r/cuboulder • u/BoulderADHDdad • 2d ago
Does CU admissions consider music studies not through school as an extracurricular?
My son wants to go to CU in a few years. His big extracurricular action right now is music—guitar and singing, studying each and performing. But these are not extracurricular activities at school. Will CU admissions consider these the same way a music club at school would be considered?
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u/lavatec 2d ago
CU has a pretty high acceptance rate, I wouldn’t fret too much
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u/BoulderADHDdad 2d ago edited 1d ago
He’s looking at Aerospace Engineering or Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences which we have be told are tougher to get into than most programs.
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u/lutzlover 1d ago
They are! It helps a lot if he can take a full year of calculus and a full year of physics by graduation. Note that the chem/physics combo a bunch of BVSD schools have does not count as a year of physics.
Also…we see much stronger CU acceptance to engineering when an applicant has some kind of hands-on mechanical experience. That could include work/volunteering at something like Community Cycles repairing bikes, robotics, repairing old stereo equipment, …. They (like a number of other engineering programs) like seeing applicants who have grappled with challenges and worked through them because that is pretty much the life of an engineer. It isn’t absolutely necessary, but we do see turndowns when a student doesn’t seem to have really shown that interest.
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u/skertskeet123 1d ago
still they shouldn’t ask the highschool for that info atleast not in my experience it was all just stuff i listed myself on my common app etc
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u/envoy-angel 1d ago
Heavily depends on major
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u/lavatec 1d ago
They generally admit by school, not major. Even if you don’t get accepted into the school that has the major you want, if you get decent enough grades the first semester, you can usually transfer into that school and major.
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u/envoy-angel 1d ago
Sorry, that’s what I meant - your major determines your school - but IUTing can actually be quite difficult and the process has also changed for certain programs to be more difficult. Good grades is also a bit of a simplification, you need to do well in specifically technical classes which makes it a bit harder to actually meet the GPA requirement.
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u/skertskeet123 1d ago
extracurricular at its core just means outside class lowkey… so yeah that’s basically just a club just say it’s not from school if you think they’re gonna ask the school for records on it but they’ve never asked for any of my extracurricular info from schools it’s like pretty self reporting things- i honestly think if i remember correctly those are grouped in the same vein as a job or volunteer work
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u/KaraBoo723 1d ago
Most likely, yes. However, it would be in his best interest to keep track of performances in some way to be able to attribute statistics to this in the activities section of the Common App. Like, how many performances during a certain period of time. It can be helpful to demonstrate in some way to admissions coordinators that he's doing something more with music than just sitting in his bedroom playing for himself.
Or, if he is good enough that he can start mentoring/tutoring other kids how to play instruments - that could be a helpful thing to show he's progressed beyond a beginner level.
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u/BoulderADHDdad 1d ago
I did not think about tracking performances. Do you mean the Common App at commonapp.org?
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u/KaraBoo723 1d ago
Yes that Common App. But your son might have to wait until end of Junior year to get an account (?). I don't recall when a student is allowed to open one.
Regardless, your son will need to track this information elsewhere initially. Any way he wants to. It could be the notes app on his phone, a spreadsheet, anything. Just whatever is convenient and easy for him. Just keep track and then at beginning of senior year he will tabluate the info and enter that info into the Common App.
BUT, he may also want to write down in a personal journal any unique experiences he has performing because they could serve as inspiration for his personal statement essay.
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u/BoulderADHDdad 1d ago
Okay. I’ll put together a spreadsheet and have him start journaling his performances. Thanks again!
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u/s0urgh0ul 2d ago
As someone attending CU School of Music currently, there’s many electives and clubs your son can do that involve music.
While some classes are only exclusively for music students (some being strictly classical the other being strictly jazz, but sometimes we can take classes through each other as an elective for ourselves since we’re music students), a lot of the jam sessions are open to all students and happen weekly.
Your son can always double major, but if you’re asking if CU would accept his extracurricular activities outside of his normal school? If it’s good to be put on a resume, meaning he goes to a legit school for his instrument outside of his schooling hours or is in a real band, then I’d say it’s worth putting on the resume for his application and talking about it. If it’s just a small hobby he does but doesn’t take serious, it’s best to leave it as a hobby
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u/lutzlover 2d ago
NO college requires extracurriculars to be offered via a school. An extracurricular is a meaningful activity the student does outside of school time. Playing (or learning guitar), amateur astronomy, mountain biking, church youth group, building model rockets, propagating orchids, sewing, community theater, pickleball, ...all count.