<p>You all know who I’m talking about: the guy who took course loads on everything, “volunteered” at a local children’s center, wrote his college essay on his missionary trip to Mexico and how it “changed his life forever”. Hell, it may even be YOU.</p>
<p>This is what we call a college whore. Someone who purposefully shapes his/her life specifically to get into top schools, only to end up going to another college.</p>
<p>Sorry. I’m ranting. But I’m seeing a lot of these lately at my school.</p>
<p>You realize that this entire forum is pretty much “college whoring” especially when you look at what people will try to list as an EC, right? </p>
<p>I think to some degree, we’re all a bit like this- we all try to do something that will impress colleges (taking as many AP’s as possible, for example.) I mostly did what I wanted and not what would look good for my application like taking Honors Physics instead of AP Spanish. Even if I was to end up at my state flagship, I still would have taken a majority of AP classes because I always have fun in those classes. And I still would have been in mock trial and volunteered because I genuinely had fun doing it. </p>
<p>But I guess it varies from person to person.</p>
<p>college whoring forces students to get involved, broaden their horizons, and find new interests. for example, one of my friends started volunteering at a nursing home for college, but she’s found that she genuinely loves working there. another friend took ap chem for college, thinking she’d hate it, but now she wants to major in it. </p>
<p>maybe this isn’t the norm, but most college whoring types i know genuinely like what they do, whether it’s science competitions or all-state band or tutoring little kids or taking 6 APs. they just might not push themselves as hard if the motivation, college, weren’t there.</p>
<p>Yeah, I would never do something I didn’t really want to do just for college. I do things I love but that also happen to look good to colleges. </p>
<p>What I hate are the prestige whores. People who get into Stanford, Yale, whatever early and then apply to all the Ivies RD anyway and get into all of them.</p>
<p>I actually never learned about college whoring until a little bit before CC. At our school, students typically don’t retake ACTs unless under a 14. When I was considering SAT Subject Tests, only one of my counselors knew about them. They schedule most AP classes for the same two hours because even the top students at my HS don’t take more than two. No key club (I still don’t know what this is) or debate or anything. Only at the rnd of junior did I learn about doing things to look good for college.</p>
<p>eh, i really hate that phenom…like i honestly enjoy math club and latin club…but literally 99% of the people there could care less and are “doing it for college”…</p>
<p>…that said, i did prepare for SAT and ACT because I feel like it’s a small thing and it can make junior and senior year a lot less stressful and “up to chance”.</p>
<p>I really didn’t college whore at all and I ended up fine. I didn’t even look at this board until October or November of my senior year and by then it was too late. Plus, I only looked at specific school boards. Now that I’m done I look at all the people college whoring and I’m glad that I didn’t put myself through that. Got a great school without it. I did a lot of things in school, but I was interested in all of it. Took hard classes too, but that’s just because I love torturing myself or something.</p>
<p>Honey, anyone who sticks around CC for long enough catches some variant of the College Whore syndrome, ranging from “Well, I started volunteering at the Red Cross kindasortabecauseIthoughtaboutcollegealittlebit BUT I LOVE IT NOW AND I’M NOT A WHORE OTHER PEOPLE ARE BUT NOT ME” to “Heck yeah I’m doing it for college. Everyone who gets into CHYMPS does at least SOME things for college”. The latter variant is also known as “honest”. Even if you studied for the SAT, volunteered at Habitat for Humanity, or joined Key Club or Latin Club with the least little INKLING of college in mind (whether you were interested in it or not is not relevant, because you still did it with your resume lurking in the back of your mind), then you’ve been tainted. The world spins around and around, and people who do at least some things for HYPS are the people who get into HYPS.</p>
<p>This thread is doomed. As soon as one of the moderators realizes that a vaguely naughty word is being put into play (whore), our posts are ashes.</p>
<p>hate it. And I’m not one!! Heck, the college that I applied to didn’t even ask for ECs. And I only needed a 3.0. I could’ve gone to a better school, but I wasn’t up for all of the drama and bull@#$^ that would come with it, let alone the costs. Academically, the only thing I’ve ever done just for the sake of college is taking a foreign language. Wouldn’t have done it otherwise.</p>
<p>I thought I was going to Penn State or community college until the summer before my senior year (at Governor’s School, which I attended because I wanted to learn, not to beef up my app). Knew there were other schools out there, but I didn’t think we could afford them. Had to FIGHT with my mom to let me apply to private schools. I found the Swarthmore board while filling out my ED app (a bit late to be joining extra clubs) and didn’t even look beyond that until a month or two later.</p>
<p>So, yeah, some people aren’t tainted. Got to CC too late, no parents constantly breathing “HYP HYP HYP” down their necks, bad/no counseling. I probably would have done extra ECs or something if I had known I needed to, but for undergraduate, I just didn’t know. Could have gone from “Top 25 School” to “Top Ten” with some luck, but I can’t go back and do more now.</p>
<p>yeah, real talk is just de=emphasized these days because everyone who gets above a certain score on a certain test thinks he/she/it is eligible for the top tier of schools.</p>
<p>I’ve been thinking about college since 4th grade… Not because my entire existence hangs on whether or not I get into an Ivy, but because I generally want to improve my lot in life through education and career choice.
I’m not college-whoring, though I am now going through the process of applying to boarding school (quite similar in many aspects, really) and must drag up long-lost memories of school achievements, pastimes, and even now JUST beginning volunteering.
(Actually, our elementary school has an unwritten rule about high-school only volunteers, so that’s no fault of mine.)</p>
<p>This especially bothers me when there are freshmen who join the school newspaper because they want to go to Harvard. 1) You’re a freshman. You shouldn’t be thinking about college anyway. 2) You suck at journalism.</p>
<p>Sometimes, though, I guess the end justifies the means…a lot of kids join Interact because they want to do community service for colleges. But a lot of them end up genuinely liking it, and service is service–the people getting food at Foodlink don’t particularly care if it was sorted by kids who really like service or kids who are doing it to get into college.</p>
I did a lot of things in school, but I was interested in all of it. Took hard classes too, but that’s just because I love torturing myself or something.</p>
Heck, the college that I applied to didn’t even ask for ECs. And I only needed a 3.0. I could’ve gone to a better school, but I wasn’t up for all of the drama and bull@#$^ that would come with it, let alone the costs. Academically, the only thing I’ve ever done just for the sake of college is taking a foreign language. Wouldn’t have done it otherwise.</p>