What to do if your kid is - gasp - well-rounded?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few questions for the OP:
1. Top grades and stats? ***YES
2. Thoughts on major? Minor? ***OPEN, LOVES MATH, SCIENCE, LANGUAGE, BUSINESS/ECON. BUT NOT A ROBOTICS/MIT/MATH OLYMPIAD PERSON AT ALL. HE ACES MATH CLASSES BUT DOESN’T DO IT OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL
3. Any evidence for entrepreneurship? What kind? ***SCHOOL CLUB, WINNER OF LOCAL COMPETITION, GRANT APPLICATION PENDING
4. Type of environment he wants (big vs. small?) ***FROM A PARENT PERSPECTIVE, HE ISN’T FUSSY AND DOES WELL IN LOTS OF ENVIRONMENTS BUT IMO HE HAS THE MOST IMPACT IN A SMALLER ENVIRONMENT.
5. Private school, right? Did he do any independent research in HS with a faculty member? What topic? YES RIGOROUS PRIVATE, AND NO.
6. Debate all 4 years? Does he have leadership of any school clubs? WILL BE 3 YEARS DEBATE, SCHOOL CLUB LEADERSHIP.
7. Any ideas on career? Has he had any jobs or internships? ONLY VOLUNTEER WORK. HE HAS A UNIQUE VOLUNTEER POSITION FOR HIS MAIN SPORT, AS AN EXAMPLE.

This sounds like a really strong applicant to me but I just want a few more data points before suggesting schools (including some that have been mentioned).

Hard to be too specific without identifying, but maybe the above in CAPS will help enough?

The majority of private high school students I know who've been admitted to selective universities in recent years (including, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Michigan (OOS), Duke, Columbia, Dartmouth, Penn, and UCLA (OOS) generally had a nice mix of athletics (club and high school w/leadership), decent amount of work with existing non-profits (none of this forming a non-profit), PT employment, and involvement in HS clubs, theater, music, student government, the high school literary journal or weekly newspaper, and other normal high school pursuits. They've done well in the admissions process.

They did try to showcase a particular or focused area of interest via their involvement in some of these clubs - and maybe that "positioning" is what the OP is referring to?

- private college counselor

+1000

The mix of top 20 colleges is different from ours. Everything else aligns well.
DP/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any colleges/universities that look favorably on a well-rounded kid these days? Excels in range of subjects (but mostly math), high rigor coursework/high test scores, sporty, awards in debate and entrepreneurship but nothing national level, some student leadership, loves being involved at school, lots of volunteer hours, well-liked by teachers. But wouldn’t naturally develop pointy areas just for purposes of developing an application narrative. He thinks that’s phony.

My kid is somewhat like this and had she not been a recruited athlete, I expect she would have been screwed.

[Anonymous]

Op: you might want to read through some old content on here?
I don't know why this thread was locked?

Can a normal smart kid get into an ivy these days https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1183010.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of kids are well rounded but selective in what they mention on their application. He doesn’t have to mention every single thing. The issue with too much scattered stuff is that rather than well rounded you risk being forgettable or interchangeable from a lot of other applicants.

This 100%. Just posted and reading through this thread. My kid didn't mention some of the scatter/unremarkable stuff that would have distracted from the application. He is at Cornell, but was admitted to several other T25.

The application will have to be really thoughtful and will take time.

To both pp's: When you say didn't mention all the scattered stuff - I assume you mean they listed all their activities on the activity list (even if scattered) but focused on the most important activities, as related to intended major, in their supplementals. Correct?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Pointy” hasn’t been a thing in about 10 years.

They stopped being interested in porcupines. They are looking for unicorns. OP is not at porcupines level.

Naw they just prefer brown and trans people, ideally first generation. And legacies and athletes. No Asians need apply.

Seriously most Asian kids are boring as dirt. Their parents didn't prioritize having a personality. Not all, but i know my fair share. This isn't Asia. Scoring super high on test and gpa doesn’t mean you will be a good addition to a college's incoming class.

- Asian

Not Asian but my kid has a ton of Asian friends and this hasn’t been my experience at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of kids are well rounded but selective in what they mention on their application. He doesn’t have to mention every single thing. The issue with too much scattered stuff is that rather than well rounded you risk being forgettable or interchangeable from a lot of other applicants.

This 100%. Just posted and reading through this thread. My kid didn't mention some of the scatter/unremarkable stuff that would have distracted from the application. He is at Cornell, but was admitted to several other T25.

The application will have to be really thoughtful and will take time.

To both pp's: When you say didn't mention all the scattered stuff - I assume you mean they listed all their activities on the activity list (even if scattered) but focused on the most important activities, as related to intended major, in their supplementals. Correct?

No you omit certain things. If you worked on the musical for one year only and never again, you don’t include it - if it doesn’t support your overall “well-rounded” narrative, other than to distract and make you seem scattered.

For a well-rounded kid, you’d pick 3-4 values or areas of focus to highlight based on your existing list of ECs. Make a list and write down the values associated with each.

All the activities you would list in the common app would have to openly support those values (for this kid: intellectual versatility; collaborative leadership; authentic community engagement and entrepreneurial innovation).

Each EC should hit more than 1 value. If it’s less than 10 that you list in the common app, that’s ok. It’s better to have 8 strong ones than include random activities that do not help and come across as merely place fillers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of kids are well rounded but selective in what they mention on their application. He doesn’t have to mention every single thing. The issue with too much scattered stuff is that rather than well rounded you risk being forgettable or interchangeable from a lot of other applicants.

This 100%. Just posted and reading through this thread. My kid didn't mention some of the scatter/unremarkable stuff that would have distracted from the application. He is at Cornell, but was admitted to several other T25.

The application will have to be really thoughtful and will take time.

To both pp's: When you say didn't mention all the scattered stuff - I assume you mean they listed all their activities on the activity list (even if scattered) but focused on the most important activities, as related to intended major, in their supplementals. Correct?

It depends on what it is that's scattered.
A lot of well-rounded students listed in here who have somewhat unfocused EC lists:
https://5steps.academy/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/GL_-15-Successful-Activities-Lists-eBook.pdf

[Anonymous]

DP. I've always thought, for well rounded kids, the activities would still have a common focus that is related to your major, no?

For example, if you would like to pursue environmental science, your activities (maybe 8 out of 10) will be somewhat related to environmental science?

Well rounded doesn't mean scattered, right?

Of course, varsity, theater, music do not have to be related to that focus, but can still be listed (that's the 2 out of 10).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Community colleges love profiles like this.

you should be ashamed of yourself. Anyway well rounded students place well. OP needs to relax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of kids are well rounded but selective in what they mention on their application. He doesn’t have to mention every single thing. The issue with too much scattered stuff is that rather than well rounded you risk being forgettable or interchangeable from a lot of other applicants.

This 100%. Just posted and reading through this thread. My kid didn't mention some of the scatter/unremarkable stuff that would have distracted from the application. He is at Cornell, but was admitted to several other T25.

The application will have to be really thoughtful and will take time.

To both pp's: When you say didn't mention all the scattered stuff - I assume you mean they listed all their activities on the activity list (even if scattered) but focused on the most important activities, as related to intended major, in their supplementals. Correct?

No. I mean don’t mention stuff that doesn’t make the application stronger. It’s a judgement call.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP. I've always thought, for well rounded kids, the activities would still have a common focus that is related to your major, no?

For example, if you would like to pursue environmental science, your activities (maybe 8 out of 10) will be somewhat related to environmental science?

Well rounded doesn't mean scattered, right?

Of course, varsity, theater, music do not have to be related to that focus, but can still be listed (that's the 2 out of 10).

I think this worked for well-rounded DD whose theme was working with kids. Varsity athlete and captain for 2 sports and also volunteer soccer coach for kids; pianist for school choir and volunteer piano teacher for elementary students; president of literacy club that tutors kids and fundraises for low income school libraries; also cit and lifeguard at summer camp for 3 summers. She had some pointy research with several publications and tied this to a future career in child psych.

Did great this year with acceptances - Georgetown, Michigan oos, tufts, cmu, wash u, Emory. Going to Cornell off waitlist. Currently on wl at rice, jhu (makes sense as sat just under 1550), and harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I've always thought, for well rounded kids, the activities would still have a common focus that is related to your major, no?

For example, if you would like to pursue environmental science, your activities (maybe 8 out of 10) will be somewhat related to environmental science?

Well rounded doesn't mean scattered, right?

Of course, varsity, theater, music do not have to be related to that focus, but can still be listed (that's the 2 out of 10).

I think this worked for well-rounded DD whose theme was working with kids. Varsity athlete and captain for 2 sports and also volunteer soccer coach for kids; pianist for school choir and volunteer piano teacher for elementary students; president of literacy club that tutors kids and fundraises for low income school libraries; also cit and lifeguard at summer camp for 3 summers. She had some pointy research with several publications and tied this to a future career in child psych.

Did great this year with acceptances - Georgetown, Michigan oos, tufts, cmu, wash u, Emory. Going to Cornell off waitlist. Currently on wl at rice, jhu (makes sense as sat just under 1550), and harvard.

She was actually quite pointy. Everything pointed to children/youth and linked to well-being/psychology.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I've always thought, for well rounded kids, the activities would still have a common focus that is related to your major, no?

For example, if you would like to pursue environmental science, your activities (maybe 8 out of 10) will be somewhat related to environmental science?

Well rounded doesn't mean scattered, right?

Of course, varsity, theater, music do not have to be related to that focus, but can still be listed (that's the 2 out of 10).

I think this worked for well-rounded DD whose theme was working with kids. Varsity athlete and captain for 2 sports and also volunteer soccer coach for kids; pianist for school choir and volunteer piano teacher for elementary students; president of literacy club that tutors kids and fundraises for low income school libraries; also cit and lifeguard at summer camp for 3 summers. She had some pointy research with several publications and tied this to a future career in child psych.

Did great this year with acceptances - Georgetown, Michigan oos, tufts, cmu, wash u, Emory. Going to Cornell off waitlist. Currently on wl at rice, jhu (makes sense as sat just under 1550), and harvard.

She was actually quite pointy. Everything pointed to children/youth and linked to well-being/psychology.

Agree she is pointy. College list could be more aggressive to include some T10s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I've always thought, for well rounded kids, the activities would still have a common focus that is related to your major, no?

For example, if you would like to pursue environmental science, your activities (maybe 8 out of 10) will be somewhat related to environmental science?

Well rounded doesn't mean scattered, right?

Of course, varsity, theater, music do not have to be related to that focus, but can still be listed (that's the 2 out of 10).

I think this worked for well-rounded DD whose theme was working with kids. Varsity athlete and captain for 2 sports and also volunteer soccer coach for kids; pianist for school choir and volunteer piano teacher for elementary students; president of literacy club that tutors kids and fundraises for low income school libraries; also cit and lifeguard at summer camp for 3 summers. She had some pointy research with several publications and tied this to a future career in child psych.

Did great this year with acceptances - Georgetown, Michigan oos, tufts, cmu, wash u, Emory. Going to Cornell off waitlist. Currently on wl at rice, jhu (makes sense as sat just under 1550), and harvard.

She was actually quite pointy. Everything pointed to children/youth and linked to well-being/psychology.

Agree she is pointy. College list could be more aggressive to include some T10s.

She did! Rejected at duke, nw (maybe didn’t show enough interest?), Yale, brown, Penn, Amherst. 4.0/4.7 high rigor so not stats. Comes from strong public but with class of 550, maybe letters weren’t as personal as they could be. Regardless, she is thrilled with results and excited for Cornell.

[Anonymous]

My humanities kid (boy) was “scattered” which I guess is a step “below” pointy or focused or well-narrated in this world. Scattered as in dedicated to a few activities- school leadership, music and student club and outside part-time job but nothing tying anything together. Good essays but not related to anything else in the application. Grades and SAT’s were great but not the top-best. Several acceptances in the T-20 to T-50. I mentioned gender and major because boys do seem to get away more with having a “well-rounded” versus “pointy” profile at many colleges.