Starting a nonprofit for college apps?

Applying to College
1

I’m a sophomore in high school right now and I am thinking of starting a nonprofit organization to pad my resume. I’m planning for it to be a program that promotes STEM education for low-income minorities (this is consistent with my application because its focus is math and I already have ~200 service hours in teaching math).

However I really couldn’t care less about STEM education for low-income minorities, so basically everything the program does is going to be performative.

So my question is, would this strategy work for boosting my college application? Some people say it shows leadership, initiative, and giving back the community, while others say AOs will automatically think I’m padding my resume (which I am, but I’m doing my best to fake it).

And please don’t give me any of the “AOs can detect passion” BS because obviously they can’t, and don’t lecture me on ethics because I have zero morals or ethics. I just want to know how much starting a successful nonprofit would help me stand out, and whether it could potentially be a red flag at all (especially since I started it so late).

2 Likes
2

I’d say a good way of standing out with your nonprofit is for it to grow to a regional, national, or even global scale. Running a large nonprofit while also juggling school is certainly impressive! Getting it to national recognition will probably be difficult but if you’re able to make it a regional thing and raise like 20k then I think it’ll help you stand out. And also write a bunch of BS on your essays about how it’s changed your life or something idk. Take what I’m saying with a grain of salt bc I’m just as lost as you are and this is my own opinion.

3

If this is what you really believe then I think you’re seriously misjudging what adcoms want. But it’s your time. You can waste it on anything you want.

4

Do we think this might be a facetious post?

1 Like
5

If you don’t care about this at all…please do something that you do care about instead.

1 Like
7

Assuming this is a legitimate post, which I doubt, OP is asking users to validate dishonesty, which is contrary to the mission of this site. Closing.

6 Likes