Jobs as EC that get unhooked into T10

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It’s not for me to judge. The family is not US educated and Wall Street etc. this is spare change. They wanted to outsource it. Why should I care?

My point is everyone has a different way to get there.
Jobs/TASS/Regeneron/published research/ senate page/weird quirky hobbies etc

Do what your kid is interested in, voluntarily signs up to do.
It’s not that hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

It's fairly well-established that much if not most of the restaurant/service industry runs on the backs of marginalized populations. Anthony Bourdain is among the most prominent folks who have highlighted that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

It's fairly well-established that much if not most of the restaurant/service industry runs on the backs of marginalized populations. Anthony Bourdain is among the most prominent folks who have highlighted that.

Sounds like a good essay tbh

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid traded stocks for four years and made a mint. In his essay, he poked fun at people who actually work for a living, and said he wanted to be a Wall Street titan. Got into Harvard. See how it all fits together!?

Harvard facilitates Wall Streeters to disrespect working people not brave enough to gamble with their assets?

Yes. I see how it fits together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a good essay tbh

How you would write this essay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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)

My kid worked at a sporting/outdoor store and got into two Ivies this year. Unhooked.

[Anonymous]

Ivies like jobs!!

[Anonymous]

This isn’t rocket science. Look for strategic plans etc to see what colleges are looking for.

This is what Cornell was looking for this year (look at “distance traveled”):
Cornell presidential task force - areas of focus/student attributes for AdCom consideration ….

Identify and recruit students who show the following attributes/life experiences that have
been identified as enriching the educational experience in the classroom:

- Academic achievement, and achievement in other areas

- Inquiry: intellectual rigor, passion, curiosity, creativity, exploration

- Distance traveled: overcoming obstacles or barriers; experience working part time; overcoming feelings of isolation or disempowerment, headwinds, invisibility, struggles

- Persistence: grit, resilience, perseverance, focus

- Community orientation: demonstrate kindness, demonstrate compassion, teamwork focus, impact, pride in culture or heritage, situational awareness, service, engagement

- Leadership: influential, trend-setter, lights up room

- Knowledge of and appreciation for Cornell's unique history and mission

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t rocket science. Look for strategic plans etc to see what colleges are looking for.

This is what Cornell was looking for this year (look at “distance traveled”):
Cornell presidential task force - areas of focus/student attributes for AdCom consideration ….

Identify and recruit students who show the following attributes/life experiences that have
been identified as enriching the educational experience in the classroom:

- Academic achievement, and achievement in other areas

- Inquiry: intellectual rigor, passion, curiosity, creativity, exploration

- Distance traveled: overcoming obstacles or barriers; experience working part time; overcoming feelings of isolation or disempowerment, headwinds, invisibility, struggles

- Persistence: grit, resilience, perseverance, focus

- Community orientation: demonstrate kindness, demonstrate compassion, teamwork focus, impact, pride in culture or heritage, situational awareness, service, engagement

- Leadership: influential, trend-setter, lights up room

- Knowledge of and appreciation for Cornell's unique history and mission

This is interesting, PP. Thank for sharing. I know 3 kids at Cornell that are social media influencers with really big followings. I suspected Cornell liked this profile for some reason and here it is laid out as an institutional priority. Millions of followers on tik tok reads as “leadership” to Cornell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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)

My kid worked at a sporting/outdoor store and got into two Ivies this year. Unhooked.

Same, know a kid who worked in a bicycle shop and got into Penn and Duke. Also 35 or 36 ACT though.

[Anonymous]

NIH intern or NIST intern -- but only if one gets listed as a co-author and gets a strong recommendation letter from the researcher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ivies like jobs!!

Agree. But should you write your personal statement about the job?!? How do you convey the importance of job if just on activities list?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t rocket science. Look for strategic plans etc to see what colleges are looking for.

This is what Cornell was looking for this year (look at “distance traveled”):
Cornell presidential task force - areas of focus/student attributes for AdCom consideration ….

Identify and recruit students who show the following attributes/life experiences that have
been identified as enriching the educational experience in the classroom:

- Academic achievement, and achievement in other areas

- Inquiry: intellectual rigor, passion, curiosity, creativity, exploration

- Distance traveled: overcoming obstacles or barriers; experience working part time; overcoming feelings of isolation or disempowerment, headwinds, invisibility, struggles

- Persistence: grit, resilience, perseverance, focus

- Community orientation: demonstrate kindness, demonstrate compassion, teamwork focus, impact, pride in culture or heritage, situational awareness, service, engagement

- Leadership: influential, trend-setter, lights up room

- Knowledge of and appreciation for Cornell's unique history and mission

This is pretty much the same everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ivies like jobs!!

Agree. But should you write your personal statement about the job?!? How do you convey the importance of job if just on activities list?

You can write your essay about the job if it fits the prompt.

Always go with the idea that reflects the best on you. We can't tell you what that is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ivies like jobs!!

Agree. But should you write your personal statement about the job?!? How do you convey the importance of job if just on activities list?

You can write your essay about the job if it fits the prompt.

Always go with the idea that reflects the best on you. We can't tell you what that is.

This is bull crap! Anyone can write anything you want in the essay. No AO will verify anything you say. So sad it has come to this.