<p>Yes, because the ultimate purpose in life is to build the best resume for HYPSM. Because this is Just Like Asia and if you don’t get into one of those schools, you’ll be flipping burgers or making lattes for a living. </p>
<p>ECs have value REGARDLESS of whether they prove the ticket for getting into a good college.</p>
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Who is for it? Not me.</p>
<p>IP sorry, I still don’t seem to be making myself clear. It’s not packaging or resume padding, but you need to make the admissions committee want you. It’s as simple as that. If you are aiming for the top colleges they expect you to be able to figure that out.</p>
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<p>Fair enough thank you for answering … and the answer certainly seems consistent with your other comments you’ve made about how you’d like to see admissions work.</p>
<p>To me it also explains a lot of you disconnent with the current system as I believe most schools that consider ECs in scenario #3 (501 applicants) would be sure to pick the volunteer kid as s/he brings something different to the incoming class. (FYI - if the numbers were reversed … 500 violin and volunteer kids and 1 pure but better violinist the school would be sure to include the pure violinist)</p>
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<p>That’s good.</p>
<p>I’m reading resumes for a job opening right now. The smart applicants have carefully read the job description and have written cover letters that explain why they’d be a good fit. They may have also prepared a targeted resume. This is smart if their goal is to get an interview.</p>
<p>“Not the right analogy. If you were bouncing from part time job to part time job, and your mommy told you to shape up and get a real, FT job, that would be the right analogy. Of course kids should manage their own time. The requirement is that they put in a bare minimum effort if they want parental support”</p>
<p>The amount of effort required to do the job is determined by that organization, not by mommy.</p>
<p>At one point, my D had a paying job that was expected to be 30 hours a week over the summer. Her hours got cut to far less. How should I have “insisted” she spent more time working, IP? Called her manager and said that she needed to put in at least 3 hours/day?</p>
<p>3togo, Forget ECs for a second. Let’s say you are right, and there is value in volunteering towards being a good human being. I really couldn’t care less about HYPSM’s opinion on this, but I want to play with this a bit.</p>
<p>How do you get a kid exposed to volunteering?</p>
<p>You see, it is super easy in math, piano, squash. There are coaches, there are training materials, there are competitions. All you have to do is work hard.</p>
<p>But now, let’s say a parent - who, by the way, has had absolutely no exposure whatsoever to volunteering ever in his/her life - wants to expose his/her kid to volunteering. How do you go about that? Do you stand in a street corner with a sign that says will volunteer for free? </p>
<p>Donating, on the other hand, is super easy.</p>
<p>“The right analogy would be to not pursue what you wanted to truly pursue, and instead pursue something so that it makes you look good in the interview. That’s so fake.”</p>
<p>You keep confusing the concept of doing something interesting, which has value AND has the bonus of looking good in interviews, with doing something you don’t like JUST to look good in an interview.</p>
<p>I can tell you don’t come from a culture that values individuality.</p>
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<p>Get another job.</p>
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<p>ROFL! I am the one who doesn’t care whether I look good in interviews or otherwise, or whether what I do is interesting to others, and I am the one who doesn’t value individuality?</p>
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Is this a serious question?</p>
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<p>I never had to write a cover letter nor provide a targeted resume. I was actively recruited instead.</p>
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<p>Absolutely serious question. I may not act on it - in fact I am pretty sure I won’t act on it - but the question is serious and sincere.</p>
<p>I thought this thread was about students accolades, not parents.</p>
<p>Wow, IP. You are so smart that you have degrees from IIT and 2 Ivies, and you could pass any math class at MIT with one hand tied behind your back because it’s all so frightfully easy, yet you wouldn’t be able to figure out that you say to your kid, “hey, call the animal shelter / Easter Seals / the local hospital / the organization of your choice and ask what volunteer help they need”? What is so hard about that?</p>
<p>IP,
You and your son would be better off coming up with good ideas on your own. That is what colleges like to see anyway.</p>
<p>This thread has allowed many thoughtful and well-reasoned opinions to be expressed on a dividing issue. However, we also realize that the original discussions have now been replaced by endless repetition of the same opinions. We believe that everyone has had ample chance to make his or her voice heard on this subject. </p>
<p>We also were forced to note that the quality and scope of the discussions have been harmed by increasing acrimony and ad hominem attacks.</p>
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