Reply to Kids who don’t have a spike or narrative

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Kids who don’t have a spike or narrative"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think it's important to understand that there is a difference between a narrative and spike. Spikes should occur naturally and some kids just have them - an extreme interest in or passion for something that shows through their ECs, etc. and perhaps academic choices.

But everyone has a narrative, it's how YOU weave what you've done together. You don't have to plan it. It's more of a reflective exercise. My DS's narrative - if you want to call it that (I think it's somewhat comical that things are termed this way  now) - is "jack of all trades," meaning their interest in trying new things, whether they end up being good at them or not.

When people talk about the narrative, they're really talking about the essay, which helps sew the ECs up, or illustrate one or more of them through a narrow lens. In my DC's case, the narrative was one of curiosity, making the most of every day, and the joy of learning for learning's sake. You might say it's not compelling, but it IS a narrative, and it does completely characterize my DC.  [/quote]

Every kid comes with their own narrative. However this thread is more about the kids who have someone help them construct or craft a narrative from middle school on- one that ties courses, choice of major, extracurriculars, essays and summer activities into one cohesive narrative. [/quote]

NP and I’ll add that what I’ve seen (in real life and here) are the kids whose crafted “self” isn’t even genuine - it is all a game to be admitted to X elite school in whatever way the parents can make that happen (undersubscribed major, etc).  T[b]here’s a post on one of these threads saying that kids leave activities and interests OFF the application just so they don’t look well rounded.  That one nearly broke me, as the parent of an active, smart, genuine, well rounded kid for whom the “genuinely interest in learning” approach failed miserably in the application process.  [/b]
I think colleges are running the risk of having a bunch of students who are only looking out for themselves and can’t or won’t form any kind of community because they’ve done everything for all the wrong reasons (and only care about going to the “best” school they got into, without regard for the culture or community of the school.  
[/quote]

That may have been me who posted that. I learned from my older kid (who was too well-rounded). And by reading a LOT, listening to experts. The top schools have a formula. They aren't looking for the "best" kids. They are looking for very specific attributes in a quick 5-8min (or less) glance. I think parents are often naive about the process. I also learned my lesson with my older kid (who ended up ok, after we pivoted strategy in RD to make more specialized - we hadn't realized that was what colleges want).

The issue is that they can't imagine how a well-rounded kid contributes on day 1 on campus. There are too many options and, quite frankly, often too "surface". A specialized kid will jump into "period historical costumes" for the play or stagecraft (from that random other post here) or continue the composting initiative at the campus garden with a planned farm-to-table event, etc.....they don't appreciate kids who dabble and don't know precisely what they will do on campus and how they will do it - only because they don't have the luxury of time with these applications. They need to check boxes and say - yes, this is my food insecurity kid, who is a composter and gardener, who is going to volunteer and plant garlic on day 1 at our campus farm and run xyz programming bc kid has already done that programming in HS. And will take the undersubscribed Anthro classes on water in arid lands and farming in the Middle East....

I do think this will start changing rapidly - even next cycle - as AI is used to "find the best applicants".

Do you have other kids going through the process in the future?[/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