Daughter is invited to a prestigious social activist platform. She is being recognized for her volunteer efforts. She loves this activity and is very involved from last few years. When she started this activity, she herself struggled to make a path. This allowed her to be involved in something she loved. What she learned in her struggles, she felt that other girls in her situation can use it. So she pushed and pushed for this activity. This became her prime focus and she has found that she just got invited for volunteer her work. Do I encourage her to mention this recogniztion on her college application or it will be too pretentious?
Aren’t you the one who is having difficulty fitting ALL of your kiddo’s activities on the application?
If this is a high priority for your daughter, have her list it. If she has other things that are more notable, then this may not be able to be included.
I would put it under awards/recognition. No different than if someone was selected for a particular program. I would make sure she writes a bit of description (what it is and who/how many were selected for it), instead of just listing the platform and assume the adcoms would know what it is.
Yes she has been lucky that her hard work is paying off, but this one is out of a blue invitation to a prestigious place, and it is out of school and out of her STEM field. It is more on community work she is involved.
If this is her primary focus, I would find room for it. I’m not sure you need to worry about “too pretentious” on the common app. The students need to highlight their passions and accomplishments.
This is an invitation from a very well known place. This is totally unexpected event.
People tend to understate their applications/resumes. This is going to be a most important marketing material of herself to date. If she doesn’t toot her own horn then no one will.
If she has a lot of ECs, I would group her ECs by types - volunteer, music, school involvement, sports, etc.
There is nothing better than getting recognition/awards for one’s passion. It doesn’t need to be in area of academic interest because adcoms also want to see there is more to an applicant than just academic achievements.
@oldfort she is in Washington DC for recognitions, but this one tops all. This is not a scholarship recognitions event in STEM field. It is purely for her volunteer work efforts. Our issue also is that she is working full time on paid summer internships at very prestigious place. So she has to take time off.
Put it in the honors/awards area.
Agree, you can cluster some things together to make room. Put similar things together.