Long-Term High School Job Impact / Extracurriculars?

Applying to College
1

Hello Everyone,
I am going to be a junior in high school next year and I am looking to get some advice on my extracurriculars. I think I might need to add more - how many should I add? Any recommendations? I’m looking to apply at relatively selective schools ie umich, uva, northeastern, boston university. Here are my current EC’s:
-Chess Club 9th-12th Grade
-Community Service Club: tutoring middle school students weekly (in my school district) 10-12th grade, 150+ hours by 12th grade
-Volunteering at Hospital / Church Program (midnight runs): 9-12th grade, 200+ hours combined by 12th grade
-Long-Term Job at local restaurant as busboy and (soon) waiter, 9-12th grade: 2-3 days per week during school-year, 4-5 days per week during summer
-Play Clarinet, 4th-12th grade

I am also curious how much colleges will care about my work experience at this restaurant, as I put a significant amount of time into it to make money for university. Obviously, I can’t participate as much in EC’s if I am working, so I want to make sure it will have an impact on my application. Also, if it matters, my boss is a CEO/Chairman at a Fortune 500 company, and he will write me a letter of recommendation when the time comes.
Thanks for the help.

2

Would not your boss be a restaurant manager?

A work related letter in addition to academic letters is great but it is more important that it is personal and speaks to your strengths than the prestige/importance of the writer.

3

EC’s, by definition, are anything that is not curricular. A job is an EC.

4

Thanks for the information about the letter. His wife spends significantly more time in the restaurant than he does, and she is the restaurant manager. I will definitely ask her to write the letter in that case, as she knows me much better. I can see why it would be more important for the letter to be more personal, I just wasn’t sure if the letter would have a greater impact if it was written by a more prestigious individual.

5

A letter written by someone who knows you well always carries more weight than a letter from someone prestigious/famous/connected who doesn’t know you at all.

6

OK thanks for the clarification.

7

“M worked for me for 3 years and was responsible, hard-working, and worked well with others…”

“M worked for my wife for 3 years and she says he was responsible, hard-working, and worked well with others…”

Which one has more impact?

8

" I’m looking to apply at relatively selective schools ie umich, uva, northeastern, boston university."

What does selection of your ECs have to do with college applications?

9

I added that in because I have read on this forum that the amount/quality of EC’s goes hand in hand with the level of schools that you’re applying to, meaning that someone applying to Cornell is expected to have better EC’s than someone applying to, say, Montana state. I’m not very experienced with the college application proccess, however I would assume that it pretty accurate. I was wondering if the EC’s I have right now (and plan to continue with) will be adequate for schools like northeastern, uva, etc, or if I should add in more EC’s. Thanks for the input.

10

Yes, your work at the restaurant will be valued by admissions. And it is perfectly fine to send one (1) non-academic recommendation from someone who knows you outside of the school – often a boss or someone along those lines can add valuable information regarding your work ethic, commitment etc. I agree that the person you should ask to write the recommendation is the one who works directly with you (which sounds like the CEO’s wife who is the restaurant manager) – colleges care about what people can say about you more than the credentials of the recommender.

It sounds to me like you are busy enough without adding more ECs. You don’t need to fill up every line on the application - -it is more important that you have a commitment to certain things and it sounds like you have that already.