has a irregular part time job & doesn’t do anything else. Apart from being a well rounded individual I worry that without any extra curriculars she won’t make a strong candidate for what she wants to do next (university or apprenticeship I think). Am I old fashioned or is this still the case?

What does she do apart from flopping down in front of the TV and scrolling social media to relax?

Is there anything crafty or arty she likes doing e.g. knitting, crocheting, needlework, drawing?

Does she read a certain genre of books when she is travelling to college?

Does she do some exercise in the middle of the day at college?

I would let your DD settle in doing her A levels, which depending on the ones she doing will have a heavy workload and a lot more independent study then High School. And with an extra 3 hour travel time on top of this.

She may find once she gets used to everything she may take up her hobbies again.

It’s tricky with such a long commute. Do you really mean 1.5 hours each way?

Extra curriculars are a really good idea, partly because it’s a real life social interaction, partly because you need to be able to talk about something at interview. They can make the difference on who gets a job offer. Is there something she could do in the lunchtimes at college or after college? What about weekends? It doesn’t sound as though her job takes up much of her weekend.

On the other hand, if she really doesn’t seem to have time for anything that will fit, the world won’t end.

The key thing is to persuade her to use the commuting time usefully in study, reading, self-improvement, podcasts even. It’s a huge amount of time to lose to phone-browsing.

she doesn’t really exercise although she has got gym membership. she was in a good routine before the summer holidays with that but it’s gone by the wayside now. She does crochet sometimes. She reads sometimes but not on her commute, either chats with friends or does school work then. She could do her previous hobby at the weekend but there’s the ex problem

yes I do mean 1.5 hours, she loses a lot of time due to the trains too as they are once an hour but not really aligned to lesson times. She’s reluctant to go to the after lesson societies at college because it means she won’t get home till about 8pm. I’m finding that irritating as I know other kids from our area are staying late etc… but they are the kids targeting medicine/Oxbridge which she isn’t…

I should have added hobbies don't have to be that active and don't need to be done every week for her to put them on forms.

So as long as she can talk about them in detail in case she comes across someone else who does the hobby, and makes it clear she still does them she will be fine.

So things I've already mentioned plus playing an instrument, bird watching, watching films, photography (can be done on a mobile phone), cooking a particular cuisine, star gazing, playing board games with mates,... are all hobbies.

When she goes to university hopefully she won't be travelling that far so she can do some volunteering and/or a sport as well.

Its tricky but it IS a good idea to do something if at all possible, even if its a bit of crafting.
DS is still doing GCSE's and is pretty lazy but we do have an action plan for him during his A level years - he will continue to play 2 sports he likes, mostly just casually with his mates, he helps me drop stuff off at the Street Kitchen on Sundays so that can go on, we help at a Community Farm as a family so theres that too and DH does a lot of coding for fun (I know) and DS occasionally has a go with him.
Even if they do something occasionally or with you it can all go on, I don't suggest making things up but you can "spin" them a bit for Uni Applications if needed

It depends on what exactly she is aiming for after ALevels. For many academic courses the academic grades are the most important thing. If medicine or Oxbridge you need supra curricular, so extra things but connected to your course.

Straight into work or apprentiships then something work related or sport or volunteering might be useful.

It's probably more important she's doing extra in relation to what she wants to do going forward. So reading extra around the subject, visiting exhibitions/lectures or doing volunteering/work experience in that field. These are classed as super circular activities and are seen as added bonus when applying to universities.

She can look into this as she settles into her A-level's college may have some ideas. She maybe able to do some work experience next summer for example. So not a major rush, it could be stuff she does during the holidays and not just a club every week.

Apart from in very specific cases extra curricular activities bear no relation to getting a place at university. Universities recognise that not all young people have access to them as some schools offer a lot, some offer barely anything, such as those who need to work to help support their studies, those with caring responsibilities or those with transport issues or not able to afford to take part.

Supra curriculars however are very important. That is things like reading round the subject, following developments in the area of study in the news/media or taking part in maths olympiads etc. Bit not merely doing those things but being able to discuss what they gained from them.

Those targeting subjects such as medicine etc need to have some kind of activity/volunteering that demonstrates they understand the people skills needed.

Mine didn't really have much in regards to extra curricular. She did a small amount of voluntary work as this was part of her uni course. She likes going to gigs and live music, reading and watching films. She barely mentioned any other activities in her personal statement and still got all five offers from competitive courses and competitive unis. So it didn't make any difference really.

Edited to add it was more the supra curricular that she wrote about

I don’t think this is important. That’s a long day, I’d be happy for her to relax, see friends, etc., etc., and just let her do exactly what she wants to do in her downtime.

Universities in general don't care about your hobbies. Playing the flute or Gold DofE will make no difference to your offer. If uni is her target then the important thing as others say is to show her interest in the subject and what she has done wrt that - reading, online talks, research, events.

I don't really know about apprenticeships but would imagine the same.

I do think tho that a hobby or interest is really useful in general and if going to uni, a great way to make friends. I'v said this before but DD plays in a band and DS is very sporty - both have found these activities ways to get out of the house and meet some new people. For DS tbh his sport is his social life at uni. So I would advise something for her. Can she do the activity involving the ex at a different venue perhaps?

Her commute is savage. I thought mine was bad at an hour, inc dropping DD off at work. How soon will she be 17? Can she learn to drive and buy a car to cut that commute? That might open up her possible social time.

I think its more important that she uses her time to explore and find her own personal balance from a well-ness and resiliance perspective during this challenging transition with regards her time, travelling, studies, making new friendships and discarding difficult relationships. etc.

Its a reset - she seems to be doing well. Once she gets in the swing she might find she has more energy and focus to pick up other activities but shes doing great. You should be proud of her for swerving the toxic ex. With all my DC my only wish is that they dont end up in a toxic relationship for life.

In reallity if she is not being interviewed for a Uni course (most dont) she could effectively write any old cobblers on her PS about extra C. Also many extra C can be costly and prohibative to many.

If she she feels like a supra C was important for her course - she can do something not time consuming or a one off in the holidays - eg volunteer at a museum once a month over for a week over the summer holidays - no nes counting.

She has a lot to integrate in the next 18 months before exams - she needs to be in the best most productive and rested emotional state so that she can get the best grades - so balance work, rest and play.

In my Department, we're not interested in extra-curricular activities EXCEPT insofar as they demonstrate a young person is interested in more than watching television or scrolling Instagram. A person who has no hobbies is likely to be rather boring or limited in their view of the world, or just not curious about the world or interested in learning.

We do ask at interview about extra-curricular activities which are centrally relevant to the degree for which they're applying. Think about it this way, if someone's applying for English Lit or an MFL, then reading beyond the school syllabus or watching films in French or whatever, is going to really help their general knowledge of the discipline/subject.

This.

The Cambridge outreach person visits various schools and tells 6th formers that they absolutely don't care about extra curriculars, only super-curriculars. None of my children have or intend to apply to Oxbridge btw, but it's the same everywhere. They advise to put something small if you have too. She can volunteer at school too. Can she help other year groups with their work during lunch time? Or she could teach them crochet!

In order to write a reference DS's form tutor gave everyone a word document to fill with questions like what books, journals, researches, magazines etc have you read about your subject? What lectures, programmes, videos, movies etc have you watched? Online courses? Places visited?Job or volunteering? Maybe hobbies too. And other things which I don't remember.

Thank you folks. This is really reassuring. Especially the reminder that she’s in a period of change (including detaching from the toxic ex which has been a tortured & miserable time)… and useful to think that extras don’t have to be weekly commitments but can be sporadic.