What activities are considered "impressive" to potential schools

[Anonymous]

Curious what is considered impressive to top schools. I keep hearing being a capital of a sports team or robotics is run of the mill. You need state/national recognition to have it be a top extracurricular? Are kid really doing these passion projects and do you need to have an app with 10k downloads? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

A normal summer job. And I'm not kidding.

[Anonymous]

Read r/collegeresults

Passion wins every time.

[Anonymous]

Tips here:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1298105.page

[Anonymous]

And read here:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1233143.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A normal summer job. And I'm not kidding.

This unfortunately can be faked. Not that the student wasn't there at all. But the level of commitment can be exaggerated. Some employers don't send W-2 forms for low-level jobs like working at a car wash, and the student made so little that they need not file a tax return. So anyone can easily exaggerate the number of weeks/year and number of hours/week worked. It is not possible to disprove, even if colleges wanted to.

[Anonymous]

Also see this thread here:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1301979.page

[Anonymous]

Authenticity and depth, whatever that is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A normal summer job. And I'm not kidding.

This unfortunately can be faked. Not that the student wasn't there at all. But the level of commitment can be exaggerated. Some employers don't send W-2 forms for low-level jobs like working at a car wash, and the student made so little that they need not file a tax return. So anyone can easily exaggerate the number of weeks/year and number of hours/week worked. It is not possible to disprove, even if colleges wanted to.

Exactly. It doesn’t move the needle.

[Anonymous]

Being the offspring of a movie star seems to help, so get off your butt, mom, and start auditioning. Time’s a wastin’. Somewhere in Hollywood there is a producer looking frantically for just the right actress to do a gratuitous graphic nude scene with Danny DeVito. This is your chance. Let’s see how badly you want your kid to attend an Ivy.

[Anonymous]

"What is impressive to top schools" is the wrong question to ask about what your kid should be involved in. Instead, focus on questions like "what are the things my kid can take on that will give them opportunities to grow in capability, skills, leadership, responsibility, empathy, and maturity?"

Very often, the answer to that will be "getting an evening/weekend job", and, like the first response in this thread, I'm not kidding. People posting above about a job (or any other activity) being easily faked are completely missing the point of both this exercise and, honestly, of being a parent. Focus on the things that will make your kid a better person.

[Anonymous]

Have your kids develop their one true passion. Even if it’s random and doesn’t seem at all related to anything else. Have them go deep and encourage them to spend their time with that interest. It should be the sort of thing that they want to get lost in the topic or spend all their free time on (in a variety of ways).

I promise you it will turn into something in the most unlikely way, as high school develops.

Both of my older kids did this - the oldest with something so random and niche that it would not at first seem like anything (and could be considered a waste of time): turned it into a side business/hustle, that evolved into a science project/ongoing experiment that morphed into Summer internships and senior year academic opportunities.
Driven by kid. No “big” names. No “competitions”.

- one in Ivy and one in T10 (one a junior)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"What is impressive to top schools" is the wrong question to ask about what your kid should be involved in. Instead, focus on questions like "what are the things my kid can take on that will give them opportunities to grow in capability, skills, leadership, responsibility, empathy, and maturity?"

Very often, the answer to that will be "getting an evening/weekend job", and, like the first response in this thread, I'm not kidding. People posting above about a job (or any other activity) being easily faked are completely missing the point of both this exercise and, honestly, of being a parent. Focus on the things that will make your kid a better person.

+1

Stop focusing on impressiveness and extrinsic worth. Activities are not awards.

Focus on intrinsic worth. Explore things that interest you and help your development.

A job is a great suggestion. Your resume has to start somewhere. It's much easier to see that a kid knows how to show up on time for a job when they've had one before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A normal summer job. And I'm not kidding.

This unfortunately can be faked. Not that the student wasn't there at all. But the level of commitment can be exaggerated. Some employers don't send W-2 forms for low-level jobs like working at a car wash, and the student made so little that they need not file a tax return. So anyone can easily exaggerate the number of weeks/year and number of hours/week worked. It is not possible to disprove, even if colleges wanted to.

So cynical. Don't let this process disrupt your child's life and yours like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"What is impressive to top schools" is the wrong question to ask about what your kid should be involved in. Instead, focus on questions like "what are the things my kid can take on that will give them opportunities to grow in capability, skills, leadership, responsibility, empathy, and maturity?"

Very often, the answer to that will be "getting an evening/weekend job", and, like the first response in this thread, I'm not kidding. People posting above about a job (or any other activity) being easily faked are completely missing the point of both this exercise and, honestly, of being a parent. Focus on the things that will make your kid a better person.

How sensible and true.

But moving on, since my child lacks the ability to grow in capability, skills, leadership, responsibility, empathy, and maturity, how can I game the system so she can get into Stanford anyway?