EC activities and awards
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Anonymous
I think you meant honest. It's not about naiveté, it's about integrity. I hope your kid has some even if you don't. |
Anonymous
Same here. The amount of justification on this board for cheating is just nuts. Kids, if you want to claim the activities, put in the sweat equity. It's not that hard. |
Anonymous
My kids' school is the same. Awards are given at graduation. But she listed where she placed in science fairs and both kids had the "AP Scholar" designation, which seems like a low bar (I think it's 3 AP w/ a score of 3+). |
Anonymous
+1 If you encourage/support an application that is not really who they are/what they did just so they have a better shot at HYP, you are teaching them that prestige>integrity. What a crappy message to send. |
Anonymous
Lady. Chill! ECs and essays are the equivalent of a firewalled institution (that you subsidize) asking you if you rub your belly and bark like a dog twice a day. You are saying that you should train your kids to do that and answer honestly that they did or didn't or did just once a day. I'm saying reject this nonsense and claim that you did it two or three times a day while doing whatever it is you want to do (or nothing at all). If everyone does this, that requirement is bound to die. That's all. Oh, if you really wanted to help you'd have said "My kids have done some unique things and have done some things that were costly, but we got financial aid to help do it and here's what they did". Try that next time. |
Anonymous
HYPs aren't exactly churning out saints now, are they? Have they ever? |
Anonymous
That's a load if crap your peddling. It just speaks to you as entitled, lazy and unethical. Cheating is not liberating the people, it's ripping them off. Stop gaslighting people to make out that somehow what you are advocating is ok. It hurts the kids who have actually devoted time and energy to their activities, so that your slacker can capitalize. Not cool. No one is forced to "jump through hoops." You choose to apply, so just don't apply to schools that care about level of ECs. But, don't lie and say you did something when you didn't or inflate the extent of involvement. As far as getting financial aid for ECs, everyone has different interests, so what my kids did may not be relevant. For those interested, one kid got financial aid for music lessons and scholarships for music and theatre camps/festivals. My other got financial aid for an educational research trip. Some activities have financial aid info on the website, some we just asked if it was available and what was the process for applying. |
Anonymous
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I used to do alum interviews. I get a list of the candidates' ECs and I usually ask about them. In a few cases, it became obvious that they were stretching or outright lying.
One kid claimed he had a successful web design business, which was making tens of thousands a year. I googled. I found ONE website with a big logo saying "website design by X." I googled the business---owned by Y. googled Y--he was the candidate's uncle. So, in my report, I said I had my doubts about this business and if it were a big factor in the decision, the college might follow up and ask for tax returns or some other proof it generated the funds he was claiming. He was rejected, but I saw he got into another top school. I've no idea if my doubts played a role or not. One high school makes every senior a captain of a sports team. So, if there are 5 senior swimmers , all 5 are "captain" of the swim team. I asked one kid about any leadership role and he gushed on an on about how he had really turned the swim team around. I asked if his co-captains had played any role, and he turned white as a sheet. I gave extra credit to the kids who were honest, e.g., co-captain of the swim team; or one of 10 students representing the high school in the local Ocean bowl--yeah, it's a thing. One girl had one EC, which sounded rather minor, but when I asked about it she lit up like a Christmas tree and starting talking about it. It became clear she was spending WAY more time on this than you'd suspect and she'd brought along a couple of the "before" and "after"--it involved a school publication--and she showed me all the design changes she made and all the hoops she'd had to get through to get them made, which included fundraising to get the money for new software, etc. I wrote it up and recommended she be admitted. Again, it's not my recommendation that matters; it's the detailed info I gave that I think showed that this EC was important to her and she'd planned what she saw as needed changes over the course of a couple of years. She was admitted. Again, I don't know if what I wrote mattered or not. I like to think it does. So, while I don't think anyone actually checks each and every application's claimed ECs, I think there are steps along the way when someone might note something and check it out. |
Anonymous
This is about where we are and much of it verifiable on the internet even though ours have intentionally kept their actual "names" to a very limited footprint. Others are self-explanatory (or similar enough across schools and even generations) -- examples: yearbook, newspaper/blog editor, drum major or lead role in a drama/theatre production. We've told ours, while there's nothing wrong with using current buzzwords, be accurate and ready to substantiate (to whomever) whether they ever have to or not. |
Anonymous
This is the critical point. You think ECs are crap? Great! Apply to schools that agree with you and don’t emphasize them. No different from test scores—my kid doesn’t want to submit test scores, which means MIT, Georgetown, and a bunch of state schools are off the table. The answer is to accept that and move on, not to lie. |
Anonymous
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My kid said there was lots of embellishing among classmates last year.
Someone even invented a fake family tragedy for an essay. My kid worked hard, was honest, and did not pay off at selective schools but is happy with attending state flagship. Enjoy, its a "great" process ! |
Anonymous
I will gladly do that once the universities start paying taxes and I'm not subsidizing them! Until then, it's all fair game. |
Anonymous
This doesn’t even make sense! First of all, the people you’re cheating aren’t the universities getting the tax breaks—it’s the kids who want to go there and have to compete with your lying kid. Second, I don’t think religious organizations should get tax breaks. By your logic, I can stroll into a church on Sunday and steal from the collection plate. GTFOH with this lazy stuff. I’d respect you more if you just said, “yeah, I think it’s OK to cheat to get what you want.” |
Anonymous
Same. This is the reason they ask for time spent per activity. |
Anonymous
You clearly don't even understand what you think you are saying. |