I feel like I am watching an episode of “what would you do?” with John Quinones. Many will just turn their heads and continue to eat their cornflakes. As I suggested on another thread about similar issues, if this fake charity supposedly raised a lot of money, you can be a whistleblower to the IRS and let them look into it.
I have a disdain for cheaters and liars. But many cheaters are also liars, so who knows how much of their stuff is embellished. But bravo to you for being disgusted enough by dishonesty to consider doing something about it.
I think the college admissions officer aren’t as concerned that Applicant A did a mission trip or that Applicant B was an Eagle Scout. I think the admissions officer is looking at that student to see if he stretched himself, if he found some opportunities and learned something that is somehow reflected in the application. If the student lists 'mission trip to Honduras ’ and nothing else, how is the AO supposed to know if was just the same trip everyone did in 11th grade or if this student spent 3 years earning the money to go, and spent 12 hours a day for the week there digging ditches, or if the parents paid and the volunteering was serving lunch for two days? The Eagle Scout who lists and never mentions it again probably won’t get the same boost as the one who explains his project in detail.
Hmmm…I would think that Eagle Scout in itself implies a very lengthy and dedicated commitment to something. Is it even possible to obtain Eagle Scout status without that?
I really am curious about that; one of mine didn’t get that far into scouting but from those I know who did it, it was quite a commitment that took years of service projects to attain.
Yes, they’d see Eagle Scout and know that many hours had gone into it. But the student who explained the process, the individual project, the results may get a little more attention. I know scouts whose project was to raise money for park benches, and others who have planned whole parks. Both good, both helpful, but what is the background? The benches may have involved more fundraising and planning and permits and organizing, you never know until it is explained.
Mission work can be hard and educational and life changing, or it can be a church trip paid for by mom and dad and not much different than summer camp. Explain what you did and what it meant for you.
You are correct about the work involved to get to Eagle Scout. Perhaps someone can lie about being one, but it is a lot, a LOT of hard work to become one for real.
It can’t be? Why wouldn’t it? Did they interview with the schools? It obviously wasn’t scores/GPA. So what WAS the difference, if not the Fab Fake Charity? I think founding a charity and a community group would go a long way to distinguish one strong student from another.
Obviously the Fab Fake Founders thought so too, or they wouldn’t have done it.
@typiCAmom re: “Actually (without being sarcastic) I’d love to hear of local volunteering that changed your kid life, moved him or her to re-examine intended major, purpose, etc.”
D3 directly attributes her teen-years experiences serving meals at the local rescue mission, helping with Habitat builds, and serving on mission trips to repair homes in eastern KY and the Ozarks to her major in not-for-profit management, interships with a food pantry and homeless shelter, 27 months in the Peace Corps and (I hope!) an initial job after graduation addressing food insecurity.
Regarding the OP’s concern, you just have to concern yourself with your own child’s quest to find the right school. Even though people often think they know every thing about their child’s classmates, they don’t. A friend of mine once commented about a student who she perceived as having no EC’s. Even though our children were in a relatively small high school, she had no idea that the student she was referring to was involved at a national level in a non-school related EC.
@prospect1 You are correct. Earning an Eagle Scout award involves much more than a project. There are many years of troop membership, leadership positions, service projects, badges that must achieved prior to culminating with the project.
Wow. What a thread. I’m glad I kept my head down last year and didn’t know what kids wrote on their applications (including my own - DD wouldn’t let me read her CA essay until after she submitted all her apps) or what their parents may or may not have done. Blissful ignorance made for a less stressful college application season.
“the feel-good value of volunteering is greater than the benefits”
This. Unless the volunteer is truly skilled and can offer something. I’ve seen volunteers with medical training have a huge impact. I’ve seen engineers, accountants, teachers and even artists have a huge impact. High schoolers? Not so much. Luckily, adcoms are very aware of this.
Interesting thread. My DD got into her SCEA school in December. The volunteer work she did (writing a public health curriculum and creating an after-school club that she gave 2x month at an underserved public elementary school) was significant but I can’t imagine that more than 5 other kids at her high school knew anything about it – and they’re the ones who went with her to teach the classes. DD blogged about what they taught in every session (with photos of the activities), but other than her GC, the faculty advisor who drove DD and the others to the elementary school (and any random people who read her blog), no one at her HS knows a thing about it. I guess if anyone ever does ask DD about what may possibly have set her a part in the SCEA applicant pool they might think she was making up a fake charity … which is completely incorrect.
My point is that many kids are busy doing the hard work but try to avoid the limelight. It sounds as if the OP’s child heard the friend bragging, but it is possible that the student actually did do a significant amount of work and the OP just does not know the whole story.
^^ Exactly what I was wondering @GnocchiB - just how much do people know about what other kids do and what their parents do for their children? I know the interests of my children’s friends but there is no way I know all their activities or what they do / have done within those activities.
My daughter got into Michigan with much lower scores and course rigor than some of her classmates who were rejected. When our CC called and asked about why one kid who had particularly high grades and scores didn’t get in he mentioned that it was always hard to say why one kid was rejected and that sonetimes something just strikes the admissions officer about a kids resume or essay. He told her that he was particularly enamored of “one of your students who wrote about how she raises money for the school charity drive by not just selling treats but by doing it by running after her classmates in the hall.” He said “we know we need some student like that.” Well she passed on that story to me because it was my kid ( by the way, she just told me that she’d "happened to talk to admissions " that day. My friend whose kid it was told me that the counselor had called that day to ask about her kid and was told that there was a certain randomness to the process and in this case they just had too many kids like him and were looking to build a well rounded class )
The moral of this story is that it’s hard to have any idea why any kid gets into any particular place.
A friend of mine had a child who concocted false abuse claims in order to become emancipated. She succeeded. She also obtained admission to an elite LAC outside of the normal admission process, and was awarded a full ride in need-based aid.
And yes, I know for a fact that all of these details, including the false nature of the abuse claims, are true.
“Exactly what I was wondering @GnocchiB - just how much do people know about what other kids do and what their parents do for their children? I know the interests of my children’s friends but there is no way I know all their activities or what they do / have done within those activities.”
Of course not. It’s not healthy to know soooo much about your kids’ classmates. It’s suburban-gossipy.
@carachel2, yes, for real. The parents were NOT fine with this. They were extremely hurt and enormously betrayed. And, of course, there were those in the community who chose to believe the daughter. It was devastating for them.
The D admitted to her sister that it was all false and that she “didn’t think it would go so far.” They were advised not to fight it because she was within less than a year of 18. Those of us who were familiar with the situation have absolutely no doubt that if she had not succeeded with that level of claims, she would have hauled out the big guns and accused her (blameless) father of sexual assault. She is a brilliant sociopath with no scruples at all.
Really, it’s like something from a movie, only it’s true.