If every kid is doing the same damn EC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which EC is everyone doing?

NP: varsity sports (non-recruit), club leader, Debate/Model UN, student gov, music/band, robotics/science fair, volunteering (animal shelters, church, or hospital)

None of those are impressive.
Kid at Ivy.

Please share your wisdom, O Anointed One.

I’m not that poster but the kid from a high school that was shot up in Florida and who spoke out against guns had a 1320 and Harvard accepted him.

Do something on the national stage.

it blows mind the people would use this example as something to follow - even if we put aside the fact that this kid survived school shooting. "do something on the national stage". are you for real?

NP. Agreee. That was such a callous remark. Surviving gun violence and losing friends to it is real trauma that most of us will hopefully never endure. That is not anyone's chosen path.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, for example there is joining your schools Model UN club, and then there is winning 6 gavels at national competitions. The first means nothing, the second means something to AOs.

True, but the caveat is that if the 6-gavel student did not challenge themselves with coursework in the high school, yet the "basic" Model UN club member who explained how important the club was to them and why, also happened to take all of the hard courses and get As... and has letters indicating they were an engaged student, maybe even an extra letter where the UN teacher noted they were a team player who helped the younger students more than anyone else...the AO will pick the second student every day of the week.

Yes, but it would never be the case that a 6 gavel winner would take easy coursework. If he's in the range and has slightly less rigor and slightly lower test scores than the basic Model UN member... the 6 gavel student will get in each time.

+1. The 6 gavel kid is likely on the most rigorous track, at least in humanities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're no longer in the DMV area, and I keep hearing how rigor is important to the DMV kids. But anecdotally from kids I know here on the west coast, it's not always the highest rigor that gets admissions. Personally, I know kids who stopped at AP Calc AB and had a couple Bs at Stanford (even though kids at high school topped at AP Calc BC or higher), and a kid with a total of 4 APs at Harvard (from a highly ranked private school with tons of APs). Neither had a significant hook, except the Harvard kid was a creative and the Stanford kid had a unique story to tell. Both Asian and not underrepresented.

Don't underestimate both of these.

Well, Harvard did accept David Hogg who scored 1270 on the SAT. Another kid I know got accepted into Stanford because she is a YT/Tiktok influencer with over 5M followers. These two people deserve to get in front of the line at Harvard and Stanford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The ONLY EC that matters in the eyes of the AO is the one that the kid did it because of pure passion or interest.

And let me tell you all - barely any of the kids have a passion for anything. So all these EC's are a waste of time.

PS: My kid is doing something of true interest - not exceptional but something along the lines that she will major in - and I am 100% confident that will give her a leg up.

100% Agree. I was about to give an example of this in regards to my kid who is at UVA - but then I stopped - as I realized that other parents will just copy this and get their kids to do the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're no longer in the DMV area, and I keep hearing how rigor is important to the DMV kids. But anecdotally from kids I know here on the west coast, it's not always the highest rigor that gets admissions. Personally, I know kids who stopped at AP Calc AB and had a couple Bs at Stanford (even though kids at high school topped at AP Calc BC or higher), and a kid with a total of 4 APs at Harvard (from a highly ranked private school with tons of APs). Neither had a significant hook, except the Harvard kid was a creative and the Stanford kid had a unique story to tell. Both Asian and not underrepresented.

Don't underestimate both of these.

Well, Harvard did accept David Hogg who scored 1270 on the SAT. Another kid I know got accepted into Stanford because she is a YT/Tiktok influencer with over 5M followers. These two people deserve to get in front of the line at Harvard and Stanford.

Agree!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're no longer in the DMV area, and I keep hearing how rigor is important to the DMV kids. But anecdotally from kids I know here on the west coast, it's not always the highest rigor that gets admissions. Personally, I know kids who stopped at AP Calc AB and had a couple Bs at Stanford (even though kids at high school topped at AP Calc BC or higher), and a kid with a total of 4 APs at Harvard (from a highly ranked private school with tons of APs). Neither had a significant hook, except the Harvard kid was a creative and the Stanford kid had a unique story to tell. Both Asian and not underrepresented.

AB vs BC is not really a rigor difference. The story is important.

[Anonymous]

you can make it look like passion, even if its only a deep interest. just takes a lot of planning and prep.

its not that hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, for example there is joining your schools Model UN club, and then there is winning 6 gavels at national competitions. The first means nothing, the second means something to AOs.

True, but the caveat is that if the 6-gavel student did not challenge themselves with coursework in the high school, yet the "basic" Model UN club member who explained how important the club was to them and why, also happened to take all of the hard courses and get As... and has letters indicating they were an engaged student, maybe even an extra letter where the UN teacher noted they were a team player who helped the younger students more than anyone else...the AO will pick the second student every day of the week.

Maybe?...but 6 gavels is incredibly impressive, and something AOs may consider above grades. If they are giving exception to tik tokers.

Either way, the questions asked was "if every kid is doing the same damn EC" and this is the answer: kids may be doing the same ECs but some are excelling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which EC is everyone doing?

NP: varsity sports (non-recruit), club leader, Debate/Model UN, student gov, music/band, robotics/science fair, volunteering (animal shelters, church, or hospital)

None of those are impressive.
Kid at Ivy.

I tend to agree that they're not impressive. But this is my kid.
Also Have Kid at Ivy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ONLY EC that matters in the eyes of the AO is the one that the kid did it because of pure passion or interest.

And let me tell you all - barely any of the kids have a passion for anything. So all these EC's are a waste of time.

PS: My kid is doing something of true interest - not exceptional but something along the lines that she will major in - and I am 100% confident that will give her a leg up.

100% Agree. I was about to give an example of this in regards to my kid who is at UVA - but then I stopped - as I realized that other parents will just copy this and get their kids to do the same.

Why would care if people copied your idea since your kid is already in college? Way to gatekeep, PP.

[Anonymous]

🤣😂🤣😂

Not another pasta essay ….

[Anonymous]

bumping this up for those wanting to think about activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're no longer in the DMV area, and I keep hearing how rigor is important to the DMV kids. But anecdotally from kids I know here on the west coast, it's not always the highest rigor that gets admissions. Personally, I know kids who stopped at AP Calc AB and had a couple Bs at Stanford (even though kids at high school topped at AP Calc BC or higher), and a kid with a total of 4 APs at Harvard (from a highly ranked private school with tons of APs). Neither had a significant hook, except the Harvard kid was a creative and the Stanford kid had a unique story to tell. Both Asian and not underrepresented.

Don't underestimate both of these.

Well, Harvard did accept David Hogg who scored 1270 on the SAT. Another kid I know got accepted into Stanford because she is a YT/Tiktok influencer with over 5M followers. These two people deserve to get in front of the line at Harvard and Stanford.

Agree!

Agree. There is an example in the other thread about this kid with a 1380 SAT and accepted at a bunch of IVYs. His EC was a company he started and sold for a big profit and donated all the money to a charity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my coworkers' wife, who is an AO at an Ivy, said this to me at the company last year Christmas party:

How to get rejected by Ivies:
- I have 4.0 GPA with 12 AP classes
​AO response: There are 1500 Asian kids with the same achievement

- I am the violin first chair in the orchestra,
AO response: There are 1200 Asian kids with the same achievement

- I score 1570+ on the SAT
AO response: There are 1500 Asian kids with the same score as you

- I am an accomplished pianist
AO response: There are 800 Asian kids that can play piano just as good as you, if not better

- I found a nonprofit to help the homeless:
​AO response: There are 500 Asian kids that also do the same thing like you

How to get accepted by Ivies:

- I can play guitar like Slash of Guns 'n Roses. I can show you how I play "November Rain" or "sweet child o mine"
AO response: Now that's unique. We would love to have you at the university

- I have a TikTok influencer with over 2M followers
AO response: Amazing. You know how to monetize your influence. It means more exposure for the university. Welcome to the university.

You get the idea...

And this is why schools like Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Duke, and Northwestern prioritize “individual achievement, notoriety, success, or ranking” in non-academic areas.

These kids with some sort of fame, including an individual random “hobby” that will garner continued national recognition or achievement matter a lot more than a perfect scores and perfect grades.

I hope people come back after March 31 and let us know how it all goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you can make it look like passion, even if its only a deep interest. just takes a lot of planning and prep.

its not that hard.

But this is the issue...sure you can make anything look like a passion even if the kid could barely care but doesn't that start tipping the scales in admission where they look at these supposed passions and just roll their eyes. At some point if your EC's appear way to curated then admissions has to assume that you have embellished to a certain degree. How do they tell the difference between kid 1 who came up with some idea all on there own and did 95% of the work vs kid 2 who had mom and dad set out the blueprint and guide them every step of the way.