Starting a nonprofit for college apps?

xenotar
Sat, 17 Apr 2021 08:32:57 +0000

I’m a sophomore in high school right now and I am thinking of starting a nonprofit organization to pad my resume. I’m planning for it to be a program that promotes STEM education for low-income minorities (this is consistent with my application because its focus is math and I already have ~200 service hours in teaching math).

However I really couldn’t care less about STEM education for low-income minorities, so basically everything the program does is going to be performative.

So my question is, would this strategy work for boosting my college application? Some people say it shows leadership, initiative, and giving back the community, while others say AOs will automatically think I’m padding my resume (which I am, but I’m doing my best to fake it).

And please don’t give me any of the “AOs can detect passion” BS because obviously they can’t, and don’t lecture me on ethics because I have zero morals or ethics. I just want to know how much starting a successful nonprofit would help me stand out, and whether it could potentially be a red flag at all (especially since I started it so late).