<p>what do u think about participating in or forming NGO? and then mantion it in extracurricular activities?</p>
<p>PLEASE do not form an NGO. The proliferation of nonprofits founded by students is beginning to get me down (I interview for a HPYSM). So much time and effort and money goes into the set up when the same student could have been leveraging their efforts at an existing organization do the exact same work, learning more in the process, and making a bigger impact. </p>
<p>Join an NGO that has a mission you are passionate about and make the kind of contribution in terms of your time, energy, creativity and passion that will enable them to write a letter that says, “X was the best volunteer we’ve ever had.” Most of the smaller NGOs, for example, need help with the use of technology (websites, databases, reporting, etc…) Offer to help with their program mgt. or marketing or fund-raising, or anything that will give you exposure to the very real challenges of managing an existing operation on a shoe string. If you can put multiple years into it, you can experience a range of functions within the organization. Then, someday, when you really understand the challenges, you can start your own NGO…</p>
<p>if i could rate i would give u 10.thanks for a comprehensive answer!</p>
<p>i will not form NGO but rather join it.</p>
<p>Not to disagree, but the real answer is that it depends on how well you do it. Being a leader / founder of an enterprise is always a better and more impressive thing if you can actually do so in a way that has a real and substantive impact and that allows you to impart your particular vision to an issue.</p>
<p>Joining an NGO at your age, you’re most likely going to be doing monkeywork. By contrast, I worked with some former students in order to create an NGO that sent school supplies to a particular African school district. Were there already NGOs that do this kind of work? Yes, but had these students joined one, they would probably mostly just have been hustling around trying to get used computers. Instead, I guided them through the process of forming a legal nonprofit, handling the accounting, working with international politicians, managing complex things like shipping to international ports, etc. When some of them made the trip to Cameroon to see their equipment installed and in use, they understood that their leadership and initiative had taught them far more than they could have learned as mere joiners or worker bees.</p>
<p>And, more to your point, on their college essays, they had a really compelling and amazing story to tell. The result is that of the four main students I worked with, one is at Columbia, one is at Duke, one is at WashU and the other will be joining me at Yale next year.</p>
<p>Joining is a good thing, but if you want to think big, don’t let people who would seek to minimize you tell you to wait your turn and be drone. If it’s what motivates you and you have a passion, then be a leader and blaze your own trail. It’ll be hard work, but <em>if you do it right</em> it could be amazing.</p>
<p>i really appreciate ur answer!</p>
<p>can u tell me what did u mean when saying: “Joining is a good thing, but if you want to think big, don’t let people who would seek to minimize you tell you to wait your turn and be drone.”</p>
<p>I strongly disagree that students who work at nonprofits do monkey work. Only those who lack initiative stay in that situation for very long. If you are spending your entire day filing, faxing and copying and are unpaid, then you are being taken advantage of. As a volunteer, you have to assert your interest in doing something meaningful even if you do grunt work occasionally (we all do, even if we are the Executive Director or the Board Chair). </p>
<p>I worked with dozens of small nonprofits over the past 10 years and I can’t think of any who didn’t need IT support, assistance with grant-writing, fund-raising or marketing, help with program outcome metrics, client population surveys - not to mention the delivery of services. And a talented high school student with initiative would be a huge asset.</p>