Reply to PSA: Don't write your essay about building huts in Africa!

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "PSA: Don't write your essay about building huts in Africa!"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I wouldn't write about something that screams "privilege" because someone paid heftily for him  to be there building huts. Definitely don't write about something that was enabled by your parents, write about something that you did or created by yourself without sponsorship...[/quote]

+1000

That has always been the case for decades  Pretty clueless that the nephew was not aware of this.  Top schools want students who create their own volunteer experiences and ECs---not ones that any rich kid can just pay for.  AO know the difference.  [/quote]

+1 Colleges are also aware that there are real ethical problems with these trips. A short list: the work done by these untrained privileged youth is often sub-par, but they simultaneously steal jobs from local laborers; the assumption that Western youth are qualified is offensive; trips that focus on orphanage visits are often damaging to the institutionalized youth; and the whole exercise reeks of neo-colonialism and paternalism.

As colleges engage with their own racist and colonial histories, trips like these become less and less attractive (to the point of hurting applications). [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics