This is getting ridiculous

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of Class of 2022 HS grad here — kid is CS major and admitted to 2 of the top 3 universities. I know most people do not listen to free advice, but for the ones who do, here it is….Focus your perfect stats kids HS years and application on two things. (1) What has your kid done to help others in their community? (2) How will they use the elite school education to help others in their community. It’s not about the perfect stats or the awards, although those help. It’s NOT about how well the essays are written — it’s about the HS experience affecting your kid in some way that they ended up genuinely helping others (not racking up hours at a food pantry), and what are they going to do beyond getting a good job that will change the world for the better?? Without the desire and evidence of having a positive impact on their community, my kid would have been at a safety school (which is really not as bad as some make it out to be!) Oh and leadership “titles” do not count as much as actual leadership — can your kid lead others without a formal title? I’m not saying that being President of a club is bad, just that the kid needs to do something after they get the title….or do lead others without a title. Make sure to have documentation — news articles etc.

Or “When others zig, your kid should zag.” Do something different. For CS, do not do robotics or build apps that no one uses. I cannot say what my kid did without doxxing, but this is also important. Why should a college pick your perfect stats kid who was President of their Robotics Club over the 100’s of other similar kids? What sets them apart?

I hope that makes sense!

Can you give some examples ?

Sure…obviously these are not what my kid did but I hope they help.


(I will say that my personal advice is not to tutor at places that teach math or send too much time on a single club like robotics unless it’s one of the best in the country.)

Try to get a paid internship, but an unpaid one will do too. Often your city will need some help with their IT systems. If you build something for them, it will be used and will make you stand out from the crowd! If you can be paid for building it, even better. Startups often look for talented high schoolers, so scour the web looking for them, use LinkedIn or use parent’s network. Can you get a research position at a university? Again connections come into use here; not sure “cold calling” is the way to go. If you have an internship one summer, don’t do something different the next summer. Continuity is good when it comes to jobs and internships, as it shows your bosses liked you! That’s like a Letter of recommendation that you don’t submit!

Something I heard in an podcast was that elite colleges have tons of resources and they are looking for kids who will be motivated and have the skills to make the most of the resources. Your college application should show evidence that you have already done that in your high school years. Another tip: they say pay-to-play programs should not be reported on applications. I would say that they are sometimes OK. After my kid was rejected REA from one school, I watched a YouTube video by a kid who had been accepted there — he said one of his activities was pay-to-play. From then on, we decided to list a couple of pay-to-play activities on the application. My kid made sure to connect the dots in activity listings or essays to show how they used learnings from the paid activities to do something big in our community outside of the high school (so it was more than a check-the-box activity, KWIM?). And we made sure to get news articles about it. Local reporters are willing to highlight awesome things that kids are doing, so I would encourage reaching out.

For school year activities I would look at Math (either accelerating in coursework or other competitions like AIME) or CS competitions (USACO, etc)

Here is a heart blog — https://holdmeback.com/to-stand-out-start-by-looking-in/

The other thing colleges care about is what you have done for others? Have you stood up for a kid who might have been vulnerable? Have you done anything with DEI? The best thing will be to do it for at least 2 years — maybe have a book drive and connect it with something else in your story.

These things also help with Coke Scholars etc. Oh yeah, that reminds me — an excellent place to see what other kids have done and be inspired to come up with your own ideas is to read the bios of kids who win scholarships. Apply for all the scholarships you possibly can. Even if you do not get them, the practice writing essays pays off. And if you’re lucky, you will get one honor that will snowball!

An excellent book to read is How to be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport IIRC. I read it only recently — my kid had bought it in 9th grade, but I had never read it. Looking back at it, we did many of the things he says. Also listen to the Yale Admissions podcast. I forget what it’s called but it’s very good and we based a lot on that. College Coach is another one, but not all of their episodes are that helpful. There are other podcasts too.

Hope this helps! I could go on and on, but I have chores to do. Cheers!

This is pretty creative trolling.

City IT departments are not looking for “help” from high school kids unless a parent is a council member and can force them to accept the kid. Startups are not looking for high school kids. And I say this as the owner of a small software company that gave my kid an internship during COVID.

99% of what’s written on DCUM about IT and CS is written by people who have never worked in the field and have no idea what they are talking about.

I don't disagree that many people on here don't know what they're talking about, but you may be one of them in this case. I know for a fact that there are high school kids in the DC area doing technical work/research for the government that they're not allowed to discuss, so I've gotta believe that, with thousands of cities and towns across the country, there are some who are finding that there are local teens who have the computer skills they need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think 400 year old colleges know who they should admit.

+1 How do these whiners think Harvard got where it is?

400 years of white male privilege, and legacies by keeping it in the family. And on the backs of slaves.

You know people like Mitch McConnell was able to go to Harvard because of the indirect privilege he got from his slave owning ancestors who had the wealth and power to get their kids to Harvard. Then BAM... legacy is born.

Uh, Mitch McConnell went to University of KY and Univ. of Louisville for his education. Two average state schools by anyone’s standard and very down market for DCUM. Just saying’…. If you are going to throw out names, use a better/more accurate example for your white male privilege reference. The ugly race fighting on this board (in all directions) is sad.

I stand corrected.. it wasn't McConnell, per se, but white slave owning families in general who benefited.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/mcconnell-s-family-shows-legacy-slavery-persists-most-american-lives-n1028031

Slave owners, like today’s owners of the top 1 percent of wealth, were massively influential in local and national politics. They were pillars of their communities, serving as judges, lawyers and doctors, involved in the making of law, the development of the nation’s first police forces and many of its other institutions. Slave owners’ children ranked among those enrolled at Harvard University, Yale University and Columbia University. Their white workers, business associates and contacts — the other 75 percent of white Southerners as well as many white Americans in the North — largely aspired to join their ranks.

The descendants of those slave owning whites are legacies at HYP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of Class of 2022 HS grad here — kid is CS major and admitted to 2 of the top 3 universities. I know most people do not listen to free advice, but for the ones who do, here it is….Focus your perfect stats kids HS years and application on two things. (1) What has your kid done to help others in their community? (2) How will they use the elite school education to help others in their community. It’s not about the perfect stats or the awards, although those help. It’s NOT about how well the essays are written — it’s about the HS experience affecting your kid in some way that they ended up genuinely helping others (not racking up hours at a food pantry), and what are they going to do beyond getting a good job that will change the world for the better?? Without the desire and evidence of having a positive impact on their community, my kid would have been at a safety school (which is really not as bad as some make it out to be!) Oh and leadership “titles” do not count as much as actual leadership — can your kid lead others without a formal title? I’m not saying that being President of a club is bad, just that the kid needs to do something after they get the title….or do lead others without a title. Make sure to have documentation — news articles etc.

Or “When others zig, your kid should zag.” Do something different. For CS, do not do robotics or build apps that no one uses. I cannot say what my kid did without doxxing, but this is also important. Why should a college pick your perfect stats kid who was President of their Robotics Club over the 100’s of other similar kids? What sets them apart?

I hope that makes sense!

Can you give some examples ?

Sure…obviously these are not what my kid did but I hope they help.


(I will say that my personal advice is not to tutor at places that teach math or send too much time on a single club like robotics unless it’s one of the best in the country.)

Try to get a paid internship, but an unpaid one will do too. Often your city will need some help with their IT systems. If you build something for them, it will be used and will make you stand out from the crowd! If you can be paid for building it, even better. Startups often look for talented high schoolers, so scour the web looking for them, use LinkedIn or use parent’s network. Can you get a research position at a university? Again connections come into use here; not sure “cold calling” is the way to go. If you have an internship one summer, don’t do something different the next summer. Continuity is good when it comes to jobs and internships, as it shows your bosses liked you! That’s like a Letter of recommendation that you don’t submit!

Something I heard in an podcast was that elite colleges have tons of resources and they are looking for kids who will be motivated and have the skills to make the most of the resources. Your college application should show evidence that you have already done that in your high school years. Another tip: they say pay-to-play programs should not be reported on applications. I would say that they are sometimes OK. After my kid was rejected REA from one school, I watched a YouTube video by a kid who had been accepted there — he said one of his activities was pay-to-play. From then on, we decided to list a couple of pay-to-play activities on the application. My kid made sure to connect the dots in activity listings or essays to show how they used learnings from the paid activities to do something big in our community outside of the high school (so it was more than a check-the-box activity, KWIM?). And we made sure to get news articles about it. Local reporters are willing to highlight awesome things that kids are doing, so I would encourage reaching out.

For school year activities I would look at Math (either accelerating in coursework or other competitions like AIME) or CS competitions (USACO, etc)

Here is a heart blog — https://holdmeback.com/to-stand-out-start-by-looking-in/

The other thing colleges care about is what you have done for others? Have you stood up for a kid who might have been vulnerable? Have you done anything with DEI? The best thing will be to do it for at least 2 years — maybe have a book drive and connect it with something else in your story.

These things also help with Coke Scholars etc. Oh yeah, that reminds me — an excellent place to see what other kids have done and be inspired to come up with your own ideas is to read the bios of kids who win scholarships. Apply for all the scholarships you possibly can. Even if you do not get them, the practice writing essays pays off. And if you’re lucky, you will get one honor that will snowball!

An excellent book to read is How to be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport IIRC. I read it only recently — my kid had bought it in 9th grade, but I had never read it. Looking back at it, we did many of the things he says. Also listen to the Yale Admissions podcast. I forget what it’s called but it’s very good and we based a lot on that. College Coach is another one, but not all of their episodes are that helpful. There are other podcasts too.

Hope this helps! I could go on and on, but I have chores to do. Cheers!

This is pretty creative trolling.

City IT departments are not looking for “help” from high school kids unless a parent is a council member and can force them to accept the kid. Startups are not looking for high school kids. And I say this as the owner of a small software company that gave my kid an internship during COVID.

99% of what’s written on DCUM about IT and CS is written by people who have never worked in the field and have no idea what they are talking about.

I don't disagree that many people on here don't know what they're talking about, but you may be one of them in this case. I know for a fact that there are high school kids in the DC area doing technical work/research for the government that they're not allowed to discuss, so I've gotta believe that, with thousands of cities and towns across the country, there are some who are finding that there are local teens who have the computer skills they need.

It is actually easier for HS kids to get internships with the US Government vs. local governments. The US Government has established HS internship programs in a number of departments...I know the NSA has a very established HS co-op and internship program, and I bet there are other groups as well. Yes, those kids have to get security clearance as part of their jobs. There are also MITRE and NASA internships that may have some security clearance requirements.

That said, those are established programs...vs. I am not really aware of any established program with say the DC Govt, though they may hire some interns as part of the Summer Youth program. The random towns and cities may do something ad hoc, but probably not on any established basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of Class of 2022 HS grad here — kid is CS major and admitted to 2 of the top 3 universities. I know most people do not listen to free advice, but for the ones who do, here it is….Focus your perfect stats kids HS years and application on two things. (1) What has your kid done to help others in their community? (2) How will they use the elite school education to help others in their community. It’s not about the perfect stats or the awards, although those help. It’s NOT about how well the essays are written — it’s about the HS experience affecting your kid in some way that they ended up genuinely helping others (not racking up hours at a food pantry), and what are they going to do beyond getting a good job that will change the world for the better?? Without the desire and evidence of having a positive impact on their community, my kid would have been at a safety school (which is really not as bad as some make it out to be!) Oh and leadership “titles” do not count as much as actual leadership — can your kid lead others without a formal title? I’m not saying that being President of a club is bad, just that the kid needs to do something after they get the title….or do lead others without a title. Make sure to have documentation — news articles etc.

Or “When others zig, your kid should zag.” Do something different. For CS, do not do robotics or build apps that no one uses. I cannot say what my kid did without doxxing, but this is also important. Why should a college pick your perfect stats kid who was President of their Robotics Club over the 100’s of other similar kids? What sets them apart?

I hope that makes sense!

Can you give some examples ?

Sure…obviously these are not what my kid did but I hope they help.


(I will say that my personal advice is not to tutor at places that teach math or send too much time on a single club like robotics unless it’s one of the best in the country.)

Try to get a paid internship, but an unpaid one will do too. Often your city will need some help with their IT systems. If you build something for them, it will be used and will make you stand out from the crowd! If you can be paid for building it, even better. Startups often look for talented high schoolers, so scour the web looking for them, use LinkedIn or use parent’s network. Can you get a research position at a university? Again connections come into use here; not sure “cold calling” is the way to go. If you have an internship one summer, don’t do something different the next summer. Continuity is good when it comes to jobs and internships, as it shows your bosses liked you! That’s like a Letter of recommendation that you don’t submit!

Something I heard in an podcast was that elite colleges have tons of resources and they are looking for kids who will be motivated and have the skills to make the most of the resources. Your college application should show evidence that you have already done that in your high school years. Another tip: they say pay-to-play programs should not be reported on applications. I would say that they are sometimes OK. After my kid was rejected REA from one school, I watched a YouTube video by a kid who had been accepted there — he said one of his activities was pay-to-play. From then on, we decided to list a couple of pay-to-play activities on the application. My kid made sure to connect the dots in activity listings or essays to show how they used learnings from the paid activities to do something big in our community outside of the high school (so it was more than a check-the-box activity, KWIM?). And we made sure to get news articles about it. Local reporters are willing to highlight awesome things that kids are doing, so I would encourage reaching out.

For school year activities I would look at Math (either accelerating in coursework or other competitions like AIME) or CS competitions (USACO, etc)

Here is a heart blog — https://holdmeback.com/to-stand-out-start-by-looking-in/

The other thing colleges care about is what you have done for others? Have you stood up for a kid who might have been vulnerable? Have you done anything with DEI? The best thing will be to do it for at least 2 years — maybe have a book drive and connect it with something else in your story.

These things also help with Coke Scholars etc. Oh yeah, that reminds me — an excellent place to see what other kids have done and be inspired to come up with your own ideas is to read the bios of kids who win scholarships. Apply for all the scholarships you possibly can. Even if you do not get them, the practice writing essays pays off. And if you’re lucky, you will get one honor that will snowball!

An excellent book to read is How to be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport IIRC. I read it only recently — my kid had bought it in 9th grade, but I had never read it. Looking back at it, we did many of the things he says. Also listen to the Yale Admissions podcast. I forget what it’s called but it’s very good and we based a lot on that. College Coach is another one, but not all of their episodes are that helpful. There are other podcasts too.

Hope this helps! I could go on and on, but I have chores to do. Cheers!

Look...don't think there is one "formula" for success. I find it funny that PP is very down on the everyday robotics team...when my UMC white child accepted to Top 5 for class of 2023 is in fact the HS robotics team captain. The top robotics teams in the US have gobs of $$$s and literal rocket scientists and MARS Rover designing mentors helping those teams. It is, unfortunately, a very unfair playing field between the top World teams and everyone else. However, my kid increased robotics membership by a factor of 3, qualified the team for a regional final (first time in like 10 years for the school), etc. So, yes you want to show some accomplishment and your team should compete on the FIRST circuit or on the Underwater Robotics circuit.

Also, my kid did like zero...yes zero community service. I think he listed at most 2 hours per week helping mentor an elementary school robotics program. I was concerned this would be an acceptance killer for him...but I guess not.

Yes, he has had multiple paid internships since he was HS Freshman, including one going on two years now. It is possible people if your kid really knows their stuff...he is flown to client presentations and company off-sites and is really a contributing member to the company.

My own belief is that colleges want people they think will be successful in life...and they define success in many different ways. I imagine that Princeton is equally proud of the woman who founded Teach For America and Jeff Bezos...both enormously successful in the non-profit and for-profit world.

Interestingly enough, my kid is looking forward to a number of STEM community service clubs offered by the college and perhaps he will be the unicorn that actually does community service in college vs. HS. Hopefully your kid doesn't fall into the 95%+ kids who did all this amazing community service in HS and then zero once they got to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of Class of 2022 HS grad here — kid is CS major and admitted to 2 of the top 3 universities. I know most people do not listen to free advice, but for the ones who do, here it is….Focus your perfect stats kids HS years and application on two things. (1) What has your kid done to help others in their community? (2) How will they use the elite school education to help others in their community. It’s not about the perfect stats or the awards, although those help. It’s NOT about how well the essays are written — it’s about the HS experience affecting your kid in some way that they ended up genuinely helping others (not racking up hours at a food pantry), and what are they going to do beyond getting a good job that will change the world for the better?? Without the desire and evidence of having a positive impact on their community, my kid would have been at a safety school (which is really not as bad as some make it out to be!) Oh and leadership “titles” do not count as much as actual leadership — can your kid lead others without a formal title? I’m not saying that being President of a club is bad, just that the kid needs to do something after they get the title….or do lead others without a title. Make sure to have documentation — news articles etc.

Or “When others zig, your kid should zag.” Do something different. For CS, do not do robotics or build apps that no one uses. I cannot say what my kid did without doxxing, but this is also important. Why should a college pick your perfect stats kid who was President of their Robotics Club over the 100’s of other similar kids? What sets them apart?

I hope that makes sense!

Can you give some examples ?

Sure…obviously these are not what my kid did but I hope they help.


(I will say that my personal advice is not to tutor at places that teach math or send too much time on a single club like robotics unless it’s one of the best in the country.)

Try to get a paid internship, but an unpaid one will do too. Often your city will need some help with their IT systems. If you build something for them, it will be used and will make you stand out from the crowd! If you can be paid for building it, even better. Startups often look for talented high schoolers, so scour the web looking for them, use LinkedIn or use parent’s network. Can you get a research position at a university? Again connections come into use here; not sure “cold calling” is the way to go. If you have an internship one summer, don’t do something different the next summer. Continuity is good when it comes to jobs and internships, as it shows your bosses liked you! That’s like a Letter of recommendation that you don’t submit!

Something I heard in an podcast was that elite colleges have tons of resources and they are looking for kids who will be motivated and have the skills to make the most of the resources. Your college application should show evidence that you have already done that in your high school years. Another tip: they say pay-to-play programs should not be reported on applications. I would say that they are sometimes OK. After my kid was rejected REA from one school, I watched a YouTube video by a kid who had been accepted there — he said one of his activities was pay-to-play. From then on, we decided to list a couple of pay-to-play activities on the application. My kid made sure to connect the dots in activity listings or essays to show how they used learnings from the paid activities to do something big in our community outside of the high school (so it was more than a check-the-box activity, KWIM?). And we made sure to get news articles about it. Local reporters are willing to highlight awesome things that kids are doing, so I would encourage reaching out.

For school year activities I would look at Math (either accelerating in coursework or other competitions like AIME) or CS competitions (USACO, etc)

Here is a heart blog — https://holdmeback.com/to-stand-out-start-by-looking-in/

The other thing colleges care about is what you have done for others? Have you stood up for a kid who might have been vulnerable? Have you done anything with DEI? The best thing will be to do it for at least 2 years — maybe have a book drive and connect it with something else in your story.

These things also help with Coke Scholars etc. Oh yeah, that reminds me — an excellent place to see what other kids have done and be inspired to come up with your own ideas is to read the bios of kids who win scholarships. Apply for all the scholarships you possibly can. Even if you do not get them, the practice writing essays pays off. And if you’re lucky, you will get one honor that will snowball!

An excellent book to read is How to be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport IIRC. I read it only recently — my kid had bought it in 9th grade, but I had never read it. Looking back at it, we did many of the things he says. Also listen to the Yale Admissions podcast. I forget what it’s called but it’s very good and we based a lot on that. College Coach is another one, but not all of their episodes are that helpful. There are other podcasts too.

Hope this helps! I could go on and on, but I have chores to do. Cheers!

Look...don't think there is one "formula" for success. I find it funny that PP is very down on the everyday robotics team...when my UMC white child accepted to Top 5 for class of 2023 is in fact the HS robotics team captain. The top robotics teams in the US have gobs of $$$s and literal rocket scientists and MARS Rover designing mentors helping those teams. It is, unfortunately, a very unfair playing field between the top World teams and everyone else. However, my kid increased robotics membership by a factor of 3, qualified the team for a regional final (first time in like 10 years for the school), etc. So, yes you want to show some accomplishment and your team should compete on the FIRST circuit or on the Underwater Robotics circuit.

Also, my kid did like zero...yes zero community service. I think he listed at most 2 hours per week helping mentor an elementary school robotics program. I was concerned this would be an acceptance killer for him...but I guess not.

Yes, he has had multiple paid internships since he was HS Freshman, including one going on two years now. It is possible people if your kid really knows their stuff...he is flown to client presentations and company off-sites and is really a contributing member to the company.

My own belief is that colleges want people they think will be successful in life...and they define success in many different ways. I imagine that Princeton is equally proud of the woman who founded Teach For America and Jeff Bezos...both enormously successful in the non-profit and for-profit world.

Interestingly enough, my kid is looking forward to a number of STEM community service clubs offered by the college and perhaps he will be the unicorn that actually does community service in college vs. HS. Hopefully your kid doesn't fall into the 95%+ kids who did all this amazing community service in HS and then zero once they got to college.

So your kid had paid internships. That is exactly my advice is it not? The robotics accomplishments have little to do with your kid’s acceptance as they are honestly commonplace. (Sorry if I hurt your feelings.)

If your kid does FIRST and another kid on the team is nominated for Deans List but your kid is not…. And both apply to Georgia Tech as OOS, I would bet that they would take the Deans list person. Two kids on the same team, one nominated…. Who would they take? Your kid might have put in as much as the other kid…. But they get the honor. That is my problem with activities like it. Team activities that are not sports but someone gets an honor for work done behind the scenes. Positions like President etc do not cause this problem as most clubs have them, but this is the huge drawback to being on a robotics teams where a single person is given an award. I have seen it at my kid’s school with MIT, GT and Ivies.

I agree with the poster who said to work with existing non-profits. My kid did that — the outside school activity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of Class of 2022 HS grad here — kid is CS major and admitted to 2 of the top 3 universities. I know most people do not listen to free advice, but for the ones who do, here it is….Focus your perfect stats kids HS years and application on two things. (1) What has your kid done to help others in their community? (2) How will they use the elite school education to help others in their community. It’s not about the perfect stats or the awards, although those help. It’s NOT about how well the essays are written — it’s about the HS experience affecting your kid in some way that they ended up genuinely helping others (not racking up hours at a food pantry), and what are they going to do beyond getting a good job that will change the world for the better?? Without the desire and evidence of having a positive impact on their community, my kid would have been at a safety school (which is really not as bad as some make it out to be!) Oh and leadership “titles” do not count as much as actual leadership — can your kid lead others without a formal title? I’m not saying that being President of a club is bad, just that the kid needs to do something after they get the title….or do lead others without a title. Make sure to have documentation — news articles etc.

Or “When others zig, your kid should zag.” Do something different. For CS, do not do robotics or build apps that no one uses. I cannot say what my kid did without doxxing, but this is also important. Why should a college pick your perfect stats kid who was President of their Robotics Club over the 100’s of other similar kids? What sets them apart?

I hope that makes sense!

Can you give some examples ?

Sure…obviously these are not what my kid did but I hope they help.


(I will say that my personal advice is not to tutor at places that teach math or send too much time on a single club like robotics unless it’s one of the best in the country.)

Try to get a paid internship, but an unpaid one will do too. Often your city will need some help with their IT systems. If you build something for them, it will be used and will make you stand out from the crowd! If you can be paid for building it, even better. Startups often look for talented high schoolers, so scour the web looking for them, use LinkedIn or use parent’s network. Can you get a research position at a university? Again connections come into use here; not sure “cold calling” is the way to go. If you have an internship one summer, don’t do something different the next summer. Continuity is good when it comes to jobs and internships, as it shows your bosses liked you! That’s like a Letter of recommendation that you don’t submit!

Something I heard in an podcast was that elite colleges have tons of resources and they are looking for kids who will be motivated and have the skills to make the most of the resources. Your college application should show evidence that you have already done that in your high school years. Another tip: they say pay-to-play programs should not be reported on applications. I would say that they are sometimes OK. After my kid was rejected REA from one school, I watched a YouTube video by a kid who had been accepted there — he said one of his activities was pay-to-play. From then on, we decided to list a couple of pay-to-play activities on the application. My kid made sure to connect the dots in activity listings or essays to show how they used learnings from the paid activities to do something big in our community outside of the high school (so it was more than a check-the-box activity, KWIM?). And we made sure to get news articles about it. Local reporters are willing to highlight awesome things that kids are doing, so I would encourage reaching out.

For school year activities I would look at Math (either accelerating in coursework or other competitions like AIME) or CS competitions (USACO, etc)

Here is a heart blog — https://holdmeback.com/to-stand-out-start-by-looking-in/

The other thing colleges care about is what you have done for others? Have you stood up for a kid who might have been vulnerable? Have you done anything with DEI? The best thing will be to do it for at least 2 years — maybe have a book drive and connect it with something else in your story.

These things also help with Coke Scholars etc. Oh yeah, that reminds me — an excellent place to see what other kids have done and be inspired to come up with your own ideas is to read the bios of kids who win scholarships. Apply for all the scholarships you possibly can. Even if you do not get them, the practice writing essays pays off. And if you’re lucky, you will get one honor that will snowball!

An excellent book to read is How to be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport IIRC. I read it only recently — my kid had bought it in 9th grade, but I had never read it. Looking back at it, we did many of the things he says. Also listen to the Yale Admissions podcast. I forget what it’s called but it’s very good and we based a lot on that. College Coach is another one, but not all of their episodes are that helpful. There are other podcasts too.

Hope this helps! I could go on and on, but I have chores to do. Cheers!

Look...don't think there is one "formula" for success. I find it funny that PP is very down on the everyday robotics team...when my UMC white child accepted to Top 5 for class of 2023 is in fact the HS robotics team captain. The top robotics teams in the US have gobs of $$$s and literal rocket scientists and MARS Rover designing mentors helping those teams. It is, unfortunately, a very unfair playing field between the top World teams and everyone else. However, my kid increased robotics membership by a factor of 3, qualified the team for a regional final (first time in like 10 years for the school), etc. So, yes you want to show some accomplishment and your team should compete on the FIRST circuit or on the Underwater Robotics circuit.

Also, my kid did like zero...yes zero community service. I think he listed at most 2 hours per week helping mentor an elementary school robotics program. I was concerned this would be an acceptance killer for him...but I guess not.

Yes, he has had multiple paid internships since he was HS Freshman, including one going on two years now. It is possible people if your kid really knows their stuff...he is flown to client presentations and company off-sites and is really a contributing member to the company.

My own belief is that colleges want people they think will be successful in life...and they define success in many different ways. I imagine that Princeton is equally proud of the woman who founded Teach For America and Jeff Bezos...both enormously successful in the non-profit and for-profit world.

Interestingly enough, my kid is looking forward to a number of STEM community service clubs offered by the college and perhaps he will be the unicorn that actually does community service in college vs. HS. Hopefully your kid doesn't fall into the 95%+ kids who did all this amazing community service in HS and then zero once they got to college.

So your kid had paid internships. That is exactly my advice is it not? The robotics accomplishments have little to do with your kid’s acceptance as they are honestly commonplace. (Sorry if I hurt your feelings.)

If your kid does FIRST and another kid on the team is nominated for Deans List but your kid is not…. And both apply to Georgia Tech as OOS, I would bet that they would take the Deans list person. Two kids on the same team, one nominated…. Who would they take? Your kid might have put in as much as the other kid…. But they get the honor. That is my problem with activities like it. Team activities that are not sports but someone gets an honor for work done behind the scenes. Positions like President etc do not cause this problem as most clubs have them, but this is the huge drawback to being on a robotics teams where a single person is given an award. I have seen it at my kid’s school with MIT, GT and Ivies.

I agree with the poster who said to work with existing non-profits. My kid did that — the outside school activity.

Hmmm...did you miss that he was accepted to a top 5 school? BTW, yes he was nominated for Deans List.

[Anonymous]

For those saying no city IT internships and no paid internships at startups, they are out there. I know kids who had them and they were very successful with college admissions.

Not all startups will take on high schoolers, but some do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of Class of 2022 HS grad here — kid is CS major and admitted to 2 of the top 3 universities. I know most people do not listen to free advice, but for the ones who do, here it is….Focus your perfect stats kids HS years and application on two things. (1) What has your kid done to help others in their community? (2) How will they use the elite school education to help others in their community. It’s not about the perfect stats or the awards, although those help. It’s NOT about how well the essays are written — it’s about the HS experience affecting your kid in some way that they ended up genuinely helping others (not racking up hours at a food pantry), and what are they going to do beyond getting a good job that will change the world for the better?? Without the desire and evidence of having a positive impact on their community, my kid would have been at a safety school (which is really not as bad as some make it out to be!) Oh and leadership “titles” do not count as much as actual leadership — can your kid lead others without a formal title? I’m not saying that being President of a club is bad, just that the kid needs to do something after they get the title….or do lead others without a title. Make sure to have documentation — news articles etc.

Or “When others zig, your kid should zag.” Do something different. For CS, do not do robotics or build apps that no one uses. I cannot say what my kid did without doxxing, but this is also important. Why should a college pick your perfect stats kid who was President of their Robotics Club over the 100’s of other similar kids? What sets them apart?

I hope that makes sense!

Can you give some examples ?

Sure…obviously these are not what my kid did but I hope they help.


(I will say that my personal advice is not to tutor at places that teach math or send too much time on a single club like robotics unless it’s one of the best in the country.)

Try to get a paid internship, but an unpaid one will do too. Often your city will need some help with their IT systems. If you build something for them, it will be used and will make you stand out from the crowd! If you can be paid for building it, even better. Startups often look for talented high schoolers, so scour the web looking for them, use LinkedIn or use parent’s network. Can you get a research position at a university? Again connections come into use here; not sure “cold calling” is the way to go. If you have an internship one summer, don’t do something different the next summer. Continuity is good when it comes to jobs and internships, as it shows your bosses liked you! That’s like a Letter of recommendation that you don’t submit!

Something I heard in an podcast was that elite colleges have tons of resources and they are looking for kids who will be motivated and have the skills to make the most of the resources. Your college application should show evidence that you have already done that in your high school years. Another tip: they say pay-to-play programs should not be reported on applications. I would say that they are sometimes OK. After my kid was rejected REA from one school, I watched a YouTube video by a kid who had been accepted there — he said one of his activities was pay-to-play. From then on, we decided to list a couple of pay-to-play activities on the application. My kid made sure to connect the dots in activity listings or essays to show how they used learnings from the paid activities to do something big in our community outside of the high school (so it was more than a check-the-box activity, KWIM?). And we made sure to get news articles about it. Local reporters are willing to highlight awesome things that kids are doing, so I would encourage reaching out.

For school year activities I would look at Math (either accelerating in coursework or other competitions like AIME) or CS competitions (USACO, etc)

Here is a heart blog — https://holdmeback.com/to-stand-out-start-by-looking-in/

The other thing colleges care about is what you have done for others? Have you stood up for a kid who might have been vulnerable? Have you done anything with DEI? The best thing will be to do it for at least 2 years — maybe have a book drive and connect it with something else in your story.

These things also help with Coke Scholars etc. Oh yeah, that reminds me — an excellent place to see what other kids have done and be inspired to come up with your own ideas is to read the bios of kids who win scholarships. Apply for all the scholarships you possibly can. Even if you do not get them, the practice writing essays pays off. And if you’re lucky, you will get one honor that will snowball!

An excellent book to read is How to be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport IIRC. I read it only recently — my kid had bought it in 9th grade, but I had never read it. Looking back at it, we did many of the things he says. Also listen to the Yale Admissions podcast. I forget what it’s called but it’s very good and we based a lot on that. College Coach is another one, but not all of their episodes are that helpful. There are other podcasts too.

Hope this helps! I could go on and on, but I have chores to do. Cheers!

Look...don't think there is one "formula" for success. I find it funny that PP is very down on the everyday robotics team...when my UMC white child accepted to Top 5 for class of 2023 is in fact the HS robotics team captain. The top robotics teams in the US have gobs of $$$s and literal rocket scientists and MARS Rover designing mentors helping those teams. It is, unfortunately, a very unfair playing field between the top World teams and everyone else. However, my kid increased robotics membership by a factor of 3, qualified the team for a regional final (first time in like 10 years for the school), etc. So, yes you want to show some accomplishment and your team should compete on the FIRST circuit or on the Underwater Robotics circuit.

Also, my kid did like zero...yes zero community service. I think he listed at most 2 hours per week helping mentor an elementary school robotics program. I was concerned this would be an acceptance killer for him...but I guess not.

Yes, he has had multiple paid internships since he was HS Freshman, including one going on two years now. It is possible people if your kid really knows their stuff...he is flown to client presentations and company off-sites and is really a contributing member to the company.

My own belief is that colleges want people they think will be successful in life...and they define success in many different ways. I imagine that Princeton is equally proud of the woman who founded Teach For America and Jeff Bezos...both enormously successful in the non-profit and for-profit world.

Interestingly enough, my kid is looking forward to a number of STEM community service clubs offered by the college and perhaps he will be the unicorn that actually does community service in college vs. HS. Hopefully your kid doesn't fall into the 95%+ kids who did all this amazing community service in HS and then zero once they got to college.

So your kid had paid internships. That is exactly my advice is it not? The robotics accomplishments have little to do with your kid’s acceptance as they are honestly commonplace. (Sorry if I hurt your feelings.)

If your kid does FIRST and another kid on the team is nominated for Deans List but your kid is not…. And both apply to Georgia Tech as OOS, I would bet that they would take the Deans list person. Two kids on the same team, one nominated…. Who would they take? Your kid might have put in as much as the other kid…. But they get the honor. That is my problem with activities like it. Team activities that are not sports but someone gets an honor for work done behind the scenes. Positions like President etc do not cause this problem as most clubs have them, but this is the huge drawback to being on a robotics teams where a single person is given an award. I have seen it at my kid’s school with MIT, GT and Ivies.

I agree with the poster who said to work with existing non-profits. My kid did that — the outside school activity.

Hmmm...did you miss that he was accepted to a top 5 school? BTW, yes he was nominated for Deans List.

How did the rest of his team do with college admissions? Bet they did not do as well unless they had legacy etc. unless schools is a prep school.

Anyway my point was that your son had paid internships!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of Class of 2022 HS grad here — kid is CS major and admitted to 2 of the top 3 universities. I know most people do not listen to free advice, but for the ones who do, here it is….Focus your perfect stats kids HS years and application on two things. (1) What has your kid done to help others in their community? (2) How will they use the elite school education to help others in their community. It’s not about the perfect stats or the awards, although those help. It’s NOT about how well the essays are written — it’s about the HS experience affecting your kid in some way that they ended up genuinely helping others (not racking up hours at a food pantry), and what are they going to do beyond getting a good job that will change the world for the better?? Without the desire and evidence of having a positive impact on their community, my kid would have been at a safety school (which is really not as bad as some make it out to be!) Oh and leadership “titles” do not count as much as actual leadership — can your kid lead others without a formal title? I’m not saying that being President of a club is bad, just that the kid needs to do something after they get the title….or do lead others without a title. Make sure to have documentation — news articles etc.

Or “When others zig, your kid should zag.” Do something different. For CS, do not do robotics or build apps that no one uses. I cannot say what my kid did without doxxing, but this is also important. Why should a college pick your perfect stats kid who was President of their Robotics Club over the 100’s of other similar kids? What sets them apart?

I hope that makes sense!

Can you give some examples ?

Sure…obviously these are not what my kid did but I hope they help.


(I will say that my personal advice is not to tutor at places that teach math or send too much time on a single club like robotics unless it’s one of the best in the country.)

Try to get a paid internship, but an unpaid one will do too. Often your city will need some help with their IT systems. If you build something for them, it will be used and will make you stand out from the crowd! If you can be paid for building it, even better. Startups often look for talented high schoolers, so scour the web looking for them, use LinkedIn or use parent’s network. Can you get a research position at a university? Again connections come into use here; not sure “cold calling” is the way to go. If you have an internship one summer, don’t do something different the next summer. Continuity is good when it comes to jobs and internships, as it shows your bosses liked you! That’s like a Letter of recommendation that you don’t submit!

Something I heard in an podcast was that elite colleges have tons of resources and they are looking for kids who will be motivated and have the skills to make the most of the resources. Your college application should show evidence that you have already done that in your high school years. Another tip: they say pay-to-play programs should not be reported on applications. I would say that they are sometimes OK. After my kid was rejected REA from one school, I watched a YouTube video by a kid who had been accepted there — he said one of his activities was pay-to-play. From then on, we decided to list a couple of pay-to-play activities on the application. My kid made sure to connect the dots in activity listings or essays to show how they used learnings from the paid activities to do something big in our community outside of the high school (so it was more than a check-the-box activity, KWIM?). And we made sure to get news articles about it. Local reporters are willing to highlight awesome things that kids are doing, so I would encourage reaching out.

For school year activities I would look at Math (either accelerating in coursework or other competitions like AIME) or CS competitions (USACO, etc)

Here is a heart blog — https://holdmeback.com/to-stand-out-start-by-looking-in/

The other thing colleges care about is what you have done for others? Have you stood up for a kid who might have been vulnerable? Have you done anything with DEI? The best thing will be to do it for at least 2 years — maybe have a book drive and connect it with something else in your story.

These things also help with Coke Scholars etc. Oh yeah, that reminds me — an excellent place to see what other kids have done and be inspired to come up with your own ideas is to read the bios of kids who win scholarships. Apply for all the scholarships you possibly can. Even if you do not get them, the practice writing essays pays off. And if you’re lucky, you will get one honor that will snowball!

An excellent book to read is How to be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport IIRC. I read it only recently — my kid had bought it in 9th grade, but I had never read it. Looking back at it, we did many of the things he says. Also listen to the Yale Admissions podcast. I forget what it’s called but it’s very good and we based a lot on that. College Coach is another one, but not all of their episodes are that helpful. There are other podcasts too.

Hope this helps! I could go on and on, but I have chores to do. Cheers!

Look...don't think there is one "formula" for success. I find it funny that PP is very down on the everyday robotics team...when my UMC white child accepted to Top 5 for class of 2023 is in fact the HS robotics team captain. The top robotics teams in the US have gobs of $$$s and literal rocket scientists and MARS Rover designing mentors helping those teams. It is, unfortunately, a very unfair playing field between the top World teams and everyone else. However, my kid increased robotics membership by a factor of 3, qualified the team for a regional final (first time in like 10 years for the school), etc. So, yes you want to show some accomplishment and your team should compete on the FIRST circuit or on the Underwater Robotics circuit.

Also, my kid did like zero...yes zero community service. I think he listed at most 2 hours per week helping mentor an elementary school robotics program. I was concerned this would be an acceptance killer for him...but I guess not.

Yes, he has had multiple paid internships since he was HS Freshman, including one going on two years now. It is possible people if your kid really knows their stuff...he is flown to client presentations and company off-sites and is really a contributing member to the company.

My own belief is that colleges want people they think will be successful in life...and they define success in many different ways. I imagine that Princeton is equally proud of the woman who founded Teach For America and Jeff Bezos...both enormously successful in the non-profit and for-profit world.

Interestingly enough, my kid is looking forward to a number of STEM community service clubs offered by the college and perhaps he will be the unicorn that actually does community service in college vs. HS. Hopefully your kid doesn't fall into the 95%+ kids who did all this amazing community service in HS and then zero once they got to college.

So your kid had paid internships. That is exactly my advice is it not? The robotics accomplishments have little to do with your kid’s acceptance as they are honestly commonplace. (Sorry if I hurt your feelings.)

If your kid does FIRST and another kid on the team is nominated for Deans List but your kid is not…. And both apply to Georgia Tech as OOS, I would bet that they would take the Deans list person. Two kids on the same team, one nominated…. Who would they take? Your kid might have put in as much as the other kid…. But they get the honor. That is my problem with activities like it. Team activities that are not sports but someone gets an honor for work done behind the scenes. Positions like President etc do not cause this problem as most clubs have them, but this is the huge drawback to being on a robotics teams where a single person is given an award. I have seen it at my kid’s school with MIT, GT and Ivies.

I agree with the poster who said to work with existing non-profits. My kid did that — the outside school activity.

Hmmm...did you miss that he was accepted to a top 5 school? BTW, yes he was nominated for Deans List.

You do realize you proved my point!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of Class of 2022 HS grad here — kid is CS major and admitted to 2 of the top 3 universities. I know most people do not listen to free advice, but for the ones who do, here it is….Focus your perfect stats kids HS years and application on two things. (1) What has your kid done to help others in their community? (2) How will they use the elite school education to help others in their community. It’s not about the perfect stats or the awards, although those help. It’s NOT about how well the essays are written — it’s about the HS experience affecting your kid in some way that they ended up genuinely helping others (not racking up hours at a food pantry), and what are they going to do beyond getting a good job that will change the world for the better?? Without the desire and evidence of having a positive impact on their community, my kid would have been at a safety school (which is really not as bad as some make it out to be!) Oh and leadership “titles” do not count as much as actual leadership — can your kid lead others without a formal title? I’m not saying that being President of a club is bad, just that the kid needs to do something after they get the title….or do lead others without a title. Make sure to have documentation — news articles etc.

Or “When others zig, your kid should zag.” Do something different. For CS, do not do robotics or build apps that no one uses. I cannot say what my kid did without doxxing, but this is also important. Why should a college pick your perfect stats kid who was President of their Robotics Club over the 100’s of other similar kids? What sets them apart?

I hope that makes sense!

Can you give some examples ?

Sure…obviously these are not what my kid did but I hope they help.


(I will say that my personal advice is not to tutor at places that teach math or send too much time on a single club like robotics unless it’s one of the best in the country.)

Try to get a paid internship, but an unpaid one will do too. Often your city will need some help with their IT systems. If you build something for them, it will be used and will make you stand out from the crowd! If you can be paid for building it, even better. Startups often look for talented high schoolers, so scour the web looking for them, use LinkedIn or use parent’s network. Can you get a research position at a university? Again connections come into use here; not sure “cold calling” is the way to go. If you have an internship one summer, don’t do something different the next summer. Continuity is good when it comes to jobs and internships, as it shows your bosses liked you! That’s like a Letter of recommendation that you don’t submit!

Something I heard in an podcast was that elite colleges have tons of resources and they are looking for kids who will be motivated and have the skills to make the most of the resources. Your college application should show evidence that you have already done that in your high school years. Another tip: they say pay-to-play programs should not be reported on applications. I would say that they are sometimes OK. After my kid was rejected REA from one school, I watched a YouTube video by a kid who had been accepted there — he said one of his activities was pay-to-play. From then on, we decided to list a couple of pay-to-play activities on the application. My kid made sure to connect the dots in activity listings or essays to show how they used learnings from the paid activities to do something big in our community outside of the high school (so it was more than a check-the-box activity, KWIM?). And we made sure to get news articles about it. Local reporters are willing to highlight awesome things that kids are doing, so I would encourage reaching out.

For school year activities I would look at Math (either accelerating in coursework or other competitions like AIME) or CS competitions (USACO, etc)

Here is a heart blog — https://holdmeback.com/to-stand-out-start-by-looking-in/

The other thing colleges care about is what you have done for others? Have you stood up for a kid who might have been vulnerable? Have you done anything with DEI? The best thing will be to do it for at least 2 years — maybe have a book drive and connect it with something else in your story.

These things also help with Coke Scholars etc. Oh yeah, that reminds me — an excellent place to see what other kids have done and be inspired to come up with your own ideas is to read the bios of kids who win scholarships. Apply for all the scholarships you possibly can. Even if you do not get them, the practice writing essays pays off. And if you’re lucky, you will get one honor that will snowball!

An excellent book to read is How to be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport IIRC. I read it only recently — my kid had bought it in 9th grade, but I had never read it. Looking back at it, we did many of the things he says. Also listen to the Yale Admissions podcast. I forget what it’s called but it’s very good and we based a lot on that. College Coach is another one, but not all of their episodes are that helpful. There are other podcasts too.

Hope this helps! I could go on and on, but I have chores to do. Cheers!

Look...don't think there is one "formula" for success. I find it funny that PP is very down on the everyday robotics team...when my UMC white child accepted to Top 5 for class of 2023 is in fact the HS robotics team captain. The top robotics teams in the US have gobs of $$$s and literal rocket scientists and MARS Rover designing mentors helping those teams. It is, unfortunately, a very unfair playing field between the top World teams and everyone else. However, my kid increased robotics membership by a factor of 3, qualified the team for a regional final (first time in like 10 years for the school), etc. So, yes you want to show some accomplishment and your team should compete on the FIRST circuit or on the Underwater Robotics circuit.

Also, my kid did like zero...yes zero community service. I think he listed at most 2 hours per week helping mentor an elementary school robotics program. I was concerned this would be an acceptance killer for him...but I guess not.

Yes, he has had multiple paid internships since he was HS Freshman, including one going on two years now. It is possible people if your kid really knows their stuff...he is flown to client presentations and company off-sites and is really a contributing member to the company.

My own belief is that colleges want people they think will be successful in life...and they define success in many different ways. I imagine that Princeton is equally proud of the woman who founded Teach For America and Jeff Bezos...both enormously successful in the non-profit and for-profit world.

Interestingly enough, my kid is looking forward to a number of STEM community service clubs offered by the college and perhaps he will be the unicorn that actually does community service in college vs. HS. Hopefully your kid doesn't fall into the 95%+ kids who did all this amazing community service in HS and then zero once they got to college.

So your kid had paid internships. That is exactly my advice is it not? The robotics accomplishments have little to do with your kid’s acceptance as they are honestly commonplace. (Sorry if I hurt your feelings.)

If your kid does FIRST and another kid on the team is nominated for Deans List but your kid is not…. And both apply to Georgia Tech as OOS, I would bet that they would take the Deans list person. Two kids on the same team, one nominated…. Who would they take? Your kid might have put in as much as the other kid…. But they get the honor. That is my problem with activities like it. Team activities that are not sports but someone gets an honor for work done behind the scenes. Positions like President etc do not cause this problem as most clubs have them, but this is the huge drawback to being on a robotics teams where a single person is given an award. I have seen it at my kid’s school with MIT, GT and Ivies.

I agree with the poster who said to work with existing non-profits. My kid did that — the outside school activity.

Hmmm...did you miss that he was accepted to a top 5 school? BTW, yes he was nominated for Deans List.

How did the rest of his team do with college admissions? Bet they did not do as well unless they had legacy etc. unless schools is a prep school.

Anyway my point was that your son had paid internships!

But basically zero community service...you insist on some formula, when there is none. Other kids have acceptances to Georgia Tech and Michigan and waiting on decisions this week and next. Not sure what you define as "as well".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of Class of 2022 HS grad here — kid is CS major and admitted to 2 of the top 3 universities. I know most people do not listen to free advice, but for the ones who do, here it is….Focus your perfect stats kids HS years and application on two things. (1) What has your kid done to help others in their community? (2) How will they use the elite school education to help others in their community. It’s not about the perfect stats or the awards, although those help. It’s NOT about how well the essays are written — it’s about the HS experience affecting your kid in some way that they ended up genuinely helping others (not racking up hours at a food pantry), and what are they going to do beyond getting a good job that will change the world for the better?? Without the desire and evidence of having a positive impact on their community, my kid would have been at a safety school (which is really not as bad as some make it out to be!) Oh and leadership “titles” do not count as much as actual leadership — can your kid lead others without a formal title? I’m not saying that being President of a club is bad, just that the kid needs to do something after they get the title….or do lead others without a title. Make sure to have documentation — news articles etc.

Or “When others zig, your kid should zag.” Do something different. For CS, do not do robotics or build apps that no one uses. I cannot say what my kid did without doxxing, but this is also important. Why should a college pick your perfect stats kid who was President of their Robotics Club over the 100’s of other similar kids? What sets them apart?

I hope that makes sense!

Can you give some examples ?

Sure…obviously these are not what my kid did but I hope they help.


(I will say that my personal advice is not to tutor at places that teach math or send too much time on a single club like robotics unless it’s one of the best in the country.)

Try to get a paid internship, but an unpaid one will do too. Often your city will need some help with their IT systems. If you build something for them, it will be used and will make you stand out from the crowd! If you can be paid for building it, even better. Startups often look for talented high schoolers, so scour the web looking for them, use LinkedIn or use parent’s network. Can you get a research position at a university? Again connections come into use here; not sure “cold calling” is the way to go. If you have an internship one summer, don’t do something different the next summer. Continuity is good when it comes to jobs and internships, as it shows your bosses liked you! That’s like a Letter of recommendation that you don’t submit!

Something I heard in an podcast was that elite colleges have tons of resources and they are looking for kids who will be motivated and have the skills to make the most of the resources. Your college application should show evidence that you have already done that in your high school years. Another tip: they say pay-to-play programs should not be reported on applications. I would say that they are sometimes OK. After my kid was rejected REA from one school, I watched a YouTube video by a kid who had been accepted there — he said one of his activities was pay-to-play. From then on, we decided to list a couple of pay-to-play activities on the application. My kid made sure to connect the dots in activity listings or essays to show how they used learnings from the paid activities to do something big in our community outside of the high school (so it was more than a check-the-box activity, KWIM?). And we made sure to get news articles about it. Local reporters are willing to highlight awesome things that kids are doing, so I would encourage reaching out.

For school year activities I would look at Math (either accelerating in coursework or other competitions like AIME) or CS competitions (USACO, etc)

Here is a heart blog — https://holdmeback.com/to-stand-out-start-by-looking-in/

The other thing colleges care about is what you have done for others? Have you stood up for a kid who might have been vulnerable? Have you done anything with DEI? The best thing will be to do it for at least 2 years — maybe have a book drive and connect it with something else in your story.

These things also help with Coke Scholars etc. Oh yeah, that reminds me — an excellent place to see what other kids have done and be inspired to come up with your own ideas is to read the bios of kids who win scholarships. Apply for all the scholarships you possibly can. Even if you do not get them, the practice writing essays pays off. And if you’re lucky, you will get one honor that will snowball!

An excellent book to read is How to be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport IIRC. I read it only recently — my kid had bought it in 9th grade, but I had never read it. Looking back at it, we did many of the things he says. Also listen to the Yale Admissions podcast. I forget what it’s called but it’s very good and we based a lot on that. College Coach is another one, but not all of their episodes are that helpful. There are other podcasts too.

Hope this helps! I could go on and on, but I have chores to do. Cheers!

This is pretty creative trolling.

City IT departments are not looking for “help” from high school kids unless a parent is a council member and can force them to accept the kid. Startups are not looking for high school kids. And I say this as the owner of a small software company that gave my kid an internship during COVID.

99% of what’s written on DCUM about IT and CS is written by people who have never worked in the field and have no idea what they are talking about.

+1,000. That PP is completely clueless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those saying no city IT internships and no paid internships at startups, they are out there. I know kids who had them and they were very successful with college admissions.

Not all startups will take on high schoolers, but some do.

I agree on startups and even the US government...I don't understand the City internships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of Class of 2022 HS grad here — kid is CS major and admitted to 2 of the top 3 universities. I know most people do not listen to free advice, but for the ones who do, here it is….Focus your perfect stats kids HS years and application on two things. (1) What has your kid done to help others in their community? (2) How will they use the elite school education to help others in their community. It’s not about the perfect stats or the awards, although those help. It’s NOT about how well the essays are written — it’s about the HS experience affecting your kid in some way that they ended up genuinely helping others (not racking up hours at a food pantry), and what are they going to do beyond getting a good job that will change the world for the better?? Without the desire and evidence of having a positive impact on their community, my kid would have been at a safety school (which is really not as bad as some make it out to be!) Oh and leadership “titles” do not count as much as actual leadership — can your kid lead others without a formal title? I’m not saying that being President of a club is bad, just that the kid needs to do something after they get the title….or do lead others without a title. Make sure to have documentation — news articles etc.

Or “When others zig, your kid should zag.” Do something different. For CS, do not do robotics or build apps that no one uses. I cannot say what my kid did without doxxing, but this is also important. Why should a college pick your perfect stats kid who was President of their Robotics Club over the 100’s of other similar kids? What sets them apart?

I hope that makes sense!

Can you give some examples ?

Sure…obviously these are not what my kid did but I hope they help.


(I will say that my personal advice is not to tutor at places that teach math or send too much time on a single club like robotics unless it’s one of the best in the country.)

Try to get a paid internship, but an unpaid one will do too. Often your city will need some help with their IT systems. If you build something for them, it will be used and will make you stand out from the crowd! If you can be paid for building it, even better. Startups often look for talented high schoolers, so scour the web looking for them, use LinkedIn or use parent’s network. Can you get a research position at a university? Again connections come into use here; not sure “cold calling” is the way to go. If you have an internship one summer, don’t do something different the next summer. Continuity is good when it comes to jobs and internships, as it shows your bosses liked you! That’s like a Letter of recommendation that you don’t submit!

Something I heard in an podcast was that elite colleges have tons of resources and they are looking for kids who will be motivated and have the skills to make the most of the resources. Your college application should show evidence that you have already done that in your high school years. Another tip: they say pay-to-play programs should not be reported on applications. I would say that they are sometimes OK. After my kid was rejected REA from one school, I watched a YouTube video by a kid who had been accepted there — he said one of his activities was pay-to-play. From then on, we decided to list a couple of pay-to-play activities on the application. My kid made sure to connect the dots in activity listings or essays to show how they used learnings from the paid activities to do something big in our community outside of the high school (so it was more than a check-the-box activity, KWIM?). And we made sure to get news articles about it. Local reporters are willing to highlight awesome things that kids are doing, so I would encourage reaching out.

For school year activities I would look at Math (either accelerating in coursework or other competitions like AIME) or CS competitions (USACO, etc)

Here is a heart blog — https://holdmeback.com/to-stand-out-start-by-looking-in/

The other thing colleges care about is what you have done for others? Have you stood up for a kid who might have been vulnerable? Have you done anything with DEI? The best thing will be to do it for at least 2 years — maybe have a book drive and connect it with something else in your story.

These things also help with Coke Scholars etc. Oh yeah, that reminds me — an excellent place to see what other kids have done and be inspired to come up with your own ideas is to read the bios of kids who win scholarships. Apply for all the scholarships you possibly can. Even if you do not get them, the practice writing essays pays off. And if you’re lucky, you will get one honor that will snowball!

An excellent book to read is How to be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport IIRC. I read it only recently — my kid had bought it in 9th grade, but I had never read it. Looking back at it, we did many of the things he says. Also listen to the Yale Admissions podcast. I forget what it’s called but it’s very good and we based a lot on that. College Coach is another one, but not all of their episodes are that helpful. There are other podcasts too.

Hope this helps! I could go on and on, but I have chores to do. Cheers!

Look...don't think there is one "formula" for success. I find it funny that PP is very down on the everyday robotics team...when my UMC white child accepted to Top 5 for class of 2023 is in fact the HS robotics team captain. The top robotics teams in the US have gobs of $$$s and literal rocket scientists and MARS Rover designing mentors helping those teams. It is, unfortunately, a very unfair playing field between the top World teams and everyone else. However, my kid increased robotics membership by a factor of 3, qualified the team for a regional final (first time in like 10 years for the school), etc. So, yes you want to show some accomplishment and your team should compete on the FIRST circuit or on the Underwater Robotics circuit.

Also, my kid did like zero...yes zero community service. I think he listed at most 2 hours per week helping mentor an elementary school robotics program. I was concerned this would be an acceptance killer for him...but I guess not.

Yes, he has had multiple paid internships since he was HS Freshman, including one going on two years now. It is possible people if your kid really knows their stuff...he is flown to client presentations and company off-sites and is really a contributing member to the company.

My own belief is that colleges want people they think will be successful in life...and they define success in many different ways. I imagine that Princeton is equally proud of the woman who founded Teach For America and Jeff Bezos...both enormously successful in the non-profit and for-profit world.

Interestingly enough, my kid is looking forward to a number of STEM community service clubs offered by the college and perhaps he will be the unicorn that actually does community service in college vs. HS. Hopefully your kid doesn't fall into the 95%+ kids who did all this amazing community service in HS and then zero once they got to college.

So your kid had paid internships. That is exactly my advice is it not? The robotics accomplishments have little to do with your kid’s acceptance as they are honestly commonplace. (Sorry if I hurt your feelings.)

If your kid does FIRST and another kid on the team is nominated for Deans List but your kid is not…. And both apply to Georgia Tech as OOS, I would bet that they would take the Deans list person. Two kids on the same team, one nominated…. Who would they take? Your kid might have put in as much as the other kid…. But they get the honor. That is my problem with activities like it. Team activities that are not sports but someone gets an honor for work done behind the scenes. Positions like President etc do not cause this problem as most clubs have them, but this is the huge drawback to being on a robotics teams where a single person is given an award. I have seen it at my kid’s school with MIT, GT and Ivies.

I agree with the poster who said to work with existing non-profits. My kid did that — the outside school activity.

Hmmm...did you miss that he was accepted to a top 5 school? BTW, yes he was nominated for Deans List.

How did the rest of his team do with college admissions? Bet they did not do as well unless they had legacy etc. unless schools is a prep school.

Anyway my point was that your son had paid internships!

But basically zero community service...you insist on some formula, when there is none. Other kids have acceptances to Georgia Tech and Michigan and waiting on decisions this week and next. Not sure what you define as "as well".

You are the only one calling it a FORMULA. The person asked for examples and I gave some.

Also I know that most kids nominated for Deans List do some kind of community outreach which is considered community service — trying to get kids involved with STEM, maybe teaching FLL teams etc. So your son had community service, just not labeled as such!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of Class of 2022 HS grad here — kid is CS major and admitted to 2 of the top 3 universities. I know most people do not listen to free advice, but for the ones who do, here it is….Focus your perfect stats kids HS years and application on two things. (1) What has your kid done to help others in their community? (2) How will they use the elite school education to help others in their community. It’s not about the perfect stats or the awards, although those help. It’s NOT about how well the essays are written — it’s about the HS experience affecting your kid in some way that they ended up genuinely helping others (not racking up hours at a food pantry), and what are they going to do beyond getting a good job that will change the world for the better?? Without the desire and evidence of having a positive impact on their community, my kid would have been at a safety school (which is really not as bad as some make it out to be!) Oh and leadership “titles” do not count as much as actual leadership — can your kid lead others without a formal title? I’m not saying that being President of a club is bad, just that the kid needs to do something after they get the title….or do lead others without a title. Make sure to have documentation — news articles etc.

Or “When others zig, your kid should zag.” Do something different. For CS, do not do robotics or build apps that no one uses. I cannot say what my kid did without doxxing, but this is also important. Why should a college pick your perfect stats kid who was President of their Robotics Club over the 100’s of other similar kids? What sets them apart?

I hope that makes sense!

Can you give some examples ?

Sure…obviously these are not what my kid did but I hope they help.


(I will say that my personal advice is not to tutor at places that teach math or send too much time on a single club like robotics unless it’s one of the best in the country.)

Try to get a paid internship, but an unpaid one will do too. Often your city will need some help with their IT systems. If you build something for them, it will be used and will make you stand out from the crowd! If you can be paid for building it, even better. Startups often look for talented high schoolers, so scour the web looking for them, use LinkedIn or use parent’s network. Can you get a research position at a university? Again connections come into use here; not sure “cold calling” is the way to go. If you have an internship one summer, don’t do something different the next summer. Continuity is good when it comes to jobs and internships, as it shows your bosses liked you! That’s like a Letter of recommendation that you don’t submit!

Something I heard in an podcast was that elite colleges have tons of resources and they are looking for kids who will be motivated and have the skills to make the most of the resources. Your college application should show evidence that you have already done that in your high school years. Another tip: they say pay-to-play programs should not be reported on applications. I would say that they are sometimes OK. After my kid was rejected REA from one school, I watched a YouTube video by a kid who had been accepted there — he said one of his activities was pay-to-play. From then on, we decided to list a couple of pay-to-play activities on the application. My kid made sure to connect the dots in activity listings or essays to show how they used learnings from the paid activities to do something big in our community outside of the high school (so it was more than a check-the-box activity, KWIM?). And we made sure to get news articles about it. Local reporters are willing to highlight awesome things that kids are doing, so I would encourage reaching out.

For school year activities I would look at Math (either accelerating in coursework or other competitions like AIME) or CS competitions (USACO, etc)

Here is a heart blog — https://holdmeback.com/to-stand-out-start-by-looking-in/

The other thing colleges care about is what you have done for others? Have you stood up for a kid who might have been vulnerable? Have you done anything with DEI? The best thing will be to do it for at least 2 years — maybe have a book drive and connect it with something else in your story.

These things also help with Coke Scholars etc. Oh yeah, that reminds me — an excellent place to see what other kids have done and be inspired to come up with your own ideas is to read the bios of kids who win scholarships. Apply for all the scholarships you possibly can. Even if you do not get them, the practice writing essays pays off. And if you’re lucky, you will get one honor that will snowball!

An excellent book to read is How to be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport IIRC. I read it only recently — my kid had bought it in 9th grade, but I had never read it. Looking back at it, we did many of the things he says. Also listen to the Yale Admissions podcast. I forget what it’s called but it’s very good and we based a lot on that. College Coach is another one, but not all of their episodes are that helpful. There are other podcasts too.

Hope this helps! I could go on and on, but I have chores to do. Cheers!

This is pretty creative trolling.

City IT departments are not looking for “help” from high school kids unless a parent is a council member and can force them to accept the kid. Startups are not looking for high school kids. And I say this as the owner of a small software company that gave my kid an internship during COVID.

99% of what’s written on DCUM about IT and CS is written by people who have never worked in the field and have no idea what they are talking about.

I don't disagree that many people on here don't know what they're talking about, but you may be one of them in this case. I know for a fact that there are high school kids in the DC area doing technical work/research for the government that they're not allowed to discuss, so I've gotta believe that, with thousands of cities and towns across the country, there are some who are finding that there are local teens who have the computer skills they need.

Federal high school internship or DC SYEP don’t seem to be what PP was talking about because they are widely known and established. PP was suggesting an innovative path of “helping” a city IT department. Internships are a PITA for the organization running them, particularly in IT, not least because you have to ensure that someone you can’t trust to adhere to best practices covered in CSAT training and user ROB can’t do harm to your environment. They generally provide highly negative value during the actual internship. The only benefit they provide is that years in the future, the interns may actually be in a position to learn something useful (not “know something useful” because new CS grads still know nothing, but at least they are teachable).

Again, 99% of people who post about IT on DCUM have no idea what they are talking about. Believe me PP, the teens interning at the NSA aren’t teaching NSA new stuff or being particularly helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those saying no city IT internships and no paid internships at startups, they are out there. I know kids who had them and they were very successful with college admissions.

Not all startups will take on high schoolers, but some do.

I agree on startups and even the US government...I don't understand the City internships.

So my kid had a city internship. It is offered to many kids at our school. Maybe it is not offered at all places and my kid got lucky!