What activities are considered "impressive" to potential schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gymnastics captain
AND Lead Cheerleader
AND Math team captain
AND Debate co-captain
AND Faculty award for top student in HS

In at two of HYP

I would have classified these as meh. School activities + captain of a school club + an award that is already evident from the transcript/sch profile…

My guess is there was more (like a feeder school).

It is from the top 6 public high schools in NOVA and it is not TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gymnastics captain
AND Lead Cheerleader
AND Math team captain
AND Debate co-captain
AND Faculty award for top student in HS

In at two of HYP

I would have classified these as meh. School activities + captain of a school club + an award that is already evident from the transcript/sch profile…

My guess is there was more (like a feeder school).

It is from the top 6 public high schools in FCPS and it is not TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gymnastics captain
AND Lead Cheerleader
AND Math team captain
AND Debate co-captain
AND Faculty award for top student in HS

In at two of HYP

I would have classified these as meh. School activities + captain of a school club + an award that is already evident from the transcript/sch profile…

My guess is there was more (like a feeder school).

DP. Nah. People have bought into this idea that you have to have cured cancer to get into these schools. It’s just not true; I know multiple “average excellent” kids who have gotten into schools that everyone assumes require a hook or exceptional accomplishment.

Everyone wants to be able to explain why their kid didn’t get in. The truth is, your kid didn’t get in because there are tons of kids with great stats and great activities, and schools can choose only so many, and they have their reasons for choosing the kids they do. There’s not some magic formula or type of activity that turns the dial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gymnastics captain
AND Lead Cheerleader
AND Math team captain
AND Debate co-captain
AND Faculty award for top student in HS

In at two of HYP

I would have classified these as meh. School activities + captain of a school club + an award that is already evident from the transcript/sch profile…

My guess is there was more (like a feeder school).

It is from the top 6 public high schools in NOVA and it is not TJ.

Huh…which one? Fcps doesn’t rank so which fcps is disclosing in an award the top gpa?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gymnastics captain
AND Lead Cheerleader
AND Math team captain
AND Debate co-captain
AND Faculty award for top student in HS

In at two of HYP

Other than being good at becoming captain, I don’t see anything stand out in this resume. Where is the impact? How many times AIME qualified?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gymnastics captain
AND Lead Cheerleader
AND Math team captain
AND Debate co-captain
AND Faculty award for top student in HS

In at two of HYP

Other than being good at becoming captain, I don’t see anything stand out in this resume. Where is the impact? How many times AIME qualified?

My guess this is fake. The poster needs to disclose what FCPS school gives an award for the highest GPA. There isn’t one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Thank you. Very few people cheat the system this way, and yet we assume it’s rampant because we hear about the few cases of egregious lying. It is so corrosive.

Have you seen the kids on Reddit? A lot more people cheat the system than you can even imagine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Thank you. Very few people cheat the system this way, and yet we assume it’s rampant because we hear about the few cases of egregious lying. It is so corrosive.

I know. I'm fairly certain that the people reading these applications don't approach their task with the assumption that everyone is trying to pull a fast one.

Actually, they are looking for reasons to distrust the app. There is a reason why kids from feeder schools get into top schools at a much higher rate. It has to do with them being able to trust the application. If there is anything which causes them to distrust the candidate at a selective school, the application has a greater shot of just being disregarded.

[Anonymous]

It is not the activity they are accepting, it is the kid - for example, my kid was captain of two varsity teams in HS, which is an EC everyone here would say is meh. Common wisdom here is that varsity sports are a waste of time unless the kid goes the recruitment route (mine did not), takes too much time away from academics and "more meaningful" ECs, etc. For my kid, becoming captain was amazing EC - he was shy freshman year, a quiet kid who did not come out of his shell, but by senior year had undergone a true transformation - and being voted in as captain of two teams was a great way to illustrate that growth. His coach poured his heart into a recommendation letter, which a few colleges referred to in their acceptance letters. It is not the activity, it is what the kid makes of it.

[Anonymous]

OP:
You might want to read this to understand:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingIvyLeague/s/RhzuFuM1ea

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gymnastics captain
AND Lead Cheerleader
AND Math team captain
AND Debate co-captain
AND Faculty award for top student in HS

In at two of HYP

Other than being good at becoming captain, I don’t see anything stand out in this resume. Where is the impact? How many times AIME qualified?

DP.

It demonstrates a remarkably diverse skill set. I can’t imagine that schools see that combo very often.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Thank you. Very few people cheat the system this way, and yet we assume it’s rampant because we hear about the few cases of egregious lying. It is so corrosive.

I know. I'm fairly certain that the people reading these applications don't approach their task with the assumption that everyone is trying to pull a fast one.

Actually, they are looking for reasons to distrust the app. There is a reason why kids from feeder schools get into top schools at a much higher rate. It has to do with them being able to trust the application. If there is anything which causes them to distrust the candidate at a selective school, the application has a greater shot of just being disregarded.

I can tell you that from our "feeder" nyc private that sends more than 1/3 of the graduating class to top10 schools, SO MUCH of the extracurricular/passion project stuff is completely manufactured by pricey consultants and parents using their contacts and resources. Colleges do not care - they want to accept who they want to accept, and fake ECs for kids like that - whose families will donate enough to put their names on buildings and endowed chairs - give the colleges a way to "rationalize" those acceptances of kids with poor GPAs and weak characters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gymnastics captain
AND Lead Cheerleader
AND Math team captain
AND Debate co-captain
AND Faculty award for top student in HS

In at two of HYP

Other than being good at becoming captain, I don’t see anything stand out in this resume. Where is the impact? How many times AIME qualified?

DP.

It demonstrates a remarkably diverse skill set. I can’t imagine that schools see that combo very often.

Are you okay, having fallen off a turnip truck right now?????????

[Anonymous]

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

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP:
You might want to read this to understand:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingIvyLeague/s/RhzuFuM1ea

I think this is true for ORM at HYPSM