<p>My D was recently nominated to be a student rep. on our town's board of education. How highly do colleges view something like this? She is quite involved at school and has plenty of community service. Would this detract from her focus or add on to it? Is this a prestigious affair that colleges would like to see?</p>
<p>She is the one who should decide whether or not to do this. And that decision should be based on her interest in serving on the BOE, not on whether or not it will “look” better on her college applications. Your concerns should be the best ways you can support her should she take on such a sizable time commitment.</p>
<p>In our school district (approx. 140,000 students), the student BOE reps usually get two periods off from their regular class schedule so that they have time for all the work involved, and this responsibility is recorded as two class periods of internship/independent study.</p>
<p>Apparently it isn’t a massive time issue but nevertheless it is work. And i have attended these meetings before and they are very civil and merely address educational issues. Being the busy girl she is, time is of the essence so i don’t think she should consider devoting to activities that wouldn’t help her in the college process.</p>
<p>Sorry, but I don’t support your reasoning of not partaking in activities because you feel they may not help with admissions. Students should participate in activities that interest them. Period. Colleges want to see THAT. If your D is very interested in this position, she should do it for that reason alone. That said, it is a position that I do think a college would see favorably in terms of leadership and responsibility. But that’s not why she should opt to do it if she wants.</p>
<p>My own D was a very busy kid…three varsity sports, two instruments with private lessons, band, jazz band, a sports program outside of school, two dance classes per week, and so on, some at great distances. Nonetheless, she spearheaded a committee (often she was the only one working on this) to effect a new policy for her high school and spent two years on it and presented her policy to the faculty and administration and eventually the school board and the policy was passed and has been beneficial to the students who came after her (did not help her as it was enacted after she left HS). While this is not her most significant EC, it certainly was on her resume and her recs spoke about her being the only kid who truly effected change in the school despite she hadn’t even won the election. She didn’t do this because of college. She did it because she felt so strongly about this issue that she pursued it heavily for two years, going to meetings before the school day started, despite sports every afternoon and weekend and performing arts every evening, while still becoming val of her class. If your D is genuinely interested in these issues, she should do it. And yes, I believe a kid who really makes a difference will be noticed by colleges but if that is why she is doing it, forget it.</p>
<p>Soozievt is right. Kids need to do activities that interest them. They only get to be teenagers once. Do NOT let anyone’s idea of what some random college admissions counselor might-or-might-not like dictate how your daughter spends her 4 precious years of high school.</p>
<p>That said, I cannot see how this could be a negative on a college application.</p>
<p>It’s a big responsibility. You can help her by getting a good picture of the scope of the work that she will need to do and the time commitment so that she can make the decision. That is really what should drive the decision, though yes it is a great thing to be able to put on a college application.</p>
<p>However, if she has school work and obligations that have her committed to the limits, she should rethink it and make the decision on what she should eliminate to make room for this if she want to do it.</p>
<p>Sounds like an amazing opportunity. She will gain valuable experience being involved in the business and operation of the board of education, and will meet interesting people. Don’t just think about college applications; it will be valuable for personal growth. It could also be important in being selected for future internships or even future jobs.</p>
<p>Well back when i was posting the first post, she accepted the offer! I think she will do an excellent job. I merely wanted to know and I can gladly say that she hasn’t done anything in HS that she would regret or didn’t enjoy!</p>
<p>And obviously, I guess the consensus is that it’s worth putting on the resume as possibly a unique EC?</p>
<p>So you actually didn’t know if it was worth putting in a resume? Really?</p>
<p>Yes, it should go on a resume. It’s something that will attract attention because it’s unusual. Also, anyone who knows anything about this type of position realizes that it involves a substantial time commitment and serious responsibility. That makes it impressive, in my opinion.</p>
<p>It sounds awesome. Great opportunity! Congrats to your D.</p>
<p>who nominated her? it is considered a highly responsible position if a kid gets nominated to an adult committee to represent the school.</p>
<p>It does speak volumes about the maturity level.</p>
<p>It sounds like a great opportunity, but she should only do it if she’s planning on doing a good job. If she’s not that interested she should let someone who wants the job and would put the time and effort to do a great job have it.</p>
<p>One of my Ds was a Youth Commissioner for local city. It was a great experience to get to see how some parts of City Government work and to hobnob with the mayor. Definitely a great community EC to list…</p>
<p>Our son was the student representative to our district’s long range planning committee that held monthly community forums for the past 15 months. He was nominated by our principal and selected by a committee after an interview.</p>
<p>It was a good experience for him to hear the community’s perception of a quality education. He got a little frustrted that the adults on the committee considered him more of an observer than a participant.</p>
<p>I think it probably helped him to obtain one of the PTA scholarships and the local Cotillion for Achievement scholarship.</p>
<p>One activity that can be very powerful is to list all one’s interests and desires on a sheet of paper – and then rank them. No putting a #1 by several things. Strict ranking only! When we choose to spend time on one activity, it automatically makes less time for other choices – by taking a moment to rank everything it becomes clearer when we are living our values or have gotten distracted by things that are not so important. </p>
<p>When S had an opportunity to try yet another activity, he was tempted – but when we ranked his life list he realized that it would crowd out other things that he valued immensely. He was able to say “Thanks but no thanks” very quickly to the new offering.</p>
<p>Olymom, that was exactly the situation that i was in. I guess she thought it was important to her and i agree. It is a “prestigious” position and she likes to speak for her peers. She was nominated by her principal. Now do we have to mention this in the resume or is it better to just leave it without? And does this apply to other interests she has? She is the youth representative elected by a community forum to be a leader in a project. Should she identify this, that she was elected/chosen by adults?</p>
<p>I think this sounds like a really neat opportunity, and a breath of fresh air compared to the usual high school EC’s. My S did something that was similar in concept in our community and I personally think it made a big difference and stood out.</p>
<p>I agree completely with soozievt when she says:
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I think that’s often the expectation, but I know that our tour guide at Georgetown who had a similar position ended up getting a lot done. I can’t remember if he then was elected to the school board, or was in charge of some committee or both. Whatever it was he was a real go-getter and the fact that he exceeded expectations clearly made him a very attractive candidate to colleges.</p>
<p>Why would you leave it OFF a resume? I don’t get that. First, you were concerned about what will look good to colleges in terms of which activity she should participate in and then now that she decided to do it, you are contemplating leaving it off the resume? A resume should include all significant activities a student participated in and not just which ones you think the colleges wish to see. Represent yourself on paper. The rest will follow.</p>