s/o this brutal admissions year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the junior parents, I’d try to get your kids vaccinated and then a job this summer—a real job (fast food, retail, pools, lawn service). Also, look at a lot of schools and find safeties to love. We didn’t look at reaches, except those where we considered ED, since we knew admission was unlikely. Do online tours now and start visits as soon as allowed. Start working on apps by August. My kid spent one morning a week, but worked on it consistently. Rolling admissions are a valuable confidence boost and should be on everyone’s list. It takes a lot of time and coordination.

What is the demonstrated benefit of a fast food job for an obviously UMC applicant? From the admission POV?

Serious question
Ive tried to get my junior a job that works with his packed schedule because I believe every young person should perform thankless, public-facing work at some point to gain life perspective. But why would *admissions* be happier to see that over the choice to work/intern in the area of intended study? In our case, health care, but there are so many other options in DC (nonprofits, politics, law, science/CS/research)

[Anonymous]

My daughter worked 2 jobs. She was able to manage them due to Covid and reduced ECs. At the end of the day, it’s grades and SAT. If the jobs interfere with those, then the job is not worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the junior parents, I’d try to get your kids vaccinated and then a job this summer—a real job (fast food, retail, pools, lawn service). Also, look at a lot of schools and find safeties to love. We didn’t look at reaches, except those where we considered ED, since we knew admission was unlikely. Do online tours now and start visits as soon as allowed. Start working on apps by August. My kid spent one morning a week, but worked on it consistently. Rolling admissions are a valuable confidence boost and should be on everyone’s list. It takes a lot of time and coordination.

What is the demonstrated benefit of a fast food job for an obviously UMC applicant? From the admission POV?

Serious question
Ive tried to get my junior a job that works with his packed schedule because I believe every young person should perform thankless, public-facing work at some point to gain life perspective. But why would *admissions* be happier to see that over the choice to work/intern in the area of intended study? In our case, health care, but there are so many other options in DC (nonprofits, politics, law, science/CS/research)

Your kid sounds privileged, and your kids application will read as such. If your kid got their own job, and didn’t think that working a typical teen job in retail or food service was beneath them, that speaks to their character.

You seriously just said that YOU are trying to get your kid a job. Shouldn’t they be doing that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the junior parents, I’d try to get your kids vaccinated and then a job this summer—a real job (fast food, retail, pools, lawn service). Also, look at a lot of schools and find safeties to love. We didn’t look at reaches, except those where we considered ED, since we knew admission was unlikely. Do online tours now and start visits as soon as allowed. Start working on apps by August. My kid spent one morning a week, but worked on it consistently. Rolling admissions are a valuable confidence boost and should be on everyone’s list. It takes a lot of time and coordination.

Please explain the bolded? Why a real job as opposed to an internship or something similar?
Thank you for all you wrote as it is very helpful

Not the PP, but a "normal" high school kid job typically shows that they went out and got it themselves, as opposed to parental connections. Also if they stick to it, that shows they are willing to learn and grow on the job as well as hard work. My son is starting his third summer working at our local golf club, and my daughter started her own pet sitting business, where she has to manage not onluthe job but finding and building a client base. Both are into their dream school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the junior parents, I’d try to get your kids vaccinated and then a job this summer—a real job (fast food, retail, pools, lawn service). Also, look at a lot of schools and find safeties to love. We didn’t look at reaches, except those where we considered ED, since we knew admission was unlikely. Do online tours now and start visits as soon as allowed. Start working on apps by August. My kid spent one morning a week, but worked on it consistently. Rolling admissions are a valuable confidence boost and should be on everyone’s list. It takes a lot of time and coordination.

What is the demonstrated benefit of a fast food job for an obviously UMC applicant? From the admission POV?

Serious question
Ive tried to get my junior a job that works with his packed schedule because I believe every young person should perform thankless, public-facing work at some point to gain life perspective. But why would *admissions* be happier to see that over the choice to work/intern in the area of intended study? In our case, health care, but there are so many other options in DC (nonprofits, politics, law, science/CS/research)

Your kid sounds privileged, and your kids application will read as such. If your kid got their own job, and didn’t think that working a typical teen job in retail or food service was beneath them, that speaks to their character.

You seriously just said that YOU are trying to get your kid a job. Shouldn’t they be doing that?

PP here. Thank you for projecting and insulting my child's character. Klassy!

My son actually does do menial neighborhood jobs like pet sitting that require -- are you sitting down? -- picking up dog shit. But his privileged and packed academic schedule doesn't allow him to accept a job of the type PP suggests, because McDonald's or Merrifield Garden Center or XYZ Kid's Camp will rightly expect him to show up multiple days a week, every week.

I'm interested in PP's take on spending the summer doing academic-ish work vs. lifeguarding or detailing cars or loading mulch into SUVs.

[Anonymous]

Just curious if parents who have been through the admissions cycle this year could comment on my DD who is a junior at a W school. She has a 3.98 UW and (estimating) 4.7 W GPA and 1470 SAT. She is going to take the SAT again to try and get her verbal higher. Btw, her choice. We think her score is great!

She has worked all through the pandemic and when she got laid off from her first job, she went and found another job at a “big box” retailer” working 15-20 hours per week. Other usual ECs. Applied for summer internships and should hear back later this month.

Current list: Pitt, Case Western, Northeastern, Michigan, U of Miami and she is deciding between Northwestern and Wash U for her ED spot. Wants to study psychology or science and pre-med.

She needs a list of safeties. Help and thanks!!!

[Anonymous]

The college admissions industrial-complex is a lottery. When a university has a 5% admissions rate, don't tell me there aren't a lot of rejected students who could have thrived there. It is also a huge money maker involving rankings, tutors, consultants, etc. Nothing in America gets this big unless it attracts the almighty dollar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious if parents who have been through the admissions cycle this year could comment on my DD who is a junior at a W school. She has a 3.98 UW and (estimating) 4.7 W GPA and 1470 SAT. She is going to take the SAT again to try and get her verbal higher. Btw, her choice. We think her score is great!

She has worked all through the pandemic and when she got laid off from her first job, she went and found another job at a “big box” retailer” working 15-20 hours per week. Other usual ECs. Applied for summer internships and should hear back later this month.

Current list: Pitt, Case Western, Northeastern, Michigan, U of Miami and she is deciding between Northwestern and Wash U for her ED spot. Wants to study psychology or science and pre-med.

She needs a list of safeties. Help and thanks!!!

Northwestern unlikely to happen. I would go with WashU for ED choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the junior parents, I’d try to get your kids vaccinated and then a job this summer—a real job (fast food, retail, pools, lawn service). Also, look at a lot of schools and find safeties to love. We didn’t look at reaches, except those where we considered ED, since we knew admission was unlikely. Do online tours now and start visits as soon as allowed. Start working on apps by August. My kid spent one morning a week, but worked on it consistently. Rolling admissions are a valuable confidence boost and should be on everyone’s list. It takes a lot of time and coordination.

What is the demonstrated benefit of a fast food job for an obviously UMC applicant? From the admission POV?

Serious question
Ive tried to get my junior a job that works with his packed schedule because I believe every young person should perform thankless, public-facing work at some point to gain life perspective. But why would *admissions* be happier to see that over the choice to work/intern in the area of intended study? In our case, health care, but there are so many other options in DC (nonprofits, politics, law, science/CS/research)

Your kid sounds privileged, and your kids application will read as such. If your kid got their own job, and didn’t think that working a typical teen job in retail or food service was beneath them, that speaks to their character.

You seriously just said that YOU are trying to get your kid a job. Shouldn’t they be doing that?

PP here. Thank you for projecting and insulting my child's character. Klassy!

My son actually does do menial neighborhood jobs like pet sitting that require -- are you sitting down? -- picking up dog shit. But his privileged and packed academic schedule doesn't allow him to accept a job of the type PP suggests, because McDonald's or Merrifield Garden Center or XYZ Kid's Camp will rightly expect him to show up multiple days a week, every week.

I'm interested in PP's take on spending the summer doing academic-ish work vs. lifeguarding or detailing cars or loading mulch into SUVs.

Not the PP. The nice aspect of an internship is that they may get to see what an office is like. High school "internships" come across as fake because high school students are unskilled workers. Unlike college internships, they are not hoping to get a real job out of the experience. Usually they are distributing materials from the copy room or something similar. An "internship" can imply family connections were involved, in a negative, smarmy way.

Admission officers may appreciate the applicant's willingness "get their hands dirty." Teen jobs demonstrate hard work and responsibility.

PP with the packed academic schedule, keep in mind that an internship would also expect him to show up multiple days per week, every week. There's nothing wrong with dog walking as a teen job (doesn't that involve keeping to a schedule as well?), though working in more of a business environment - for the grocery or fast food joint - brings the experience to a different level. There are also useful lessons to be learned about working for others, working for a large company, what the "lowest" level of workers at a company are dealing with, etc. - it isn't all about how to look good for college admission.

[Anonymous]

One more thing on the teen job angle, this is something that may not be as appreciated in other countries as in the US, so if some of you are immigrants, this may be a cultural difference to be aware of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the junior parents, I’d try to get your kids vaccinated and then a job this summer—a real job (fast food, retail, pools, lawn service). Also, look at a lot of schools and find safeties to love. We didn’t look at reaches, except those where we considered ED, since we knew admission was unlikely. Do online tours now and start visits as soon as allowed. Start working on apps by August. My kid spent one morning a week, but worked on it consistently. Rolling admissions are a valuable confidence boost and should be on everyone’s list. It takes a lot of time and coordination.

What is the demonstrated benefit of a fast food job for an obviously UMC applicant? From the admission POV?

Serious question
Ive tried to get my junior a job that works with his packed schedule because I believe every young person should perform thankless, public-facing work at some point to gain life perspective. But why would *admissions* be happier to see that over the choice to work/intern in the area of intended study? In our case, health care, but there are so many other options in DC (nonprofits, politics, law, science/CS/research)

Your kid sounds privileged, and your kids application will read as such. If your kid got their own job, and didn’t think that working a typical teen job in retail or food service was beneath them, that speaks to their character.

You seriously just said that YOU are trying to get your kid a job. Shouldn’t they be doing that?

PP here. Thank you for projecting and insulting my child's character. Klassy!

My son actually does do menial neighborhood jobs like pet sitting that require -- are you sitting down? -- picking up dog shit. But his privileged and packed academic schedule doesn't allow him to accept a job of the type PP suggests, because McDonald's or Merrifield Garden Center or XYZ Kid's Camp will rightly expect him to show up multiple days a week, every week.

I'm interested in PP's take on spending the summer doing academic-ish work vs. lifeguarding or detailing cars or loading mulch into SUVs.

Not the PP. The nice aspect of an internship is that they may get to see what an office is like. High school "internships" come across as fake because high school students are unskilled workers. Unlike college internships, they are not hoping to get a real job out of the experience. Usually they are distributing materials from the copy room or something similar. An "internship" can imply family connections were involved, in a negative, smarmy way.

Admission officers may appreciate the applicant's willingness "get their hands dirty." Teen jobs demonstrate hard work and responsibility.

PP with the packed academic schedule, keep in mind that an internship would also expect him to show up multiple days per week, every week. There's nothing wrong with dog walking as a teen job (doesn't that involve keeping to a schedule as well?), though working in more of a business environment - for the grocery or fast food joint - brings the experience to a different level. There are also useful lessons to be learned about working for others, working for a large company, what the "lowest" level of workers at a company are dealing with, etc. - it isn't all about how to look good for college admission.

Also, having a people facing service job during COVID absolutely stunk. People were so mean about the rules. My son learned a lot about people. It was scary to let him take that risk, but he followed the protocol and didn't get sick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious if parents who have been through the admissions cycle this year could comment on my DD who is a junior at a W school. She has a 3.98 UW and (estimating) 4.7 W GPA and 1470 SAT. She is going to take the SAT again to try and get her verbal higher. Btw, her choice. We think her score is great!

She has worked all through the pandemic and when she got laid off from her first job, she went and found another job at a “big box” retailer” working 15-20 hours per week. Other usual ECs. Applied for summer internships and should hear back later this month.

Current list: Pitt, Case Western, Northeastern, Michigan, U of Miami and she is deciding between Northwestern and Wash U for her ED spot. Wants to study psychology or science and pre-med.

She needs a list of safeties. Help and thanks!!!

Northwestern unlikely to happen. I would go with WashU for ED choice.

Actually both are unlikely to happen as both are high reaches with very low admit rates. You really need to soul search whether you should be tossing out your ED on a dream instead of on a match with low admit rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious if parents who have been through the admissions cycle this year could comment on my DD who is a junior at a W school. She has a 3.98 UW and (estimating) 4.7 W GPA and 1470 SAT. She is going to take the SAT again to try and get her verbal higher. Btw, her choice. We think her score is great!

She has worked all through the pandemic and when she got laid off from her first job, she went and found another job at a “big box” retailer” working 15-20 hours per week. Other usual ECs. Applied for summer internships and should hear back later this month.

Current list: Pitt, Case Western, Northeastern, Michigan, U of Miami and she is deciding between Northwestern and Wash U for her ED spot. Wants to study psychology or science and pre-med.

She needs a list of safeties. Help and thanks!!!

Northwestern unlikely to happen. I would go with WashU for ED choice.

Actually both are unlikely to happen as both are high reaches with very low admit rates. You really need to soul search whether you should be tossing out your ED on a dream instead of on a match with low admit rates.

The lesson of this year's admissions cycle is: use your ED wisely. Don't throw it away on a "lottery" school. And definitely be realistic that any "big name" school with 10% or 15% admissions rates are lotteries (b/c they will turn away many, many highly qualified students). Using ED on a school that you really think your DC can get into was the ticket this year. There are a LOT of highly qualified "high flyers" that are top-of-the-class, 1500+ SAT, great Ecstatics, etc. that got shut out or placed on waitlists. Chose wisely and good luck.

[Anonymous]

Great EC's that is. Sorry for the autocorrect!

[Anonymous]

I only wish more schools offered ED.