I’ve seen lots of kids wondering what ECs they can do to stand out, how to get a rec. letter from a college professor, how to write the Why-Our-College-Essay? And more broadly, how to show intellectual curiosity in their application. Here’s my best silver bullet for all of these problems based on my time at Stanford admissions and teaching kids for a decade.
Do this between now and January 1:
Let’s say your best activity right now is Senior Class Treasurer. And if you had to pick a major today, it’s economics—specifically, you’re genuinely fascinated by taxation and how we attempt to fairly divide up who should kick in how much to our community. And you’ve decided that if you had to select some job after graduation (for now) you’d want to become a tax policy analyst. Here’s how easy it is to transform you from a treasurer into a compelling economics star in very little time:
STEP 1: Reach out to a few professors at your goal schools in your intended field of study–let’s say economics for this example–and ask for three things:
(1) a reading list, ideally important articles (shorter for you to read), on a specific idea you’re interested in from their field. Let’s say the Laffer Curve and the ethics of taxation.
(2) an upcoming lecture or department presentation you could attend (virtual fine);
(3) recommendations for an online course addressing your specific interests.
Someone will respond. If not, email more professors. If they don’t respond, search the Economics Department website and find PhD students researching your topic and ask them. If none of them respond, go to your next school. (But in my experience, as long as you ask in an authentic way, someone will respond to at least give you a reading list. These are educators, they love kids who love learning.)
STEP 2: Attend the event. Start taking the course. And start reading one of the recommended articles. Ask your librarian for access to more relevant reading: Wall Street Journal, Economist, or Harvard Business Review–start reading an article or two from one of those.
Step 3: Once you’ve made some progress, email the professors or PhD students who gave you the recs. Thank them and mention, in your best writing, one small, challenging idea you learned and found fascinating–see if you can get a conversation going. If you do, make the ask to get involved in their work: cite-checking, tracking down articles, whatever they need. Believe me: people are happy to take free work from a motivated, smart student.
Now, it’s more than likely the professor or PhD student will say they don’t need help. Doesn’t matter. You can now put all three down as activities that support your future plans to become a tax policy analyst: The seminar, the online course, and the reading—yes reading!
“But I just started them. Can I really put them down?” Absolutely. Sure, you won’t have 4 years of doing them. But you can def. put all of these down as activities. (Just like a spring semester internship you haven’t done yet.) And believe me, they look excellent: they show initiative, intellectual curiosity, and verify whatever major it is you say you want to do.
So you were just a senior class treasurer. Now, you’re a treasurer who attended Prof. X’s presentation on the Laffer curve, you’ve taken UCI’s free online course on The Power of Macroeconomics, and you’re an avid econ reader.
- You've just added up to three activities that all support what you want to study.
- If you work with a professor or PhD student--or just get a really good conversation going where they are mentoring you and directing you to new reading and events--now you've laid the foundation to ask for a rec. letter.
- If you've targeted your goal school and they have a Why-Our-School essay, you’ll have an amazing essay on why you want to attend your goal school—because their professors or PhD students just opened the door to this amazing econ education and are in dialogue with you about these ideas you find so important.
- The reading, seminar, and course will provide you lots of dynamite material to write about in your other essays.
- Your application is now glowing with IV--intellectual vitality. That is, you're showing-off the number one quality of a student: you love learning.
BONUS
Want two more bonus activities to really nail it?
First, ask the professor if she’d be willing to give a virtual brown-bag conversation on a topic you’re both interested in, for an hour one day during lunch. Meet with your vice principal, secure a room for the event/Zoom, and advertise the discussion for aspiring economists and those interested in cutting edge tax philosophy.
Second, reach out to your town’s treasurer—ask them to a 15-minute coffee/Zoom, or for a phone call to hear about their job. (People love to talk about themselves and love motivated kids who want to do things they’re doing.) Dazzle them with all your newfound econ. knowledge. Then ask for an internship working for free next semester.
Now you’re a senior class treasurer with five fantastic activities that support your economics point of excellence.
Total time investment? Emails: 1 hour; Virtual event: 1 hour; Online course: 5-10 hours; reading 2-10 hours; coffee or call 1 hour; organizing brown-bag discussion 2 hours. So something like 10-30 hours.
And here’s the best part: you’re going to learn something about a field you said—as of now—is your favorite. This is going to be fun, you’re going to grow, and it takes up very little of your time compared to Football or Theater. You’re going to become a smarter, more interesting person. And you’re going to stand out–other students don’t do self-initiated activities like this.
So it’s not too late! You get lots of credit for creating your own activities like this example, and they don’t require 3 years of sustained commitment for 40 hours a week. So be smart and make it happen.
If you did 3 of the things I recommended, and I read you at Stanford, I’d say you had an academic point of excellence in economics and a clear academic vision. I’d probably want to advocate for your admission to work with our Econ. Department.
–MCS