Alright so this isn’t for me but for my friend who is a junior.
She wants to be a psychiatrist and major in psychology.
She also wants to go to a top 50 forbes list school or top 30 lac.
She has no ec that will help her(total lack of commitment to anything in her life) and I have an idea.
There is a summer camp that requires you to be 16 to work their and it is a non-profit free camp for kids with special needs.
If she gets 500+ hours and writes her application essay on this will it be good enough to get accepted into a top school?
This camp seems to be her last shot at an ec, if anyone in a similar situation has any ideas please help:)
Um, with what else going for her? For colleges that care about how a kid gets off her bum, no, one camp experience and adding all the hours up won’t resolve “a total lack of commitment.”
No way this is her “last shot.” If you seriously want to help her, get her involved now and through next December. It’s a life lesson. Every community has need. Or point her to colleges that only care about stats.
What would possibly be as defining on her application as helping kids with special needs the first year she becomes eligible? She isn’t an athlete, she isn’t winning any academic competitions, she’s as normal as it gets. This camp is the one thing that can have an impact that really matters on her application. What else is there to makeup for a lack of achievement outside of school. She is NHS and has won honor roll, but that’s it.
This even if it won’t make up for 12 years of nothing but a normal life, but it can evoke an empathetic connection with the admissions counselor if she plays her cards right. Admissions is objective mostly, but a 2% increase in chances can be the deciding factor at schools where she applies. An interview to pair it with could too.
Nope, that sounds like a terrible idea. Children with special needs aren’t like sacks of potatoes that need to be stacked. Let those committed to the well being of kids work in those camps. Who wants a counselor who is there to get him/her self hours so that it looks good for college. I’d not want that person as my kids’ counselor! Whoever had the idea to encourage people to volunteer for the sake of getting into college was very deranged! Volunteers should be engaged in the endeavor to help others not themselves.
Your “friend” could put in 10,000 hours and it would not help him/her get into a top college. They don’t really care about how many hours someone has volunteered. On the other hand, your “friend” might earn him/her self a front seat in church. Maybe a nice pin too.
Top schools are looking for people with substance and who are naturally inclined to do meaningful things. It isn’t a matter of just deciding you want to get into one of the most competitive schools. In fact, many people want that but they don’t have the credentials for it. it is not simply a matter of finding a quick way of looking like the kind of person who would appeal to one of those colleges. You have to actually be that person.
Slots in PsyD programs are a dime a dozen so it is likely that your “friend” can get into a psychology graduate program regardless of what undergraduate program he/she enrolls in. It’s a pay to play system in psychology. Psychiatry is another story because it requires medical school and that is still a competitive enterprise in the US.
@lostaccount that’s a very hostile post, if you look at my threads I am a boy and a senior who has a great opportunity at a top 25 lac. I have played my sport for 13 years and reached the top 4% in the country. Your condescending tone is a joke and your hostility is not appreciated. I am a senior 2016 applying ed to Kenyon as an athletic recruit.
She likes helping people, she tutors class mates and has a genuine care for people, which is why she wants to be a psychiatrist. She is like a mother to everyone. The issue is, that beside good letters of rec, a great gpa, and some good test scores…she has nothing.
She became eligible this year to do it and it was always what she wanted to do since her best friend did it all last year. Looking at colleges now, she realizes she has nothing that will help her application since she has never reached beyond helping people in her classes and basically stuff that doesn’t go on paper.
She is smart and is graduating top 10% and can go to any state school in Texas. She wants to go to a small private lac instead.
My question is, is that a good thing to do or are there better things that she can do to setup a path for her career that will look good for colleges.
I agree with @lookingforward, one EC, no matter how involved and how many hours, does not make up for other areas that could have been addressed during her high school years. They will notice that her lack of activities “suddenly” arose with a camp.
She would be compared to students with better and exceptional grades who are also: Scout Leaders, Athletes, Musicians, Best Buddies, novelists, food bank workers, homeless shelter volunteers, babysitters, museum docents, Cancer camp counselors, part-time workers, ad nauseum. These kids work their butts off both in and out of school. FYI, all of the high school students that I know are members of the NHS and other clubs, its not unique to top 20 school candidates. (FWIW: Best Buddies is a club that pairs off high school students with their high school’s special needs students; it is a year round activity for all 4 years of high school-it is defining to a large number of students!)
The colleges and admissions reps always told our kids that they did not need another student who was a “book” because they had plenty of those in their libraries. They want students who will be leaders and active on their campuses and they know which ones will be active based on current activities.
One camp isn’t going to make up for her lack of motivation outside of the classroom for 4 years. What if she doesn’t get hired?
@“aunt bea” She only became eligible this year and they are a non profit who are almost always understaffed. My friend does do babysitting and lifeguarding, what other ec’s can you write down? She has some ec’s but it seems they aren’t special. XC JV 3 years and some school clubs. Nothing that has “wow” factor. She has tutored and helped students, but that doesn’t compare to most ec’s other applicants have.
She legit wants to do this camp, but would pass up if there were some things that can help her out, an internship or volunteer program for a doctor or psychologist?
If she is “genuinely” interested, I don’t see how it can hurt. But she should do this as a learning experience - ie. could I imagine working with special needs kids some day or is this not for me? She should do this from a generous heart and not as a calculated strategy to boost her admissions chances. Who knows? It may light a fire under her and lead to other kinds of volunteer work. Or it may leave her cold. If she approaches it with the right spirit, it will be good for her and might lead her to other interests outside of her classes.
Honestly, I’d worry about GPA, test scores and LORs first and ECs last.
@mamaedefamilia she has good grades scores and lors already. That’s not an issue at all. she scored a 1280 on her psat out of 1520. She will improve her sat score and probably end up with the equivelant of a 2100 or 1300 composite.
The best thing she can do for herself, besides max-ing her test scores and GPA, is be herself - the best version of herself. Do things that truly interest her. In the long run that’s where she’ll get the best results. Going to college is more than just name recognition and brag factor.
JMO.
OP, you are getting mad at posters for suggesting that your friend is just trying to pump up her CV for college apps- but look at your own post.
Moreover:
TOTALLY misses the point of college attention to ECs. It’s not about the ‘wow’ factor. It’s about showing depth and commitment and growth and being able to convey that. I know somebody who is currently at Princeton whose main EC was babysitting.
Your friend has to make her own path, and you can’t ‘insta-fix’ it for her.
@collegemom3717 I wasn’t mad at any posters except the one that personally attacked me, I asked for some advice from the posters for more information and suggestions. I know she has to make her own path, for the most part it is good. She is just looking for help that makes the difference between state school of UT Austin or LAC like Colorado College and Sewanee.
The personal attack was quite rude, and the implications that it was me was worse. I am actually asking for a friend and not a “friend” which is usually referred to the op. I was also clarifying some details, she was not eligible for this camp before this year and has been interested in it for a while now.
OP: Part of the issue here is that your friend has some extracurricular activities:
Tutoring, babysitting, and working as a lifeguard are all respectable extracurriculars, and I doubt any college will scoff at them. Cross-country, like many sports, is viewed favorably. It would obviously be better if she was on the varsity team, but a sport is a sport. Committing a significant amount of time to running is a respectable activities.
Despite all the above, you chose to start the discussion with the following statement:
That probably influenced the course of the discussion. It’s also not the fairest assessment, judging by the above. Are there students with more “impressive” extracurriculars? Yes - there are quite a few among top 20 applicant pools. Does that indicate a total lack of commitment to anything in her life? Not really.
Most people don’t deal in harsh judgments of their friends, and it didn’t contribute to the conversation in this case.
Edit to add: If your friend has been interested in this camp for a while, and wants to do it, she should. In all likelihood it would be a great experience. That’s the only thing that really matters - she’ll get into a good college whatever she does next summer, and >95% of college students love their school. Life is too short to spend it doing something simply because it “looks good” to colleges.
What I meant was she never stuck with anything in her life. She never put time into anything and focused on it. Xc is not impressive if you’re not being recruited. She has always been the girl that gets good grades but never does anything special and hasn’t focused on anything for an extended period of time. 60% of the people I know babysit or are lifeguards asa job, and jv running is 40 people strong.
I guess I see xc as a less significant ec though thinking about it, I was varsity at my sport with 1st team all district honors as a freshman and was varsity xc without training for it. She only did xc and was jv 3 years. I dedicated 10 years to something and she didn’t. Most of the kids i see applying to these lacs seem to have better ec’s and hers don’t seem special since so many people have them.
We’ve all been on the short end of some bluntness. The important thing is to learn what one can.
The problem is that competitive privates like to see “get up and go.” You presented your friend as having none of that, “total lack of commitment,” and that you came up with this 11th hour idea.
Now it turns out she does have some clubs and tutoring, plus a sport…but you’re looking for “wow” that compares to others. Of course out antennae went up.
Why can’t she engage meaningfully now?
OP, you’re wrong that xc will be less significant. Sorry, but I’m not sure you see this as Adcoms will.
@lookingforward I didn’t even know that babysitting and being a lifeguard were things you could put on your app. If they were my list could be much longer as well. I mean most of these are pretty insignificant compared to what other people do to get into some pretty great schools. Her sport would be seen as participated though, what does admissions think about that? I’ve heard admissions doesn’t care about sports unless you have a special award or are being recruited.
How does tutoring, lifeguarding, being a member of a few highschool clubs(not very active), and running jv xc look at a school like colorado college?
She has no hooks either, white straight middle class girl with2 parents.
She is a group of people who it’s substantially harder to get into college for. I thought that this camp, which she just became eligible for this week, would be the defining ec for her resume. It’s literally spending time and helping those that are handicapped have fun and get a summer camp opportunity.
Working there all summer would be a good experience for her and would give her some special “it” for a college right? She wants to do it anyways but her parents want her to volunteer at a physical rehab place.
Which would look better, and as an admissions counselor how would they perceive it?
@lookingforward I have heard d3 schools don’t care about sports all that much if you didn’t play an important role or have a leadership role.
You, your friend and her parents need to understand that neither the camp nor the physical rehab place will give her “some special it”. Either will only be a “defining EC” and help her application IF she can show that she has taken the experience and done something with it. The majority of applicants to Colorado College will have done something similar. She has to go beyond ‘I learned so much’ or ‘it changed how I understand things’ and show how it changed things for her, and (crucially) what she is doing with that change.
You ask “How does tutoring, lifeguarding, being a member of a few highschool clubs(not very active), and running jv xc look at a school like colorado college”, and the answer is how do they fit into her narrative arc of who she and where she is going? Part of the job of college applicants is to bring together the threads of their life and make something of the result.
Also, you keep going on about how ‘she just became eligible’, which I take to mean that she has just turned 16, which makes her a pretty young junior.
You have to be careful about what you’ve heard. Eg, 3 years of xc can represent commitment. Working with any needs group can show a number of good traits. But so could rehab. And so would filling in those gaps.