None of the colleges I applied to asked for my family's tax history or income level, except for on the separate financial aid application.
I’m being clear when I am saying there really aren’t any EC options . In poor areas , there’s no money because school funding comes from property tax . Where I went, the funding was so tight they had to fire the foreign language , art teachers and music teachers . If they can’t afford regular instructors , where is the money coming from for the ECs?
The Boy Scouts didn't run on money. A chess club, book club, drama club, dance club, photography club, math club, etc., don't require money.
Besides, creating something from nothing is going to look a lot better on an application than following a course that is laid out by instructors and papered with cash.
In the United States in the 2020s being able to walk yourself to and from school without A) having your life in grave danger from motor vehicle traffic and B) having someone call CPS or the police on your parents is an incredible luxury.
The neighborhood where I grew up was built in the early 90s and its elementary school and middle school are on the opposite side of an eight lane highway that has no crosswalks or sidewalks (on the school side) for at least a quarter mile. The town believes so strongly that no one should walk or bike to school that they zoned the school and built out the roads such that attempting to do so would sooner or later result in certain death.
High schoolers can walk around unattended. Even a quarter mile, both ways. It's not a big deal. In the summer I often try to get in 5 miles a day of running/walking.
> incredible luxury
Don't overstate your case.
The irony in this thread is all the complaining about "can't do things that will look good on a college application" just means that another student who does find a way around obstacles is going to be the one admitted. Surmounting obstacles makes one a standout candidate.
Extremely location dependent. Where I live today, in Virginia very close to DC, I commute by bike and do lots of biking/walking for fun and to run errands. What you are saying about walking around as a means of getting from place to place is just completely untrue in many parts of the United States.
I made a specific point about my ES/MS because of how egregious it was to have them at a half mile's walk away but with unacceptably dangerous terrain, in the very place I grew up. My HS was a couple miles away and, until ~2010 when they built a protected ~800ft long MUP, would have required walking/riding on the highway to reach without a car as well.
The point of that is that if you live in an area like this and your parents work, you are extremely handicapped in what you can do by yourself. You would need a third car to get yourself around and if you cannot manage that then you are completely subservient to your parents' availability and your local school bus schedules for all of your transportation needs. Which has repercussions on clubs, extracurriculars, your social life, really the full range of experiences you can have growing up.
When I was in K-12 my life consisted mainly of school, sleep, and playing video games in the basement. Now that I am in a city and can go wherever I want whenever I want I find I am extremely active and social and have many different hobbies.
Most parents with kids try to pick places to live that are reasonably kid friendly. Real estate people know that, and advertisements emphasize things like walkability and distance to schools.
In the United States today it is the norm for middle and upper middle class parents to raise their children in car-dependent suburbia. Particularly in the last half century, most new residential developments have been exactly this. The defining features of these places are sprawling circuitous developments of detached single-family homes, massive parking lots, impassable highways, and strip malls.
If you'd like an example, please come visit Loudoun and Fairfax counties. I grew up in that area. They are some of the wealthiest counties in the country, a common destination for families in the DMV, and you will see how much walkability and proximity to schools that money has bought them.
My schools were never within walking distance, and my parents wouldn't have been comfortable with the type of roads I'd have to traverse even if they were, even when I was in high school.
Your assumption that everyone -- or even most kids -- have a situation like you had is just flat-out wrong.
> Surmounting obstacles makes one a standout candidate.
This is just hogwash; being in a position to surmount obstacles is privilege too. And you seem to be ignoring the fact that some kids didn't have obstacles, and so it was easier for them to participate in all these other activities: they started out with a built-in advantage. Even if you do have obstacles, and are able to overcome them, you're still going to have a harder time than the kids without the obstacles. And not in ways that are obvious to admissions departments such that your experience would give you a leg up.
Lower middle class. Pretty ordinary.
> in a position to surmount obstacles is privilege
I presume you live in America. That makes you just as privileged. Consider all the millions with nothing that are desperate to get into America. They see something you're missing?
> you're still going to have a harder time than the kids without the obstacles
Well, yes. Overcoming obstacles makes for a more compelling candidate.
> And not in ways that are obvious to admissions departments such that your experience would give you a leg up.
The opportunity to bring how you surmounted obstacles to the attention of the admissions people is through your application.
Not sure how much was teachers volunteering, but we did have old instruments, old computers, etc.
Actually people who love our Constitution got them kicked out.
There was no religious requirement for being a Boy Scout, there were never any religious ceremonies at meetings, religion was never even mentioned in any of the activities or meetings.
The only thing was one requirement for the Eagle Scout.
The religious thing was just a convenient excuse for the people who hated the Scouts.
And how did students get home after the club meetings were over, since the school buses weren't running anymore?
> The Boy Scouts also met within walking distance.
Is it really that hard to understand that many people don't live within walking distance of their school, or of where clubs might meet?
Or at least safe walking distance; the last house I lived in before college was certainly within walking distance of quite a few things, but that would require walking along sidewalk-less, shoulder-less, limited-visibility, twisty roads with cars zipping around corners at 45mph. Even if my parents would have allowed me to walk along those roads (they wouldn't), I don't think even my "invincible" teenage self would have felt comfortable with that.
I was lucky that my mom was available to drive me to and from places after school, and on days when she wasn't, I could sometimes find a neighbor, or a schoolmate's parents to help. But many kids just don't have that option. More kids than it seems you realize.
True. You can say anything at all about people, and there will be many exceptions.
Parents with kids tend to make an effort to be within range of the local school.
> More kids than it seems you realize.
I'm aware I have a different perception of walking distance that is quite a bit further than most parents, based on how far from the local schools I see kids walking to/from. It peters out to about 0 at the half mile mark.
Both my immigrant parents worked crazy hours so I spent my evenings playing with friends and in various clubs.
Computer Club, Orchestra (early morning practice), various sports like tennis and soccer.
None of it cost my parents a penny, it was all free. Even school uniforms were free. I know generally in public schools, things are almost always free. If they aren’t, there are pathways to pay for it.
Obviously that's not the point, as I'm sure you understand. It's that children lower-income families tend to have a harder time succeeding in school or participating in extracurriculars (maybe they don't have transportation, maybe they need to help with chores and cooking because parents work two jobs, maybe they don't have educated parents with free time to help with homework, etc etc etc), while higher-income families can afford all the help. Note that of course the same problem applies in myriad other situations: children in unstable households, with parents victim of domestic violence, with parents with mental health or drug addiction issues, etc.
This (correlation between parent's income and educational success) is both intuitively clear and also amply documented.