Does forcing kids to "brag" about community service on apps make anyone else cringe?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The entire process encourages kids to be other than themselves and do things for the wrong reasons. They are not permitted to learn the extreme satisfaction anonymously helping someone because everything is about the app list or NHS or the Eagle project.. it's having the opposite of the intent.

+100
"Mandatory volunteerism" is quite the oxymoron. I absolutely hate the self-promotion and bragging that goes on in the college games race. Volunteering is a great thing - if it's genuinely altruistic. Nowadays, it's just the opposite. Gotta get those hours in, check those boxes, etc. to be competitive for this honor society or that, and especially for college admissions. It's really quite a crock, unfortunately.

I agree. It makes me cringe too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The entire process encourages kids to be other than themselves and do things for the wrong reasons. They are not permitted to learn the extreme satisfaction anonymously helping someone because everything is about the app list or NHS or the Eagle project.. it's having the opposite of the intent.

+100
"Mandatory volunteerism" is quite the oxymoron. I absolutely hate the self-promotion and bragging that goes on in the college games race. Volunteering is a great thing - if it's genuinely altruistic. Nowadays, it's just the opposite. Gotta get those hours in, check those boxes, etc. to be competitive for this honor society or that, and especially for college admissions. It's really quite a crock, unfortunately.

I agree. It makes me cringe too.

Agreed. I hate that my kid's school pushes it.

[Anonymous]

Does my child need to “document” her service? She does some that is required for school so it’s logged, but last year, she volunteered on her own and didn’t log it anywhere. Does that not “count?”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does my child need to “document” her service? She does some that is required for school so it’s logged, but last year, she volunteered on her own and didn’t log it anywhere. Does that not “count?”

Her logged hours will meet her service hour requirement. Anything above that she can mention on her college resume if she wants to. I think the service hour requirement is a HS graduation requirement, not a college entry requirement, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child just said he had over 300 hours of documented community service hours. None involved school building in Africa. Most were associated with boy scouts and local.

Service hours with the Boy Scouts might not count towards fulfilling the HS service hour requirement but those hours might get looked at by college admissions. (300+ hours is A LOT of service hours!)

My boys did lots of service hours during their years in Cub Scouts and they earned badges/advancements in Cub Scouts for those efforts but none of it will go on their college applications because they earned those things before HS. Had they continued through Boy Scouts in HS - you betcha they would put that on their college applications. If they had become Eagle Scouts you can bet that would go on their college applications, too. And if they had worked 300+ service hours in Scouts - that would absolutely be mentioned.

[Anonymous]

Kids who actually like community service often do alot of it and don't regard it as a meaningless requirement. My daughter had to write an essay for an honors supplement where she was asked to describe something that she was interested enough in that she researched it on her own, and she talked about working with special needs kids and how she had spent time online learning more about their conditions and about what it meant to be a SN parent so that she could be more supportive. She talked about an SN mom who had a blog that she really liked. And I honestly had no idea she had even done that until she showed me the essay. There are occasionally kids who are actually interested and dedicated to doing this work for whom it is not all makework or busywork.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. I think we’d all be better off if we went straight to standardized test scores: SAT scores and subject tests, that’s it.

You get a # and nothing else is known about you: race, gender, school, location, gpa.

Yes, we should base college admissions entirely on multiple choice tests...with SAT math questions at the algebra/geometry level.

Obviously you’d need to make the tests harder dumb ass

The point is, thet shouldn’t be anything extra. No bonus points for race, gender, geographic diversity, French horn.

I’d be curious to see what they end up with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids who actually like community service often do alot of it and don't regard it as a meaningless requirement. My daughter had to write an essay for an honors supplement where she was asked to describe something that she was interested enough in that she researched it on her own, and she talked about working with special needs kids and how she had spent time online learning more about their conditions and about what it meant to be a SN parent so that she could be more supportive. She talked about an SN mom who had a blog that she really liked. And I honestly had no idea she had even done that until she showed me the essay. There are occasionally kids who are actually interested and dedicated to doing this work for whom it is not all makework or busywork.

^ kudos to your daughter but that essay just asked what she was interested in. This isn't an example of community service.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. I think we’d all be better off if we went straight to standardized test scores: SAT scores and subject tests, that’s it.

You get a # and nothing else is known about you: race, gender, school, location, gpa.

Yes, we should base college admissions entirely on multiple choice tests...with SAT math questions at the algebra/geometry level.

Obviously you’d need to make the tests harder dumb ass

The point is, thet shouldn’t be anything extra. No bonus points for race, gender, geographic diversity, French horn.

I’d be curious to see what they end up with.

You would have kids loading up on "easy A" classes in HS and then doing SAT prep classes after school on there own time and dime.

[Anonymous]

My DC has friends who have done the "mission trips" to Haiti, various African countries, etc. I have never understood the idea of kids who live less than an hour away from some of the most poverty stricken, beaten down, desolate neighborhoods in the United States yet spend $3500 to "help people" in foreign countries. (Hint: it's not helping.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC has friends who have done the "mission trips" to Haiti, various African countries, etc. I have never understood the idea of kids who live less than an hour away from some of the most poverty stricken, beaten down, desolate neighborhoods in the United States yet spend $3500 to "help people" in foreign countries. (Hint: it's not helping.)

^ there was a long thread on this awhile back. Most people agreed with you.
College admin people don't give these kind of .trips too much credit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. I think we’d all be better off if we went straight to standardized test scores: SAT scores and subject tests, that’s it.

You get a # and nothing else is known about you: race, gender, school, location, gpa.

Yes, we should base college admissions entirely on multiple choice tests...with SAT math questions at the algebra/geometry level.

Obviously you’d need to make the tests harder dumb ass

The point is, thet shouldn’t be anything extra. No bonus points for race, gender, geographic diversity, French horn.

I’d be curious to see what they end up with.

You would have kids loading up on "easy A" classes in HS and then doing SAT prep classes after school on there own time and dime.

That won't work because you'd have to take standardized subject tests too. You aren't going to get a 5 on AP Physics if you took an easy A science for jocks class.

[Anonymous]

We just stuck to the facts (number of hours, responsibilities as outlined in online application which someone could check for accuracy). Maybe told a few anecdotes about memorable things that happened there. I would have felt icky if it was exaggerated or made to sound like more than it was but we didn't do that.

[Anonymous]

Eagle Scout and Girl Scout Gold Award are almost guaranteed entry into the University of California system providing you have the requisite GPA and test scores. Those awards demonstrate grit, determination and the ability to see a project from start to finish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. I think we’d all be better off if we went straight to standardized test scores: SAT scores and subject tests, that’s it.

You get a # and nothing else is known about you: race, gender, school, location, gpa.

Yes, we should base college admissions entirely on multiple choice tests...with SAT math questions at the algebra/geometry level.

Obviously you’d need to make the tests harder dumb ass

The point is, thet shouldn’t be anything extra. No bonus points for race, gender, geographic diversity, French horn.

I’d be curious to see what they end up with.

You would have kids loading up on "easy A" classes in HS and then doing SAT prep classes after school on there own time and dime.

I think we need to get rid of test scores all together. They are the worst measurement for success.