<p>@emeraldkity4 - It has nothing to do with wanting my kids to do the same things. It’s just one of those things that I’ve noticed on CC - giving a little piece of the story but not all of it. I was professing my lack of understanding as to why people do that. </p>
<p>^^ to build on Hunt and EK, even going to the highly selective programs is no guarantee. But I don’t think these students are necessarily selected because of TASP or other summer programs; it’s that these kids who do make it often have other accomplishments as well. They’re not attending these programs (hopefully) to check it off on the college applications. These students are pursuing their interests and these programs are often the means. </p>
<p>As for “unusual” ECs, really, almost anything can become an EC if taken far enough. Creating origami earrings and selling it on Etsy (taking something from this thread) would count as an unusual EC. Starting up a fostering system for horses would be an unusual EC. I think colleges want to see what students accomplishes for themselves, not just do what the student thinks colleges (or parents) want. I see on CC lots of posts “which would look good/better to colleges, X or Y?” with absolutely no mention of whether or not the student even has a slight interest in the class/program/EC/hobby. </p>
<p>I think it doesn’t seem transparent because every time some hint is dropped, hs kids and adults, too, dismiss it. This season, I’ve seen more references to “standing out” and standing out by being quirky or super unusual than ever before. Assume we’re talking about highly competitive colleges.</p>
<p>Standing out does mean noticed in the crush- but that starts with “did what it takes.” That simple. Not publishing your science research (the trend now, more than ever, is to let some kids publish, but this is extremely rare and still no tip.) But having the vision to go get some research or work experience, in the first place. (Yes, it happens. Grunt work can be fine.) You wanna be a doc, then do something health or science related. Not found a medical club at hs, but go invest your time and energy in something worthy. (“Prove out,” so to say. Not shadowing but rolling up your sleeves, even for a small effort. or a collateral effort.) These are things that show you have some understanding and can get moving- and can see beyond the hs grounds. </p>
<p>Awards and honors, achievements- maybe. Realize most kids go after the same things- a Gold Key, some math competitions in the area, NHS- again, high school ideas. And the uppermost awards…you still have to have the personal attributes for holistic. Charity websites? That’s nice, but pretty easy. Not the same as, again, rolling up your sleeves and committing your time at ground level.</p>
<p>Skipping a lot here, but you present a whole picture. You want to be an engineer because you “want to make people’s lives better” but you didn’t get involved in anything mathy or sciencey in hs or even drama tech crew, never did much in your community that even shows you do “make things better.” Well, then it doesn’t matter if you can juggle cats.</p>
<p>I have said, this isn’t really about being best in your hs or most popular or having the most respect there or from family and friends. You aren’t looking to transfer to a more prestigious hs. You are showing why you should make the leap to that college.</p>
<p>And it’s not about “passion.” It’s really not about picking one thing you really like and doing lots of it-- it’s about the judgment and maturity the actual choices can reflect.</p>
<p>After my years on CC, I still say: you can make all this work to your advantage. If you “get it.” After that, no guarantees.</p>
<p>Not my kids EC, but the EC for a friend who had strong college choices was being a lifeguard at a city pool.
Also getting certified for wilderness first aid.</p>
<p>Looking forward- great post.</p>
<p>The opportunities for a kid to show initiative vary by community and are limited by parental resources, time, ability to chauffeur, lack of or presence of public transportation, etc. So colleges aren’t expecting every single kid to have had the same opportunities. But a kid who has been part of a volunteer fire department and learned CPR and First Aid on his or her own, is surely showing more “gumption” and commitment to a career in medicine (if that’s the goal) than a kid who is president of a “medical careers club” at school. A kid who grew up in a bilingual home and volunteers as a translator in the public defender’s office is showing a certain passion for the law that all the school manufactured activities around student government or the HS Civics award can’t possibly compete with. </p>
<p>These aren’t manufactured and these aren’t packaged kids. (you can’t package language fluency, especially if it’s Farsi or Tagalog or another language where translators aren’t common but the local population needs them.) That’s why I find it fascinating that for some of you, Harvard admissions is for the “student government” types. In my neck of the woods, Harvard seems to bore down and find the kids with outstanding (but not always perfect grades) academics and something else. Call it quirky, call it unusual… but it’s hard to fake and it’s hard to do it “for the sake of college”.</p>
<p>A kid in my neighborhood starting volunteering at the fire station before he could legally ride a rig. He baked (yes, he baked) for the firefighters and paramedics at the station house so when they came back from a run they had fresh bread and cookies. So he’s been “hanging out” at the station for 6 years and finally can do actual first aid/para stuff. Plus great academics, lovely and humble kid, etc. You think some paid college adviser is going to sit down with a HS sophomore and tell them the key to getting into HYP is to start baking for the firefighters??? </p>
<p>The book is called “How to Be a High School Superstar: A Revolutionary Plan to Get into College by Standing Out (Without Burning Out)” and it explains at great depth what makes an EC interesting and valuable. The author is a big believer of unscheduled free time and of focused work. So he proposes to work very efficiently to get a good gpa and test scores and then instead of clubs and time consuming activities (time sinks) to have free time to “tinker” with interests. He also proposes limits on academics. For example an extra AP will not break or make your application. So a student should not take it and instead use that time for something else.
My son loved the book because it justified all the time he spends on his hobbies.
I let you know in a couple of years if that worked or not…</p>
<p>It’s funny that you mention firefighting, blossom. My H was a volunteer firefighter as a teenager, absolutely loved it, and if he hadn’t gone on to become a doctor he would still be doing firefighting. He’s convinced that his firefighting experience is what got him into Northwestern and into medical school years ago (granted, a very different admissions playing ground then) - and he did encourage our kids, if they were so inclined, to pursue this interest (neither of them was so inclined and that was fine). </p>
<p>But the idea of hanging around the firehouse, learning how to fight fires and baking for them in the meantime until you’re old enough to actually learn first aid, etc. is a perfect example of something which is unique, but still mainstream - in spirit / concept, very much like the activities my own kids did. It’s not just quirky-for-the-sake-of-quirkiness which is what this always devolves to. It <em>says</em> something about the person. </p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t know why people make this so hard. There are lots of opportunities like this - the moment you step outside your hs box. </p>
<p>There’s a book written by a mom who professes NOT to be a tiger mom who talks about how her kid was always sitting on the couch knitting while other people’s kids were out winning awards, and how she always worried that her child didn’t have any leadership positions in any organizations because she wasn’t really a joiner. THe kid ends up knitting these really adorable little outfits for little kids and starts out by selling them to her mom’s friends and then she builds a website and ends up with a very successful business. Can’t remember the name of the book, but that seemed like a great example of a kind of quirky activity that showed initative and creativity and planning and that was pretty much off the radar of the high school. That’s going to be the kid that gets into the great school and none of the other nosy parents can figure out why.</p>
<p>To respect my D14’s privacy, I don’t mention her EC on my public posts because that could compromise her anonymity during her college search process. People who live in my area could recognize who my D is from her EC. I will say that it is a non-collegiate sport with no scholarship opportunities, so it is a labor of love. Happily, the college search process is coming to an end soon(!), and I will disclose her EC after she has chosen a college. Thanks for your understanding.</p>
<p>Something that ticks me off about the article is the implication that getting into HARVARD is the supreme validation of how a kid lives their life, and of their intellect. Harvard is a great institution, no doubt, but it is not the only great institution in the nation and they miss PLENTY of great kids. For one thing, they can’t take everyone. For another, sometimes they just make mistakes. The same can be said of all of the other great institutions.</p>
<p>
Just wanted to say, job shadowing can be the start though. I asked my brother to do me a favor and let my son spend a week at his office, no pay, no obligation. He kindly let him, and in that week, everyone was so impressed with what he accomplished that they gave him an Amazon certificate as pay, he did some part time work the following school work and hired him to work for them full time the following summer. </p>
<p>I don’t know about dropping APs to do more interesting stuff. Or at least not too many APs! My kids did not take every AP the school offered. But they did take the number that other kids aiming for selective colleges at their school took. (Somewhere around 7 to 9.) Both kids had plenty of free time to pursue their interests including playing way too many computer games.</p>
<p>To Momzie’s point, you’ll then see the posts from other parents on CC bemoaning why THEIR precious didn’t get in and how someone with “lower GPA, lower SAT’s, and only the fifth-best player on the tennis team compared to my precious’ third-best ranking” got into a school and stole precious’ deserved spot. </p>
<p>Under the radar. Best way to fly is under the radar when it comes to some of these things. The origami earrings, the firefighting, the knitting business – none of these are likely known by the neighbors or the community at large. Too much emphasis on CC, IMO, on the activities that generate community buzz - with the resulting community nosiness as to who got what scores and awards and got in where. </p>
<p>" But a kid who has been part of a volunteer fire department and learned CPR and First Aid on his or her own, is surely showing more “gumption” and commitment to a career in medicine (if that’s the goal)" Every single premed college student I know does this. Every one of them. They are all completely convinced it’s a requirement to get into med school. Nothing wrong with it, but not an original thought. Our community is happy to take advantage of them to have all-volunteer rescue squads.</p>
<p>I was talking at Parents’ weekend with some other parents, and the consensus was that the small LACs are good at selecting the type of class they want. We may be puzzled by the results, and I’m sure many who are turned away could have fit in also, but the admissions office seems to do a good job building the class. I don’t think they could produce a list of hooks, but they do assemble a list of interesting students.</p>
<p>Very few students at our HS, maybe 1 or 2 a year, do research. No one from our HS has ever been admitted to HYP either. A few have gone to selective LAC’s, but it is a small group of students even interested. For some reason kids have success getting into U Chicago though. </p>
<p>Mathyone- I probably know 15 kids in med school right now and only one of them worked as a paramedic/first responder in college, and even he didn’t do it in HS. The other 14 went the “curing cancer in a lab” route in college. Like I said… regional differences. I also think there’s a difference between what a kid in college is able to do to pursue grad or professional school vs. what a HS kid can do.</p>
<p>My favorite yoga teacher is a first year med student. Teaching yoga and her commitment to bridging eastern and western therapeutic techniques is a hook of sorts. </p>
<p>Mathmom, you’re right, I should have said not “just” shadowing. And you did mention that your son “accomplished,” which is good. </p>
<p>Mathyone, to me, what stands out about that kid who baked for the firefighters is not so much that it gave him the opportunity to do first aid/paramedic stuff, but how he ended up there in the first place. That’s what will make him stand out, not the fact that he learned first aid, but his journey to that point. This is not something that can be manufactured. I think he’s the perfect example of someone with a “mainstream” activity who does something “unique.” </p>
<p>When it comes to origami earrings and baking, cynically, I have the strong suspicion that these are far more likely to be seen as interesting, worthwhile activities if the student is male. (<em>I</em> think they are worthwhile for anyone, I hasten to add.)</p>
<p>One way to think about this is to consider what the student’s accomplishments say about what they’ll do in college and beyond. A laundry list of clubs and activities screams “I’m joining things to get into college.” A kid who’s immersed himself in an activity or taken on a significant adult leadership role has demonstrated to a school how he’ll handle the rest of his life.</p>
<p>ReadyToRoll-I’m another one of those who’s given fuzzy information about exactly what my child’s interest/accomplishment is. The reason is that while it’s not a hook it is unusual and could be used to identify him, particularly when coupled with other information I’ve posted. I don’t feel it’s my place to publicly identify him, particularly when I might post about his less stellar attributes on other threads.</p>