Reply to Child exceptional developer/contracts and makes 20k/year how can we make sure Colleges notice?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Also include in resume if he can submit it. [b]Should also include in his list of extracurricular activities as a work activity.[/b][/quote]

The activities section of the common app gives very little space for explanation. So, yes, list it there and I would assume he would focus on this business in his main essay but if there are specifics about it not covered in that, I would detail them in the "Other Information" section (my DD did that with an unusual EC that she didn't focus on in her essay). Some colleges also allow students to upload a resume so he should do that where possible.[/quote]

Take or leave the below advice:

1.  DO NOT make your son's business the focus of the common app personal statement, because the personal statement is meant to show your son thinks and provide information that is not offered in the other areas of the application.  AO's love clever essays where you start off at point A and then you weave your story and end up at point Z.  All the while, you layer in aspects of your own life into the essay.  I don't know if your son's apps focus on a particular area or what the common theme could be.
2.  Unfortunately, there are lots of colleges that just have one or two supplemental essays and neither essay lends itself to your son's business as the focus of the essay.  However, many schools have some derivation of "why do you want go to school here" and then again you give a holistic answer and then you layer in that the school is located in a dynamic tech area where there is a concentration of business/research that aligns with son's accomplishments, or the school has a great entrepreneurial program/center and then again your son wraps in his accomplishments;
3.  You do want to list in the EC section and it is important for your son to say maybe he spends 20 hours+ on this;
4.  The EC section is limited, so you want to put a fairly extensive resume in the "other" section which actually allows for you to list a lot of stuff;
5.  Your son must/should have a Github profile (if he doesn't, this is a big red flag)...provide a link to that profile in the other section which provides a lot of credence to what your son is representing and allows the school to look at the code they have written that is public;
6.  If your son makes it through the first round of AO review (which admittedly will be determined by GPA, Test Scores and other academic criteria), often times that application will get sent to another reviewer/faculty member that is a subject matter expert if the applicant is representing real accomplishment.  That person may very well look through your code and will determine that yeah this is legit and that will help his application;

A final note...one of the more interesting things to come out of the Harvard discrimination lawsuit and how they review applicants, is that Harvard does assign a score to applicants based on how financially successful they think they may be.  Now, Harvard doesn't care if the $$$s come from inheriting a billion dollars or you start a company that achieves the same result.  The main point is colleges aren't stupid and your son's proven accomplishments I think will be a great asset to him.

Good luck![/quote]

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