<p>“There are multiple reasons why students participate in academic competitions. However, it is undeniable that some do it for the precise reasons to boost their chances in college admissions. Some could be a small percentage, or an overwhelming one. Feel free to pick the one you prefer!”</p>
<p>Isn’t it almost true for anything, from sports to community services? I do not believe that we (or adcoms) should discount/discard anyone’s efforts and accomplishments, regardless the motivations behind, within a holistic evaluation process.</p>
<p>I believe that I have already shared why I feel that competitions that were never designed for admissions’ purposes, can and ARE easily rigged by the support and gamesmanship of adults who masquerade as mentors should not be part of the admissions’ equation. </p>
<p>And, fwiw, you are mixing competitions that provide an objective assessment of a candidate prowess in the subject and the others I have called paint by the numbers competition.</p>
<p>That would work if what is measured holistically reflects true accomplishments and that the review can rely on true results obtained fairly. That is simply not the case with suspect test scores, credentials, and overly manipulated competitions.</p>
<p>I don’t see why this should be bad, if it is true. Unless we are trying to create a dishonest facade about what a kid’s life is really like. I admit it probably doesn’t show much creativity, but I don’t think the prompts ask for creativity, and plus writing creatively about one’s life is probably not an accurate portrayal. </p>
<p>If colleges are looking for students that will do well, they will probably find them in upper middle class kids who have good grades and test scores, a <em>passion</em> in [anything], and who have taken a trip somewhere exotic in their lives without their parents.</p>
<p>The problem is that, once human beings’ interpretations are involved, everything is subjective and could even be manipulated. There is no sure way to obtain “true accomplishments” “true results” “fairly”.</p>
<p>In my view, holistic review should consider all contributing aspects (academics, sports, community services, etc) at their face values, then factoring in the context of each applicant’s unique circumstance.</p>
<p>The admission criteria that we use on this thread is NOT relevant to student’ admission at all. Only criteria that are used by specific adcom are relevant. What they use might be just a difference between “good mood” day and “bad hair” day. So, applications withexactly the same credntials ended up on the table at different time might be treated completely differently. We are humans after all. Adcoms are humans, they make mistakes. Thank goodness, their mistakes do not result in life or death as somebody else’s mistakes.<br>
Results of any application are pretty predictable. Lots of research is required before hand to match students stats/EC/personality- in case of interviews to a specific college. Then the question is what is the goal. The goal could be 50% acceptance, 25% acceptance, and if one researched enough, these %%% are not that hard to estimate. After this reasonable math and intelligent quessing game, apply accordingly. There is no reason to apply to the list with estimated acceptance of 0%. It is not a rocket science but hard work and focus on one’s goals and complete disregard to who said what and why they say it and who ranked whatever, it is irrelevant for a specific applicant who know what he wants. I assume that everybody who is ready to spend 4 years of his life and potentially hundreds of thousands of $$$ (unless there is goal of FA), should have some idea what he wants.</p>
<p>Intel ISEF does delay until May for results. I’m not familiar with STS, but I know for ISEF the project needs to be finished by May at the latest, where it gets judged.</p>
<p>However, I think most of the time- the kid needs to qualify via a regional science fair first which are typically held earlier in the year or their country has to choose them.</p>
<p>Certainly not stupid. Perhaps these parents have outdated information; Third World community service trips used to impress Ivy League adcoms 10-15 years ago when they were exclusively done by the highly-motivated. Undoubtedly there are still friends, relatives and co-workers giving advice on what worked for their kids or their nephews quite some time ago – not to mention teachers and guidance counselors.</p>
<p>We see lots of students and parents here with unrealistic expectations about what it takes nowadays to get into elite schools. They are certainly not all stupid, just lacking in up-to-date knowledge of the process.</p>
What about 40-45 years ago? Maybe I could have sold those surfing trips and underage visits to Hussong’s Cantina as support for struggling local merchants in a developing economy.</p>
<p>^^ And when there wasn’t an entire for-profit industry built to support these trips and advertising them as a way to get one’s kids into the college of their choice. </p>
<p>It would be as if kids were going off to “Selective Club, Inc.” sports camps for a week each summer then billing themselves as “select club players” on their college applications. Nothing wrong with getting some exercise and working hard under some good coaching, but unless those kids have also played for years on a league or school team of some sort it doesn’t mean much.</p>
<p>Come to think of it, I think I know how I’m going to pay for my kids’ college educations…:)</p>
<p>It is each college’s right to decide the relative importance of each factor for its institutional priorities, and it is each adcom’s job to comb through application materials to find those “truly worthy” candidates. </p>
<p>I do not believe that an Asian kid from Palo Alto with two Stanford professorial parents should be “penalized” for becoming Intel finalist after working on the project since 8th grade, just as I do not believe that a budding rapper from Detroit housing project should be penalized for not having the opportunity to learn classic piano.</p>
<p>I’m no fan of packaged trips or packaged anything, really. I don’t think it’s possible, though, to make any assumptions about the quality of an essay written about such a trip without (call me a stickler) having actually READ it. The late David Foster Wallace wrote a brilliant essay on the subject of a Caribbean cruise (“A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again”). One needn’t (and most don’t) have his gifts to write an interesting essay on any subject.</p>
<p>I looked through the web pages for Rusticpathways and Globalworkstravel, the top two programs that popped up, and didn’t read anything about these programs helping you get into college. I think people who think that people think these programs help with admissions are the ones who are not up to date.</p>
<p>Sometimes there is another reason for doing community service, other than to impress adcoms… For the kids who have grown up wanting for nothing in terms of material possessions, going to a food bank, packing food and delivering it to the same shut ins and needy, repeatedly month after month for several years teaches them a little humility and to appreciate what they are fortunate to have been blessed with. It lets them know that not everyone has the same as them.
You can always tell the regulars and the ones who are doing it for the college application…</p>
<p>"For the kids who have grown up wanting for nothing in terms of material possessions, going to a food bank, packing food and delivering it to the same shut ins and needy, repeatedly month after month for several years teaches them a little humility and to appreciate what they are fortunate to have been blessed with. It lets them know that not everyone has the same as them. " - very true AND it also exposes teenagers to the massive mental health issues that go untreated within their midst.</p>
<p>I think you can help people in a lot of ways, and I don’t think it necessarily means “going down to the lowest poverty level you have access to.” One of my kids was a docent in a children’s museum. That’s a way of helping people, even though it wasn’t the 'hood.</p>