Lack of Work Experience

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>While my son continues to vacilate on the Yale v. Harvard v. Princeton issue, I thought I'd post this here to get an idea how an elite school would feel about this. Will his lack of work experience hurt him in the application process? There are only a couple lines devoted to it, but leaving them blank or saying "none" (meaning: I'm a spoiled upper middle class kid who gets an allowance for breathing) looks bad to me. He has great ECs, they're just not "work."</p>

2

<p>Tell him to work a semester at Starbucks to demonstrate that he is humble and grounded.</p>

<p>See, for example:</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showpost.php?p=2472158&postcount=1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showpost.php?p=2472158&postcount=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>My sense is that some adcomms' eyes start to glaze over when they read about all the European travel, archeological digs, etc that upper-middle class kids use to while away their summers, and that they really perk up when they come across a kid who worked at Starbucks or as a checker at the local supermarket.</p>

3

<p>BurnThis, when i applied to Harvard i had zero work experience, and i still got in.</p>

4

<p>BurnThis's kid may face quite different hurdles than you did however ... a different set of prejudices to overcome!</p>

5

<p>I didn't work either. And I got in.</p>

<p>I seem to remember that under work experience, I listed some unpaid internship work I'd done for a local nonprofit--because it was much more work-ish than volunteer-ish.</p>

6

<p>
[quote]
BurnThis's kid may face quite different hurdles than you did however ... a different set of prejudices to overcome!

[/quote]
well quite honestly, i have faced minimal obstacles (other than a hard courseload and run-of-the-mill discrimination)</p>

7

<p>I don't think they care all that much. They're an academic institution, not a job fair. They just want to see that you're doing something with your life--whether it's working, volunteering, or whatever it is that people do.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I'm a spoiled upper middle class kid who gets an allowance for breathing.

[/quote]

So are most of the people who go to the school. It's no big secret.</p>

8

<p>Sunglasses also may have had a hook or two that the OP's kid lacks. </p>

<p>I still recommend a few hundred hours doing "community service" at Starbucks, the local supermarket, etc.</p>

9

<p>Hahaha. Touch</p>

10

<p>Hey its not too late Give us a link! Maybe some race results?</p>

<p>By the way, HERE's a promising recruit named Kelli for the women's track team:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/14571527.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/14571527.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

11

<p>I listed nothing under work experience and was admitted.</p>

12

<p>weird. how could she both play soccer and run track? she's going to have to choose.</p>

13

<p>sunglasses do you run track at harvard? or am i misinterpretting what byerly was saying...</p>

14

<p>yeah. I do.</p>

15

<p>oh cool; i'm going to try to walk on next year. what do you run?</p>

16

<p>send me a pm and i'll tell you!</p>

17

<p>just tried to and it said that your PM message inbox is full. </p>

<p>(sorry didn't mean to get this thread off topic, please continue.)</p>

18

<p>sunglasses is soooo popular with her full inbox</p>

19

<p>Oh, and my "work experience" was a couple summers working for the rec department, and some random tutoring here and there. I don't think it did too much for my application!</p>