Child exceptional developer/contracts and makes 20k/year how can we make sure Colleges notice?

[Anonymous]

Wow that’s great! Does he really need to go to traditional college? I would look into more work based co-op tech certification programs where he can really keep building up his strengths !

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also include in resume if he can submit it. Should also include in his list of extracurricular activities as a work activity.

The activities section of the common app gives very little space for explanation. So, yes, list it there and I would assume he would focus on this business in his main essay but if there are specifics about it not covered in that, I would detail them in the "Other Information" section (my DD did that with an unusual EC that she didn't focus on in her essay). Some colleges also allow students to upload a resume so he should do that where possible.

Take or leave the below advice:

1. DO NOT make your son's business the focus of the common app personal statement, because the personal statement is meant to show your son thinks and provide information that is not offered in the other areas of the application. AO's love clever essays where you start off at point A and then you weave your story and end up at point Z. All the while, you layer in aspects of your own life into the essay. I don't know if your son's apps focus on a particular area or what the common theme could be.
2. Unfortunately, there are lots of colleges that just have one or two supplemental essays and neither essay lends itself to your son's business as the focus of the essay. However, many schools have some derivation of "why do you want go to school here" and then again you give a holistic answer and then you layer in that the school is located in a dynamic tech area where there is a concentration of business/research that aligns with son's accomplishments, or the school has a great entrepreneurial program/center and then again your son wraps in his accomplishments;
3. You do want to list in the EC section and it is important for your son to say maybe he spends 20 hours+ on this;
4. The EC section is limited, so you want to put a fairly extensive resume in the "other" section which actually allows for you to list a lot of stuff;
5. Your son must/should have a Github profile (if he doesn't, this is a big red flag)...provide a link to that profile in the other section which provides a lot of credence to what your son is representing and allows the school to look at the code they have written that is public;
6. If your son makes it through the first round of AO review (which admittedly will be determined by GPA, Test Scores and other academic criteria), often times that application will get sent to another reviewer/faculty member that is a subject matter expert if the applicant is representing real accomplishment. That person may very well look through your code and will determine that yeah this is legit and that will help his application;

A final note...one of the more interesting things to come out of the Harvard discrimination lawsuit and how they review applicants, is that Harvard does assign a score to applicants based on how financially successful they think they may be. Now, Harvard doesn't care if the $$$s come from inheriting a billion dollars or you start a company that achieves the same result. The main point is colleges aren't stupid and your son's proven accomplishments I think will be a great asset to him.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child has made over 20k/year building apps over the last 5 years. He also has sold rights to apps and created license and use contracts for certain sales that give him income after the sale.

How can we make sure colleges notice this, and he doesn't get lost in the mix of others with generic stats like AP courses, leadership, volunteering, teacher recommendations etc.

Our child also hasn't loaded up in APs courses, only in Math and English.

On paper he could be hired by a tech company as an entry level developer (I am a hiring manager for a big tech company, I know) but I am not sure if colleges will look at this. He even has a resume that lists out all his projects and licensing agreements.

Since OP is a hi tech hiring manager, colleges might assume a parent wrote the apps and is crediting the child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many rich kids fake these kinds of accomplishments, that anyone claiming them will be viewed skeptically

And like young actors, having a parent in the business is reason for skepticism too.

Yes, but OP says the kid's been declaring his income and paying taxes. He'll prove it in the FAFSA and the CSS when he applies for FA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many rich kids fake these kinds of accomplishments, that anyone claiming them will be viewed skeptically

And like young actors, having a parent in the business is reason for skepticism too.

Yes, but OP says the kid's been declaring his income and paying taxes. He'll prove it in the FAFSA and the CSS when he applies for FA.

Admissions doesn't see the FAFSA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child has made over 20k/year building apps over the last 5 years. He also has sold rights to apps and created license and use contracts for certain sales that give him income after the sale.

How can we make sure colleges notice this, and he doesn't get lost in the mix of others with generic stats like AP courses, leadership, volunteering, teacher recommendations etc.

Our child also hasn't loaded up in APs courses, only in Math and English.

On paper he could be hired by a tech company as an entry level developer (I am a hiring manager for a big tech company, I know) but I am not sure if colleges will look at this. He even has a resume that lists out all his projects and licensing agreements.

I’m an engineering manager, and I’m quite surprised to hear that anyone would enter into a software licensing agreement with a minor. Honestly, I’d expect AO’s with any business background to be very skeptical of this as well.

Also, having seen a lot of code written by untrained folks (code that works but doesn’t follow standards, is unmaintainable, replicates language features that the developer didn’t know about, etc.) I’d be surprised that anybody in tech would buy anything created by a minor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disagree with PP, I think your child has done something quite uncommon and wonderful. He's not the only high schooler creating apps and selling them, but he's part of a much smaller group than my son, loaded up on APs, as you said

He definitely needs to write about his career in his essays. Something really thoughtful about how his entrepreneurship has made him grow as a person, develop a work ethic in the real world and made him ready for college and beyond.

All applications will have the space for details about his work, but the clincher is the essay, because it's the only way for him to show how he thinks about his career. He MUST include the dollar amounts and as many factual details as he can, to make convincing and show this isn't piddling money.

If he has gotten to know one or two professionals well, perhaps they can write a letter of recommendation for him, to add to the ones from his teachers.

Ok so the essay portion will speak to this? I am concerned they will be glossed over. We've also talked to him about using some of his earnings towards a college admission counselor which are sometimes in the 5k range. We just feel the admissions process is overlooking his situation. His sats are also very good in the mid 1500s. Its just odd as 30 years a go the test scores alone would guarantee admission but it seems that things have changed especially with all the test optional things going on.

In fairness, mid 1500s today would have been high 1300s 30 years ago--and not a golden ticket to the most selective schools.

You’re right. Due to the several rounds of re-norming since then, a 1400 is equivalent to a mid/high 1500. I got a 1400 in 1984. Terrible grades so I didn’t even try to apply to any really good schools, but I remember looking at the average SAT scores for Harvard and MIT at the time and they were all in the mid/high 1300s.

The dumbing down on the SAT honestly is a bad thing. If I took it now I’d almost certainly be very close to 1600, but I was nowhere close to the smartest kid in my class. The score inflation has really hurt the truly smart kids who now get lumped together with people like me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child has made over 20k/year building apps over the last 5 years. He also has sold rights to apps and created license and use contracts for certain sales that give him income after the sale.

How can we make sure colleges notice this, and he doesn't get lost in the mix of others with generic stats like AP courses, leadership, volunteering, teacher recommendations etc.

Our child also hasn't loaded up in APs courses, only in Math and English.

On paper he could be hired by a tech company as an entry level developer (I am a hiring manager for a big tech company, I know) but I am not sure if colleges will look at this. He even has a resume that lists out all his projects and licensing agreements.

I’m an engineering manager, and I’m quite surprised to hear that anyone would enter into a software licensing agreement with a minor. Honestly, I’d expect AO’s with any business background to be very skeptical of this as well.

Also, having seen a lot of code written by untrained folks (code that works but doesn’t follow standards, is unmaintainable, replicates language features that the developer didn’t know about, etc.) I’d be surprised that anybody in tech would buy anything created by a minor.

Dad is in the field too which gives me the parent doing the homework vibes.