If every kid is doing the same damn EC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are people actually listing reading? Aren't all college bound students....reading?

No. They use AI to summarize the reading, and then cut and paste.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What about church stuff? Write it or not?

My daughter is very spiritual and devout. She isn't writing solely about "church stuff." But her essays are sprinkled with aspects about her faith. Might be a turnoff for some schools, but so be it.

Catholic schools love this.

20 years ago at least, Harvard loved this. I talked all about my faith in my application and interview and got in.

Harvard probably won't "love" it any more

Harvard has a whole ass divinity school. They have a chaplain with one of the cushiest endowed chairs on campus, and weekly religious services lavishly supported and promoted by the university, in a historic chapel at the heart of campus. And perhaps most importantly, they have a large and underutilized religious studies department in the faculty of arts and sciences that they are always looking for students for. So yes, Harvard absolutely does want to hear about people's faith. Now, honestly, if you write an essay about how Jews and sodomites are going to hell, that's going to deep six you pretty fast. But a mature and sensitive expression of religious faith, if it's important to you, is absolutely going to be well received at Harvard and most of the ivies.

Non religious schools look for you to be passionate about something/anything. This domain makes it easy to clearly indicate passion, so that's a plus. So it's not about being religious per se, but about a clear commitment to something. Schools are also under a ton of pressure to increase diversity of viewpoints, so if they view this as a different viewpoint than other applicants (I've no idea if they would) then it could also be a plus.

Are they? I thought diversity of viewpoints isn't good anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly wonder at this point if the way to stand out in all this dreck is just to have normal 1990s type high school activities.

Honestly, imagine reading through 100 "curated" apps and coming across a kid who reffed soccer games and worked at an ice cream store. Breath of fresh air.

There are so many kids in the DMV who fit this profile. I know at least 4 who fit this exactly.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:There are tons of kids who get into top colleges with the formula of:

Top grades in hardest tracks
Tippy top test scores
Enough ECs to pass muster as well rounded

This was me and most of my friends, who were all top 25% (and usually top 10%) at Ivy graduation.

Unless you and most of your friends went to ivies within the last 2 (maybe 3) years, your experience is not relevant to how college admissions is now.

Maybe. But honestly someone who has a top 1% IQ and a top, say, 5% IQ is still going to do awesome at life if they end up at Vanderbilt or Boston College instead of Columbia or whatever.

You can train your kid to become a national fiddling champion to try to get some perceived advantage but in the end talent + discipline + EQ will result in positive life outcomes.

Anyway this is a temporary squeeze birth rates are declining so for those with young kids, it’s going to go back to being like the 90s and 00s again in another decade or so.

I don't think so. My alma mater and most other top schools I see are prioritizing admitting first gen kids and other disadvantaged kids.

[Anonymous]

Doesn’t matter, you use them to build a narrative

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly wonder at this point if the way to stand out in all this dreck is just to have normal 1990s type high school activities.

Honestly, imagine reading through 100 "curated" apps and coming across a kid who reffed soccer games and worked at an ice cream store. Breath of fresh air.

Having a part-time job isn't a refreshing "breath of fresh air"--it's reality for most high school students who aren't rich. How big must your privilege bubble be that you don't encounter kids with part-time jobs.

+1000

Fantastically tone-deaf post. 😳