Jobs as EC that get unhooked into T10

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD graduated from an EC math program and started working as a math instructor there when she turned 14. Her essay was about her job, and the center director who had observed her since the age of 7 wrote a recommendation letter. Accepted by a T10, CS and math majors, no hooks.

I doubt it that this "works" for her to get into T10. This is just naturally a part of the fabric of her life. People with that experience would also have other qualifications that matter much more. She would still get in if you take this job off the application.

My kid wouldn’t have got into Ivy without job(s). Defining part of identity.

[Anonymous]

Reposting- does a job as a camp counselor fit the description for a private school kid to negate the privilege card? Responsibilities include showing up on time, managing 15 kids, staffing field trips, lifeguarding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reposting- does a job as a camp counselor fit the description for a private school kid to negate the privilege card? Responsibilities include showing up on time, managing 15 kids, staffing field trips, lifeguarding.

Simple math. Count how many kids who have that job in the US, millions? Count how many seats in top colleges every year, thousands?

Anyone think a camp job would help getting in T5 is ....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jobs are the new "volunteer in Africa". That worked for a while when it is new. AO's got wised up. Needed something else. Now jobs it is to show lack of privilege. You take your $1200 iphone and $300 ipods and $200 sneakers to do a job, thereby showing your humble down to earth, lack of privilege, etc.

Give it a couple of years, AO's would wise up to this. Then to something else.

They are not. Teenagers have been getting summer jobs forever. It was the most normal thing in the world before all the pre-college, academic camp, internship hysteria hit. Nobody gets into a top college because they had a job busing tables. But they do grow up, Manage responsibility, deal with all kinds of people etc and these are all important things to be able to do if you expect to be successful in a profession someday. Colleges aren’t giving medals for kids having grungy summer jobs, they want future graduates who will be leaders and make the school look good.

+1 Your kid shouldn't have a summer job to get into a T10. They should get a summer job because it is good for their personal development, wherever they end up.

Since this is a forum for discussing college admission, people here focus on that purpose. Everyone understands that job is good for personal development.

I don't know. I worked a at a fast food joint three years of high school. Got into HYPS. But the job didn't do much for me other than provide some pocket money and a few good weed hookups to spend it on. Not sure I want my kid in that environment.

Perhaps you need to read a few full applications today to understand how/why jobs can be helpful in selective college admissions.

Perhaps you need to make your posts clearer. What in those applications would make me want to put my kid in a situation with ex cons, low level drug dealers, and promiscuous single mothers? It was fun for me, but I wouldn't call that personal development.

[Anonymous]

These are the jobs that the kids I know got into ivies had this year:
- coffee shop cashier
- teacher's assistant during a math review class for rising freshman
- internship for a politician
- EMT (volunteer initially and then paid)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
- internship for a politician

This one screams privilege. Without connection, one can't easily find such internship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reposting- does a job as a camp counselor fit the description for a private school kid to negate the privilege card? Responsibilities include showing up on time, managing 15 kids, staffing field trips, lifeguarding.

Mine is at a T10, and got into other schools in the T25 too. Camp counselor was the main job , all through Hs, and worked their way up to big leadership/promotion to managing 100+ kids per day, all different subgroups with junior counselors under my kid. The job was likely not the main reason but it was extensive leadership. Also had Eagle, school awards, hardest coursework available, all areas, a pretty big non-academic EC with regional recognition , 3.9uw, scores in range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Read through a few posts here, many mentioned jobs as EC. Where did you apply for these jobs that get an unhooked applicant into T10? A job may be broadly interpreted as including an internship. Believe these jobs have to tie with your theme of passion or interest to make it work. So, if your unhooked students get into T10, please share how they get these jobs. Thanks.

My unhooked ivy kid did not have a paid summer job. They did auditioned arts things in the summer, plus a competitive online academic thing (covid summer), plus a very difficult admission summer governor’s school. In the school year they babysat some and taught lessons to neighbors for small fees that parents insisted on, but none of that made it to the app because there were two huge ECs in addition to the arts one plus major volunteer endeavors in two different areas for two different reasons, both were more than a year, plus some school leadership in clubs that tied in to other things so was more important to highlight. They got into four T10s and many T11-25s. It was still probably the courses and the stats that were most impressive, but the academicky and artsy ECs instead of a job did not seem to hurt the app

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paid jobs are becoming popular because they lessen the stench of economic privilege.

As my son said on Monday when I dropped him off at his volunteer orientation:

"Oh look, a Tesla here to drop off another volunteer!"

well also AOs have woken up to what parents and also anyone who was formally a teen who had a job: you learn and grow a lot more working a job than being a volunteer with Tesla kids. You gain soft skills. You might work for one summer to the next for promotions. I learned as a teen manager how to deal with other teen employees, including one who was stealing. I managed schedules and dealt with public complaints. I managed a social life with a 40 hour a week job. My kid volunteered for a while but it's a whole different thing. As soon as they were legal, they got a job

Agree with all this but are AOs actually looking at this kind of thing now? Genuine question.

Yes. 💯
My kid’s Ivy admit letter came with a note about how impressed they were about his four separate part-time jobs (3 were summer and 1 school year service job). We are extremely high income and he is in a private prep school.
All jobs were somewhat related to his niche (or could be tied to it).

Ideas to combine with a regular retail or service gig:

- Music major, working in a guitar store or piano store, helping with sales or tuning of instruments

- CS major, working in some sort of hardware support role whether in sales or retail. Similarly working at a technology summer camp for kids.

- archeology major, working as a cashier or guide or similar at a popular history, museum or other type of museum and helping out with the kids summer camp at the same place for three weeks

My kid is an environmental science major with an interest in sustainable agriculture who worked at a nursery for several years in HS. It’s a pretty typical teen job, but does have some relation to his academic interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paid jobs are becoming popular because they lessen the stench of economic privilege.

As my son said on Monday when I dropped him off at his volunteer orientation:

"Oh look, a Tesla here to drop off another volunteer!"

well also AOs have woken up to what parents and also anyone who was formally a teen who had a job: you learn and grow a lot more working a job than being a volunteer with Tesla kids. You gain soft skills. You might work for one summer to the next for promotions. I learned as a teen manager how to deal with other teen employees, including one who was stealing. I managed schedules and dealt with public complaints. I managed a social life with a 40 hour a week job. My kid volunteered for a while but it's a whole different thing. As soon as they were legal, they got a job

Agree with all this but are AOs actually looking at this kind of thing now? Genuine question.

Yes. 💯
My kid’s Ivy admit letter came with a note about how impressed they were about his four separate part-time jobs (3 were summer and 1 school year service job). We are extremely high income and he is in a private prep school.
All jobs were somewhat related to his niche (or could be tied to it).

Ideas to combine with a regular retail or service gig:

- Music major, working in a guitar store or piano store, helping with sales or tuning of instruments

- CS major, working in some sort of hardware support role whether in sales or retail. Similarly working at a technology summer camp for kids.

- archeology major, working as a cashier or guide or similar at a popular history, museum or other type of museum and helping out with the kids summer camp at the same place for three weeks

My kid is an environmental science major with an interest in sustainable agriculture who worked at a nursery for several years in HS. It’s a pretty typical teen job, but does have some relation to his academic interests.

T10 school? What about his stats? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paid jobs are becoming popular because they lessen the stench of economic privilege.

As my son said on Monday when I dropped him off at his volunteer orientation:

"Oh look, a Tesla here to drop off another volunteer!"

well also AOs have woken up to what parents and also anyone who was formally a teen who had a job: you learn and grow a lot more working a job than being a volunteer with Tesla kids. You gain soft skills. You might work for one summer to the next for promotions. I learned as a teen manager how to deal with other teen employees, including one who was stealing. I managed schedules and dealt with public complaints. I managed a social life with a 40 hour a week job. My kid volunteered for a while but it's a whole different thing. As soon as they were legal, they got a job

Agree with all this but are AOs actually looking at this kind of thing now? Genuine question.

Yes. 💯
My kid’s Ivy admit letter came with a note about how impressed they were about his four separate part-time jobs (3 were summer and 1 school year service job). We are extremely high income and he is in a private prep school.
All jobs were somewhat related to his niche (or could be tied to it).

Ideas to combine with a regular retail or service gig:

- Music major, working in a guitar store or piano store, helping with sales or tuning of instruments

- CS major, working in some sort of hardware support role whether in sales or retail. Similarly working at a technology summer camp for kids.

- archeology major, working as a cashier or guide or similar at a popular history, museum or other type of museum and helping out with the kids summer camp at the same place for three weeks

My kid is an environmental science major with an interest in sustainable agriculture who worked at a nursery for several years in HS. It’s a pretty typical teen job, but does have some relation to his academic interests.

I know a similar kid (friend of my son’s) from our private school who worked in agriculture extensively over summers and related jobs that touched on ag. Maybe also a Corp Ag-business internship. Kind of niche interests but authentic bc kid would drop everything to do this stuff. Probably had some research or passion project too.

Got into 2 ivies and a bunch of T20s and was clearly NOT at tippy top of private school class (obv good stats but not close to the top 5-10%).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jobs are the new "volunteer in Africa". That worked for a while when it is new. AO's got wised up. Needed something else. Now jobs it is to show lack of privilege. You take your $1200 iphone and $300 ipods and $200 sneakers to do a job, thereby showing your humble down to earth, lack of privilege, etc.

Give it a couple of years, AO's would wise up to this. Then to something else.

They are not. Teenagers have been getting summer jobs forever. It was the most normal thing in the world before all the pre-college, academic camp, internship hysteria hit. Nobody gets into a top college because they had a job busing tables. But they do grow up, Manage responsibility, deal with all kinds of people etc and these are all important things to be able to do if you expect to be successful in a profession someday. Colleges aren’t giving medals for kids having grungy summer jobs, they want future graduates who will be leaders and make the school look good.

+1 Your kid shouldn't have a summer job to get into a T10. They should get a summer job because it is good for their personal development, wherever they end up.

Since this is a forum for discussing college admission, people here focus on that purpose. Everyone understands that job is good for personal development.

I don't know. I worked a at a fast food joint three years of high school. Got into HYPS. But the job didn't do much for me other than provide some pocket money and a few good weed hookups to spend it on. Not sure I want my kid in that environment.

Perhaps you need to read a few full applications today to understand how/why jobs can be helpful in selective college admissions.

Perhaps you need to make your posts clearer. What in those applications would make me want to put my kid in a situation with ex cons, low level drug dealers, and promiscuous single mothers? It was fun for me, but I wouldn't call that personal development.

Yikes. Where did you work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paid jobs are becoming popular because they lessen the stench of economic privilege.

As my son said on Monday when I dropped him off at his volunteer orientation:

"Oh look, a Tesla here to drop off another volunteer!"

well also AOs have woken up to what parents and also anyone who was formally a teen who had a job: you learn and grow a lot more working a job than being a volunteer with Tesla kids. You gain soft skills. You might work for one summer to the next for promotions. I learned as a teen manager how to deal with other teen employees, including one who was stealing. I managed schedules and dealt with public complaints. I managed a social life with a 40 hour a week job. My kid volunteered for a while but it's a whole different thing. As soon as they were legal, they got a job

Agree with all this but are AOs actually looking at this kind of thing now? Genuine question.

Yes. 💯
My kid’s Ivy admit letter came with a note about how impressed they were about his four separate part-time jobs (3 were summer and 1 school year service job). We are extremely high income and he is in a private prep school.
All jobs were somewhat related to his niche (or could be tied to it).

Ideas to combine with a regular retail or service gig:

- Music major, working in a guitar store or piano store, helping with sales or tuning of instruments

- CS major, working in some sort of hardware support role whether in sales or retail. Similarly working at a technology summer camp for kids.

- archeology major, working as a cashier or guide or similar at a popular history, museum or other type of museum and helping out with the kids summer camp at the same place for three weeks

Great job fooling AO's. That is a fantastic approach.

Oh come on. You're not fooling AOs. It's just refreshing seeing people being more normal instead of expensively manufactured candidates. After all, low wage teen jobs have bad stuff and don't suck up to you like you're an elite. At my only normcore teen job, I worked at a Macy's equivalent. I got yelled at by customers, spent hours organizing a bathing suit section, got hangers thrown at me by the department manager, got my hours regularly cut in favor of another worker with a connected parent, was asked to dust the bottom of the clothing racks in the entire department twice while a stonecutter continued to replace marble tiles, and was asked to smile more while standing in heels for 8 hours passing out free shopping bags. That was better than my friend's jobs at fast food. One of them even got burned cleaning a machine that he wasn't supposed to be working with due to age. Expensive iPods, sneakers, whatever...there's still some real life to be lived doing these jobs.

I am the poster with the "paper" comment. I was naive just like you. I thought letting my kids be authentic is the best thing. They had jobs, they pursued ECS that related to their interests. They got into T-20s and we are grateful for the opportunities. But honestly again and again we see kids who went the 'research' route get into colleges way above their 'app" grade. AOs are still "fooled" they still get taken by "published" research. They don't pay or want to get into dissections of how parental connections might have played a role. They simply don't have the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paid jobs are becoming popular because they lessen the stench of economic privilege.

As my son said on Monday when I dropped him off at his volunteer orientation:

"Oh look, a Tesla here to drop off another volunteer!"

well also AOs have woken up to what parents and also anyone who was formally a teen who had a job: you learn and grow a lot more working a job than being a volunteer with Tesla kids. You gain soft skills. You might work for one summer to the next for promotions. I learned as a teen manager how to deal with other teen employees, including one who was stealing. I managed schedules and dealt with public complaints. I managed a social life with a 40 hour a week job. My kid volunteered for a while but it's a whole different thing. As soon as they were legal, they got a job

Agree with all this but are AOs actually looking at this kind of thing now? Genuine question.

Yes. 💯
My kid’s Ivy admit letter came with a note about how impressed they were about his four separate part-time jobs (3 were summer and 1 school year service job). We are extremely high income and he is in a private prep school.
All jobs were somewhat related to his niche (or could be tied to it).

Ideas to combine with a regular retail or service gig:

- Music major, working in a guitar store or piano store, helping with sales or tuning of instruments

- CS major, working in some sort of hardware support role whether in sales or retail. Similarly working at a technology summer camp for kids.

- archeology major, working as a cashier or guide or similar at a popular history, museum or other type of museum and helping out with the kids summer camp at the same place for three weeks

Great job fooling AO's. That is a fantastic approach.

Oh come on. You're not fooling AOs. It's just refreshing seeing people being more normal instead of expensively manufactured candidates. After all, low wage teen jobs have bad stuff and don't suck up to you like you're an elite. At my only normcore teen job, I worked at a Macy's equivalent. I got yelled at by customers, spent hours organizing a bathing suit section, got hangers thrown at me by the department manager, got my hours regularly cut in favor of another worker with a connected parent, was asked to dust the bottom of the clothing racks in the entire department twice while a stonecutter continued to replace marble tiles, and was asked to smile more while standing in heels for 8 hours passing out free shopping bags. That was better than my friend's jobs at fast food. One of them even got burned cleaning a machine that he wasn't supposed to be working with due to age. Expensive iPods, sneakers, whatever...there's still some real life to be lived doing these jobs.

I am the poster with the "paper" comment. I was naive just like you. I thought letting my kids be authentic is the best thing. They had jobs, they pursued ECS that related to their interests. They got into T-20s and we are grateful for the opportunities. But honestly again and again we see kids who went the 'research' route get into colleges way above their 'app" grade. AOs are still "fooled" they still get taken by "published" research. They don't pay or want to get into dissections of how parental connections might have played a role. They simply don't have the time.

But so what?
College admissions isn’t fair. You do what works for you/your family.

If it’s pay-to-play research, go for it. I know someone paying that Command Education (nymag article) consulting company $200k/year (started after freshman year). That seems absolutely absurd to me. But they have $$$ to spare and don’t understand the process. Command has their clients / kids submitting to publications after freshman year….thats their M.O. And clearly it works for some, if part of a cohesive narrative.

But other things work too. Jobs as part of a narrative work too.

There is definitely no one-size-fits-all in this process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paid jobs are becoming popular because they lessen the stench of economic privilege.

As my son said on Monday when I dropped him off at his volunteer orientation:

"Oh look, a Tesla here to drop off another volunteer!"

well also AOs have woken up to what parents and also anyone who was formally a teen who had a job: you learn and grow a lot more working a job than being a volunteer with Tesla kids. You gain soft skills. You might work for one summer to the next for promotions. I learned as a teen manager how to deal with other teen employees, including one who was stealing. I managed schedules and dealt with public complaints. I managed a social life with a 40 hour a week job. My kid volunteered for a while but it's a whole different thing. As soon as they were legal, they got a job

Agree with all this but are AOs actually looking at this kind of thing now? Genuine question.

Yes. 💯
My kid’s Ivy admit letter came with a note about how impressed they were about his four separate part-time jobs (3 were summer and 1 school year service job). We are extremely high income and he is in a private prep school.
All jobs were somewhat related to his niche (or could be tied to it).

Ideas to combine with a regular retail or service gig:

- Music major, working in a guitar store or piano store, helping with sales or tuning of instruments

- CS major, working in some sort of hardware support role whether in sales or retail. Similarly working at a technology summer camp for kids.

- archeology major, working as a cashier or guide or similar at a popular history, museum or other type of museum and helping out with the kids summer camp at the same place for three weeks

Great job fooling AO's. That is a fantastic approach.

Oh come on. You're not fooling AOs. It's just refreshing seeing people being more normal instead of expensively manufactured candidates. After all, low wage teen jobs have bad stuff and don't suck up to you like you're an elite. At my only normcore teen job, I worked at a Macy's equivalent. I got yelled at by customers, spent hours organizing a bathing suit section, got hangers thrown at me by the department manager, got my hours regularly cut in favor of another worker with a connected parent, was asked to dust the bottom of the clothing racks in the entire department twice while a stonecutter continued to replace marble tiles, and was asked to smile more while standing in heels for 8 hours passing out free shopping bags. That was better than my friend's jobs at fast food. One of them even got burned cleaning a machine that he wasn't supposed to be working with due to age. Expensive iPods, sneakers, whatever...there's still some real life to be lived doing these jobs.

I am the poster with the "paper" comment. I was naive just like you. I thought letting my kids be authentic is the best thing. They had jobs, they pursued ECS that related to their interests. They got into T-20s and we are grateful for the opportunities. But honestly again and again we see kids who went the 'research' route get into colleges way above their 'app" grade. AOs are still "fooled" they still get taken by "published" research. They don't pay or want to get into dissections of how parental connections might have played a role. They simply don't have the time.

But so what?
College admissions isn’t fair. You do what works for you/your family.

If it’s pay-to-play research, go for it. I know someone paying that Command Education (nymag article) consulting company $200k/year (started after freshman year). That seems absolutely absurd to me. But they have $$$ to spare and don’t understand the process. Command has their clients / kids submitting to publications after freshman year….thats their M.O. And clearly it works for some, if part of a cohesive narrative.

But other things work too. Jobs as part of a narrative work too.

There is definitely no one-size-fits-all in this process.

How stupid the kids have to be for the family to seek help from Command Education? Look at the college results, not impressive. My kid can easily get into T20 without any external "guidance". This is obscene.