What extracurriculars would you *not* mention, because they reek of privilege/other negatives?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting, I don't think of lacrosse as a rich people sport, but I'm from upstate NY where every public high school has a team.

It is viewed as a preppy sport full of "lax bros" by some.

Sigh. Only by people who don't understand the geography of lax. The DMV is the only area where lax is a private school thing. Everywhere else it is all public. Long Island, Atlanta, New York, etc, all publics. Some people in this area don't "get" that the DMV isn't on most people's horizon.

Even here in the DMV, it's not a "private school thing." I believe most/all public schools have both boys' and girls' lax teams. It's become very ordinary.
DP

They may have teams but they suck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has gone to Interlochen Summer Arrs program for voice/opera for 4 years. College counselor told us not to mention the name of the camp
On college apps. Because it “wouldn’t look good”.

I hope you ignored the idiotic advice not to mention attendance at an internationally renowned arts camp.

LOL. I couldn’t believe the counselor actually said this. Yes, we ignored this idiotic advise. Plenty of kids there get aid to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When teens go on "missions" or "service trips" to developing countries. No one is impressed by those.

Why is this and what are these?

They're service learning trips sponsored by various Christian organizations. You pay some money and your kid visits and country (or sometimes another state) and does some volunteer work and gets some cultural exposure. They are frequently a week or so. It's pay to play. Lots of kids who go on them will then write a generally terrible application essay about "what I learned on my mission trip." The essay usually shows that 1) the student was extremely privileged and sheltered before the trip and 2) hasn't learned a thing about their own privilege despite going on the trip. That type of essay isn't going to help with admissions. It also may tweak biases against white, UMC devout Christians. I wouldn't list the activity and I wouldn't have my kid write a mission trip essay.

Spoken from the cheap seats. My DC did a service trip through school not a church, but beyond the two week mission trip, it involved fundraising for months before, weekly physical fitness training, and monthly treks staying in field tents in preparation for 40 to 80km hikes on the mission itself. It was a rewarding year long experience. DC wrote about something else in essays but def listed it In extracurriculars

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where do you draw the line at reporting something super-expensive (sailing, pilot's license, climbing internationally, equestrian)?
Or other things that just say "I'm rich" (unpaid internships, especially ones where you have to be connected -- banks, senators, etc.)?

Avoid saying something like "my family is a member at Congressional or Riverbend CC and I play golf there on a regular basis."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When teens go on "missions" or "service trips" to developing countries. No one is impressed by those.

Why is this and what are these?

They're service learning trips sponsored by various Christian organizations. You pay some money and your kid visits and country (or sometimes another state) and does some volunteer work and gets some cultural exposure. They are frequently a week or so. It's pay to play. Lots of kids who go on them will then write a generally terrible application essay about "what I learned on my mission trip." The essay usually shows that 1) the student was extremely privileged and sheltered before the trip and 2) hasn't learned a thing about their own privilege despite going on the trip. That type of essay isn't going to help with admissions. It also may tweak biases against white, UMC devout Christians. I wouldn't list the activity and I wouldn't have my kid write a mission trip essay.

Spoken from the cheap seats. My DC did a service trip through school not a church, but beyond the two week mission trip, it involved fundraising for months before, weekly physical fitness training, and monthly treks staying in field tents in preparation for 40 to 80km hikes on the mission itself. It was a rewarding year long experience. DC wrote about something else in essays but def listed it In extracurriculars

And...? Did they get in anywhere notable? How did they fare with their reaches?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When teens go on "missions" or "service trips" to developing countries. No one is impressed by those.

Why is this and what are these?

They're service learning trips sponsored by various Christian organizations. You pay some money and your kid visits and country (or sometimes another state) and does some volunteer work and gets some cultural exposure. They are frequently a week or so. It's pay to play. Lots of kids who go on them will then write a generally terrible application essay about "what I learned on my mission trip." The essay usually shows that 1) the student was extremely privileged and sheltered before the trip and 2) hasn't learned a thing about their own privilege despite going on the trip. That type of essay isn't going to help with admissions. It also may tweak biases against white, UMC devout Christians. I wouldn't list the activity and I wouldn't have my kid write a mission trip essay.

Spoken from the cheap seats. My DC did a service trip through school not a church, but beyond the two week mission trip, it involved fundraising for months before, weekly physical fitness training, and monthly treks staying in field tents in preparation for 40 to 80km hikes on the mission itself. It was a rewarding year long experience. DC wrote about something else in essays but def listed it In extracurriculars

How much did you pay for all that? Nobody is impressed by pay to play EC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do you draw the line at reporting something super-expensive (sailing, pilot's license, climbing internationally, equestrian)?
Or other things that just say "I'm rich" (unpaid internships, especially ones where you have to be connected -- banks, senators, etc.)?

Avoid saying something like "my family is a member at Congressional or Riverbend CC and I play golf there on a regular basis."

DP here. My son has expensive hobbies that he is good at and spends time doing but isn’t ranked for anything. My son is an excellent sailor, fishing expert, skier and golfer. He is also great at pickleball and volleyball. He doesn’t play on a team.

Do you include these hobbies?

DS also plays tennis competitively. That is his main sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP - not a troll. My child does an activity that I mentioned, and another mom told me not to report it because (and I quote) "it smacks of privilege." I don't agree, but I wanted to get a sense of what other people think. And yes, I agree with the poster who said they know my address and such and can make some reasonable assumptions based on that.

m
My kid is an equestrian. She mentioned it. It’s her main activity. Otherwise, it looks like she does very little. You want to go somewhere that accepts your child as is. Why omit accomplishments?

Thanks - I agree. I think my "friend" is talking out her a$$ or just trying to sabotage my kid.

I think your friend could be listening to a former AO who is now giving college advice and saying not to list activities that smack of privilege. Silly advice imho.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When teens go on "missions" or "service trips" to developing countries. No one is impressed by those.

Why is this and what are these?

They're service learning trips sponsored by various Christian organizations. You pay some money and your kid visits and country (or sometimes another state) and does some volunteer work and gets some cultural exposure. They are frequently a week or so. It's pay to play. Lots of kids who go on them will then write a generally terrible application essay about "what I learned on my mission trip." The essay usually shows that 1) the student was extremely privileged and sheltered before the trip and 2) hasn't learned a thing about their own privilege despite going on the trip. That type of essay isn't going to help with admissions. It also may tweak biases against white, UMC devout Christians. I wouldn't list the activity and I wouldn't have my kid write a mission trip essay.

Spoken from the cheap seats. My DC did a service trip through school not a church, but beyond the two week mission trip, it involved fundraising for months before, weekly physical fitness training, and monthly treks staying in field tents in preparation for 40 to 80km hikes on the mission itself. It was a rewarding year long experience. DC wrote about something else in essays but def listed it In extracurriculars

And...? Did they get in anywhere notable? How did they fare with their reaches?

NP here. DD listed pay-to-play activities like CS summer camps. Was admitted to Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP - not a troll. My child does an activity that I mentioned, and another mom told me not to report it because (and I quote) "it smacks of privilege." I don't agree, but I wanted to get a sense of what other people think. And yes, I agree with the poster who said they know my address and such and can make some reasonable assumptions based on that.

m
My kid is an equestrian. She mentioned it. It’s her main activity. Otherwise, it looks like she does very little. You want to go somewhere that accepts your child as is. Why omit accomplishments?

Thanks - I agree. I think my "friend" is talking out her a$$ or just trying to sabotage my kid.

I think your friend could be listening to a former AO who is now giving college advice and saying not to list activities that smack of privilege. Silly advice imho.

With the initials SH, perhaps?

[Anonymous]

I recall reading that membership in Future Farmers of America was negatively correlated with college admission. In other words, liberal admissions officials discriminate again rural and conservative leadership accomplishments.