My non-profit has operations in 40 locations worldwide. We provide targeted educational resources to over 40,000 students per year, including thousands of high-poverty students.
Otherwise, my stats are:
1560/1600 SAT
3.75/4.2 GPA W/UW
Extremely rigorous AP courseload with 5’s and 4’s
Recommendations from notable business leaders and principal
Multiple other extracurriculars with extremely high levels of achievement
Thoughts? What role do significant accomplishments like a well-known non-profit play in Ivy League admissions?
@lookingforward Curious — why is it not that unusual/why is it usually not a tip? I go to a competitive high school and am the only one who has started a major NPO with an actual impact, brand-name, and presence. Interested to hear more about your perspective.
Lots of reasons. Other kids have done it. Usually, with plenty of adult support. (You got 40 locations all by yourself, no help with concepts, vetting, paperwork, fundraising, recruiting, etc?) The review process is holistic. The top colleges want to see more than one showpiece thing (eg, being an Olympic athlete is not a tip, there are still other expectations.) You need a perspective beyond your one hs. The kids who are noted for this sort of thing are active with both depth and breath. They don’t ask. They understand notable biz leaders rarely have any pull at all.
Do you really know what the top schools look for? Just asking.
@lookingforward Yes, this was 100% me. I did the legal work, I did the fundraising, I did the marketing. No teachers, parents, or adults are involved. I mentioned that I have other EC’s as well on a very high caliber (i.e. SVP with major startup) — I’m just interested what role the non-profit plays specifically.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin created Google in their Stanford dorm room – and Stanford was awarded stock in the company because the venture was created on their campus. In fact, Stanford has earned hundreds of millions of dollars from their stake in Google.
Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook in his Harvard dorm room – and Harvard has NOT asked to share in the profits or been award stock in the company even though it was created on their campus. In fact, Harvard has earned absolutely nothing from Facebook.
Those two statements should demonstrate how each university views prospective applicants creating their own businesses or NPO’s while in high school. Stanford tends to look very favorably upon the idea, because if they admit such a student maybe one day Stanford might be able to profit from what that student has created on their campus. On the other hand, Harvard could care less. It’s impressive that a student has created a business or NPO while in high school, but if Harvard admits you to their school, whatever you create on campus is your own, with no ownership stake from the university. So in a very real sense Harvard has nothing to gain by admitting a student that has created a business or start-up while in high school – no more so than a student who is a debate champion, concert pianist, science olympiad winner etc. Conversely Stanford might have a lot to gain by admitting such a student. So it pays for students to do their due diligence on how such things are viewed by a school’s administration in advance of applying to that college.
I find it hard to believe any teen who says that he started and single handedly expanded a non profit all over the globe without any adult help while getting perfect grades in most rigorous courses and actively participating in other extracurriculars, not even Nobel prize winning Malala could claim it.
Very interesting first post. How many hours a week do you spend on your schoolwork, and how many hours a week on the non-profit? It seems like the non-profit would occupy more than 40 hours/week. Its hard to believe that someone around 17 years old is familiar with legal work, marketing, etc in 40 different locations around the globe. How many countries are you in?
Recommendations from business leaders, politicians, etc don’t really help unless they can provide very personal insight to your ethics and drive.
I think Harvard is a long shot for you, as it is for everyone.
Being the founder of a nonprofit is not unusual. However, what matters are your achievements in your org. that will help you stand out from the crowd (kids who participate in the same clubs, sports, etc.)
It’s just not believable. You either had a lot of help or you are exaggerating the results. There aren’t enough hours in the day and no one person has all skills necessary (legal, accounting, marketing, etc.). And that’s if you weren’t in HS as a day job.
I think it is quite an accomplishment if true and will not probably be ignored by Adcoms as some have suggested. I also feel like most people responding are doing so because it feels like OP was humbkebragging in the form of a question. I, for one, felt so and wanted to respond negatively. Hopefully, this did not come across the same way in their application. Good luck with everything! Glad you’re doing some good in this world.
Not humble-bragging, but perhaps missing perspective on what admissions looks for. (That’s something any good candidate needs,to have a real shot.) He knows no one in his hs has done what he did, but seems to miss how aggressively many kids prepare for a good shot at tippy top admit.
It’s not about acclaim, letters from notable business leaders. I’m not sure what that tells us about the basic thinking and research into his targets. I suspect there will be adcom questions how this was supposedly accomplished, what this reach out to 40k kids really is, what the structure is, in those 40 locations. And how he found the time. Or, whether this is much more simplistic than the wording suggests. Same reactions we’re having.
They will look at what made that 3.75, less than A in the classes related to the major or only in electives? The right rigor or just accumulating more and more APs? And what those supposed other EC’s are, that he describes as being, “on a very high caliber.” What the supposed " extremely high levels of achievement" really translates to. Again, he needs perspective.
We see lots of kids on CC misunderstand what Stanford or Wharton look for, assuming if they present a fait accompli, they have some big tip. This is similar.
@gibby The Google and Facebook situations are apples/oranges.
The Google founders were PhD candidates who commercialized research they were doing under the auspices of Stanford and using Stanford resources. In such situations, institutions invariably require ex ante IP assignments so that they own the intellectual property to any resulting discoveries.
Facebook was not done as part of research sponsored by Harvard or using Harvard resources but as an explicitly private venture. Hence, Harvard didn’t ask for an IP assignment or receive one.
Harvard, I’m sure, would assert ownership rights to commercialization of research done by their PhD students, as would any university.
