All-Star Uh, How Do You Fit It All In During High School?

[DonnaM]

CP just did her first college fair this week, and is assembling her list of schools to visit, including quite a few out of state. Looking ahead, I’m trying to figure out how to juggle college visits AND cheer AND school. I know a lot of All Star kids do go to really good, competitive colleges, so obviously they’re managing it!

 

[quitthedrama]

CP just did her first college fair this week, and is assembling her list of schools to visit, including quite a few out of state. Looking ahead, I’m trying to figure out how to juggle college visits AND cheer AND school. I know a lot of All Star kids do go to really good, competitive colleges, so obviously they’re managing it!

It's something we are struggling with. I'm not sure CP will be able to cheer next season because of the gym's attendance policy. My oldest barely made it work but she only had one college she was interested in and even then, tryouts conflicted and it was messy and stressful.

 

[CheerBank]

We decided not to do college visits with cp until she saw what her options were, and then went to two accepted student days. She got into her top choice and fortunately fell in love with it as soon as she arrived on campus. We went this route mainly because my oldest had visited a bunch of schools before applying and then wound up going to one she never planned to and hadn’t seen until after she got in. Cp did attend two cheer clinics at schools different from the ones she visited. It is hard to fit everything in, especially when you do all star.

 

[Cinn124]

CP just did her first college fair this week, and is assembling her list of schools to visit, including quite a few out of state. Looking ahead, I’m trying to figure out how to juggle college visits AND cheer AND school. I know a lot of All Star kids do go to really good, competitive colleges, so obviously they’re managing it!

CP is a junior this year. We've managed to visit 6 schools so far with 5 more planned over the next couple of months. We were lucky in that some of the schools she wanted to visit were near our cheer comps. We nearly always combined a 2 day comp with a school visit. We also used her school breaks to go to the ones within driving distance.

For example, since we arrived Thurs night for CheerSport, Friday & Monday morning we visited a school. Then since her mid winter recess was the week after CheerSport we flew to Texas to visit there. Then home.

When the cheer season started I was a little concerned because she won't apply to any schools she hasn't visited. We made it work though.

 

[MissCongeniality]

I'm with @CheerBank - While we did visit a random college here and there (mostly because retired CP had an older sibling and then sometimes at comps) we really held off until she got her acceptances. Even that was a problem because of Worlds practices... so we got special permission to miss ONE practice... flew (out of state) to School #1 on Easter and did the tour that Monday. Back for practice. Picked up from practice and drove to School #2 (about 6 hours away)... with plans to fly to School #3 (all the way on the other side of the country) the following Sunday/Monday. She thankfully decided School 2 was IT and we cancelled... and missed nary another practice.

 

[TealArmySparkle]

I didn’t and how I dealt with it wasn’t my proudest moment but it needed to be done. One of my visit days fell on practice day and as the coach was really not willing to let me miss a single practice my saint of a mother had to get involved and it took the threat of pulling me from the rest of the season to be allowed to go to it. Really not an ideal situation and a very very bad move but education comes first in my family and as it was my number 1 college (which I actually decided to go to) it was important.

 

[SthrnCheerMom]

I'm not there yet. CP will just be a freshman this coming year. I understand attendance policies and whatnot. But these athletes are students and they have to be allowed to do those kinds of things.

 

[cheermom129]

My CP is a Junior this year. We visited most of her prospective colleges the summer between her Sophomore-Junior year. We will visit a few more schools as soon as school is done for the year. August 1st she will start the applications.

 

[CheerBank]

My CP is a Junior this year. We visited most of her prospective colleges the summer between her Sophomore-Junior year. We will visit a few more schools as soon as school is done for the year. August 1st she will start the applications.

How many is she applying to?

Also you might want to check the dates on when the application opens because some schools have their housing priority based on when they apply (and other schools base it on when they accepted so do your homework on that too).

Good luck! I’m glad I have a 4 year break between #2 and #3. I need it!

 

[cheerKT]

This is unfortunately one of the main reasons I did not cheer allstars my senior year (I just did school cheer). I started the season but already had too many dates conflict with school visits and ended up leaving a few weeks into the season after a tear filled meeting with my coach in his office after a practice one day. I couldn't put my full heart into it that season. I missed it so very much but I am happy with the choice I made.

 

[quitthedrama]

I've already been through the college/all-star struggle with my oldest. It really depends on what college and whether you want to cheer in college. College visits are easy to plan and avoid conflicts. Clinics aren't as easy and some colleges require that you go to at least one. Two colleges my CP has on her top 3 have tryouts either the week prior to worlds or two weeks prior - that can be the deal-breaker - those are the things you can't work around. Generally speaking, all star doesn't care about college and college doesn't care about all star. Another huge factor is being able to participate in high school senior year. We have always been lucky that our gym's practice schedule didn't conflict with much until this past year. My CP has missed pretty much every single school event this year because of added, unscheduled practices and she will miss her prom because of Worlds. It's one thing to give up certain things for cheer, and another to give up pretty much everything. It really depends on what you are willing to give up, what your gym is willing to work with you on, and when colleges have their required events.

 

[NCCheerMama]

It can be done. College visits we scheduled during the summer. Granted, all of hers were in state. She went to one clinic at the school she was interested in cheeeing at. She went to tryouts and it was the week before worlds but it worked out with practice that weekend. She ended up cheering in college 4 years. Went to Nationals. Won. Etc. I will say. Our college coach does take video submissions for tryouts bc he knows the kids he wants are most likely on worlds teams and in serious practice mode. He also went to a couple gyms this weekend to hold tryouts bc he knows those kids could not make it to town for tryouts. My CP missed a few senior events in HS bc of AS but that last year of cheer really prepped her for college. Good luck!

 

[catlady]

We did our visits during the summer, as well. Food for thought while visiting these places, one thing we really didn't give much thought to was parking and driving on campus. Oldest and room mates found a great house off campus this year and found out on campus parking sells out quickly, oldest got it and her two room mates didn't. Her room mates ended up having to find and park at little businesses that offered up overflow parking. They all decided paying the additional $250 per month to live in their small on campus apt. where they could catch the campus bus outside their door was worth every penny and are moving back next year. During the summer you don't picture your two year old driver driving through thousands of kids looking at their phones with ear buds in, nor do you picture them walking to some random gravel lot behind a gas station for parking.

 

[DonnaM]

Thanks! We have two years (she’s just finishing her freshman year). Whether she cheers or not will largely depend on where she goes-right now, Purdue and UTK top her list, and both would be hard squads to make. Awesome gameday experience, though .

 

[CheerBank]

Thanks! We have two years (she’s just finishing her freshman year). Whether she cheers or not will largely depend on where she goes-right now, Purdue and UTK top her list, and both would be hard squads to make. Awesome gameday experience, though .

As of right now Purdue doesn’t accept video tryouts so keep that in mind (cp’s allstar teammate just tried out this past weekend).