Reply to Just figured I'd share because it might benefit lots of folks here...

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Just figured I'd share because it might benefit lots of folks here..."

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Meh.  Any college admissions officer would say that the kid who stands out at elite colleges is the one who took AP Chem while at the same time taking doing the independent music thing.  [/quote]

This actually isn't true. In most cases, the kid who stands out is the one with a unique story. Right now, a lot of kids have the same (overachieving, overtaxed) story.[/quote]

but hasn't this been true for 10 years now? this is what they call the spike. this is why kids start fake NFPs or write AI-generated self published books on amazon. makes them sound deep into a passion! and colleges were falling for the NFPs for a while - and the books now. [/quote]

Yes, but the point (I think) is, don't actually do all the other STEM AP stuff if you are deep into colonial women's history. Do the minimal amount of necessary and then do buckets and buckets of extra on the colonial history front? So yes its a spike, but showing initiative to double up on history electives could help and you don't need AP physics...Honors might be enough?

There's a guy on FB (private counselor) who has a whole thing that goes through why this is a better strategy and shows "passion" and drive. And helps not make you look like a bot.[/quote]
[i][b]There is no AO that gives a shit about passion projects[/b].[/i] We don't even use that term in the admissions office. This passion project idea is just born out of the college consulting industry, with consultants who are trying to sell that this is a golden ticket. And it's smart, I suppose, because they take advantage of an incredibly opaque process with students that don't know any better. But when I was reading files, when I was in committees, I can assure you, most students did not have a passion project, and if a student did, barely any mention of it came up in the discussion of the student's admissibility.
[/quote]

The college consulting industry is pushing that because ... 
The rigor, the gpa, the test score are determined by the kids themselves.  There is nothing much consultants can do to enhance that profile, other than recommedning private tutors.  And rigor, gpa, test score are the most important part of the application.  
That leave the consultants' value in doubt.  For kids that are weak in stats, they have to do something to have the appearance that they are adding value (same for high stats kids).  Passion project, intersection woodoo, expensive packages of summer programs, these are things they try to sell.[/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