Question about impact of ECs

1dadinNC
Thu, 22 Feb 2024 18:29:02 +0000

Alright, I will bite. I agree with @tsbna44 and others: 1) Your son’s ECs are fine and 2) Depending on the school, they may or may not matter too much.

So now the question is what is his aspiration or the family’s aspiration and how resourced are you to support that?

Turning those activities into (seemingly) impactful ECs take some imagination and a lot of effort and resources. I am being a bit tongue and cheek here but you will get the gist.

Your son could start a league with his friends for refugee kids and organize free clinics through the med center to scan for brain injury. You could use the 7 degrees of separation to find him some corporate sponsors and network to get him on your local TV station’s evening news. The nice reporter lady or a friend of a friend helps him meet the local councilman or MA state rep/senator who is very proud of him and issues some form of commendation – a letter etc. Voila – now you have a superstar kid with a passion project and with some tutoring and work he can get 1500 on standardized tests and 5s on 6-8 APs along with 4.4 GPA and class rank in the top 10. The last barrier to entry is ability to pay. If you can come up with 50% or more of COA and willing to do ED, I will guarantee acceptance into a T20 school.

Are you willing to play the game? I am surrounded by parents that are doing it.