Anonymous
Post 11/19/2025 10:54     Subject: What activities are considered "impressive" to potential schools
Anonymous wrote:Gymnastics captain
AND Lead Cheerleader
AND Math team captain
AND Debate co-captain
AND Faculty award for top student in HS

In at two of HYP


Other than being good at becoming captain, I don’t see anything stand out in this resume. Where is the impact? How many times AIME qualified?
Anonymous
Post 11/19/2025 10:46     Subject: What activities are considered "impressive" to potential schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Gymnastics captain
AND Lead Cheerleader
AND Math team captain
AND Debate co-captain
AND Faculty award for top student in HS

In at two of HYP


I would have classified these as meh. School activities + captain of a school club + an award that is already evident from the transcript/sch profile…

My guess is there was more (like a feeder school).


It is from the top 6 public high schools in NOVA and it is not TJ.


Huh…which one? Fcps doesn’t rank so which fcps is disclosing in an award the top gpa?
Anonymous
Post 11/19/2025 10:23     Subject: What activities are considered "impressive" to potential schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Gymnastics captain
AND Lead Cheerleader
AND Math team captain
AND Debate co-captain
AND Faculty award for top student in HS

In at two of HYP


I would have classified these as meh. School activities + captain of a school club + an award that is already evident from the transcript/sch profile…

My guess is there was more (like a feeder school).


DP. Nah. People have bought into this idea that you have to have cured cancer to get into these schools. It’s just not true; I know multiple “average excellent” kids who have gotten into schools that everyone assumes require a hook or exceptional accomplishment.

Everyone wants to be able to explain why their kid didn’t get in. The truth is, your kid didn’t get in because there are tons of kids with great stats and great activities, and schools can choose only so many, and they have their reasons for choosing the kids they do. There’s not some magic formula or type of activity that turns the dial.
Anonymous
Post 11/19/2025 10:20     Subject: What activities are considered "impressive" to potential schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Gymnastics captain
AND Lead Cheerleader
AND Math team captain
AND Debate co-captain
AND Faculty award for top student in HS

In at two of HYP


I would have classified these as meh. School activities + captain of a school club + an award that is already evident from the transcript/sch profile…

My guess is there was more (like a feeder school).


It is from the top 6 public high schools in FCPS and it is not TJ.
Anonymous
Post 11/19/2025 10:20     Subject: What activities are considered "impressive" to potential schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Gymnastics captain
AND Lead Cheerleader
AND Math team captain
AND Debate co-captain
AND Faculty award for top student in HS

In at two of HYP


I would have classified these as meh. School activities + captain of a school club + an award that is already evident from the transcript/sch profile…

My guess is there was more (like a feeder school).


It is from the top 6 public high schools in NOVA and it is not TJ.
Anonymous
Post 11/19/2025 10:18     Subject: What activities are considered "impressive" to potential schools
Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP who posted the "cynical" comments about jobs being fakeable. It is true that most students and parents voluntarily abide by the honor code system. This is one of the great things about America. But it is also open to abuse, rather easily, by parents who know their kids have to get a job of some sort to appear less privileged and more grounded, as part of their effort to game college admission. "Wow, apart from doing this passion project and publishing that research, this kid works a REAL job for THIS long! We WANT this kid!" says a t15 AO. To say that this is not happening at a non-negligible rate among prestige-chasing parents is probably naive.


Lots of things are open to abuse, and very few people actually abuse them. Assuming that abuse is happening at high rates results in the implementation of all sorts of barriers that make life difficult for the vast majority of people working within the rules.
Anonymous
Post 11/19/2025 10:13     Subject: What activities are considered "impressive" to potential schools
Anonymous wrote:Gymnastics captain
AND Lead Cheerleader
AND Math team captain
AND Debate co-captain
AND Faculty award for top student in HS

In at two of HYP


I would have classified these as meh. School activities + captain of a school club + an award that is already evident from the transcript/sch profile…

My guess is there was more (like a feeder school).
Anonymous
Post 11/19/2025 10:13     Subject: What activities are considered "impressive" to potential schools
Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP who posted the "cynical" comments about jobs being fakeable. It is true that most students and parents voluntarily abide by the honor code system. This is one of the great things about America. But it is also open to abuse, rather easily, by parents who know their kids have to get a job of some sort to appear less privileged and more grounded, as part of their effort to game college admission. "Wow, apart from doing this passion project and publishing that research, this kid works a REAL job for THIS long! We WANT this kid!" says a t15 AO. To say that this is not happening at a non-negligible rate among prestige-chasing parents is probably naive.


Stop. It's all open to abuse, and no one is trying to suss out whether every kid is "sincere" about her or his extra-curricular activities. They don't spend as much time looking at Larla's individual application as you think they do.
Anonymous
Post 11/19/2025 10:05     Subject: What activities are considered "impressive" to potential schools
Gymnastics captain
AND Lead Cheerleader
AND Math team captain
AND Debate co-captain
AND Faculty award for top student in HS

In at two of HYP
Anonymous
Post 11/19/2025 10:02     Subject: What activities are considered "impressive" to potential schools
I'm the PP who posted the "cynical" comments about jobs being fakeable. It is true that most students and parents voluntarily abide by the honor code system. This is one of the great things about America. But it is also open to abuse, rather easily, by parents who know their kids have to get a job of some sort to appear less privileged and more grounded, as part of their effort to game college admission. "Wow, apart from doing this passion project and publishing that research, this kid works a REAL job for THIS long! We WANT this kid!" says a t15 AO. To say that this is not happening at a non-negligible rate among prestige-chasing parents is probably naive.
Anonymous
Post 11/19/2025 09:56     Subject: What activities are considered "impressive" to potential schools
Anonymous wrote:A normal summer job. And I'm not kidding.


My high stats 2026 kid had a normal summer job for several summers. I will let everyone know how admissions works out!
Anonymous
Post 11/19/2025 09:54     Subject: Re:What activities are considered "impressive" to potential schools
Your child needs to, at a minimum, save an African village from starvation.
Anonymous
Post 11/19/2025 09:47     Subject: What activities are considered "impressive" to potential schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A normal summer job. And I'm not kidding.


This unfortunately can be faked. Not that the student wasn't there at all. But the level of commitment can be exaggerated. Some employers don't send W-2 forms for low-level jobs like working at a car wash, and the student made so little that they need not file a tax return. So anyone can easily exaggerate the number of weeks/year and number of hours/week worked. It is not possible to disprove, even if colleges wanted to.


So cynical. Don't let this process disrupt your child's life and yours like this.


Thank you. Very few people cheat the system this way, and yet we assume it’s rampant because we hear about the few cases of egregious lying. It is so corrosive.


I know. I'm fairly certain that the people reading these applications don't approach their task with the assumption that everyone is trying to pull a fast one.
Anonymous
Post 11/19/2025 09:47     Subject: What activities are considered "impressive" to potential schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A normal summer job. And I'm not kidding.


This unfortunately can be faked. Not that the student wasn't there at all. But the level of commitment can be exaggerated. Some employers don't send W-2 forms for low-level jobs like working at a car wash, and the student made so little that they need not file a tax return. So anyone can easily exaggerate the number of weeks/year and number of hours/week worked. It is not possible to disprove, even if colleges wanted to.


Most ECs can be faked. They aren’t fact checking most applicant’s ECs. They do check some, but mainly when there is something “off.”
Anonymous
Post 11/19/2025 09:44     Subject: What activities are considered "impressive" to potential schools
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A normal summer job. And I'm not kidding.


This unfortunately can be faked. Not that the student wasn't there at all. But the level of commitment can be exaggerated. Some employers don't send W-2 forms for low-level jobs like working at a car wash, and the student made so little that they need not file a tax return. So anyone can easily exaggerate the number of weeks/year and number of hours/week worked. It is not possible to disprove, even if colleges wanted to.


So cynical. Don't let this process disrupt your child's life and yours like this.


Thank you. Very few people cheat the system this way, and yet we assume it’s rampant because we hear about the few cases of egregious lying. It is so corrosive.