Is paid work a good EC?

brm114341
Sat, 03 Aug 2013 21:13:29 +0000

Thank you for posting this. I work 20+ hours a week in retail and then babysit 5-10 hours on top of that. I have to be somewhere directly after school and it gets in the way of pretty much every club in existence, so I’m on my school’s magazine and NHS but not much else. I also had to quit Odyssey of the Mind when I was old enough to start making money, a program I had fun in but don’t regret leaving. I may not be passionate about the store I work in but I’m extremely driven when it comes to tucking away money for myself. I don’t really have advice because I’m also worried I’ve hurt my chances by not participating in more. I know the value of what I’ve learned working but I can’t say whether or not everyone sees it as equal to participating in a school club or volunteer work (which I would love to do more of if I had the time). To me part time work should be close to a requirement in the admissions process; self sufficient, responsible kids with a little experience in the adult world are the only kids I would want at my college.

On a side note, what’s just as frustrating about working in high school is that if colleges find out what you’ve saved, they’ll just give you that much less in financial aid. I understand the necessity of this but is that system really a way to build independent, self driven adults? So I understand your worries and frustration but I think it counts that you’ve worked in the same place for so long, that’s definitely something.