<p>I totally get that … and I’m looking well past the first 20 or 30. I haven’t a sense on how low to go and what range I should be focusing in on.</p>
<p>I don’t think Top 20 adcoms care much about religious activities unless they somehow help folks outside of your religious affiliation. I mean we are talking about applying to secular universities and colleges, right? By all means, put them in your apps, but you’d get more points if you can relate these activities to something outside of your church or synagogue.</p>
<p>I wasn’t thinking adcoms should care about religious activities – I was thinking more about the teaching part. Is there a difference from an adcom standpoint between “taught religious classes and tutored Hebrew to XX students” and “taught kids how to play chess / volleyball / whatever?”</p>
<p>@post 82^, probably true, but sad nevertheless. Anyone else know anything different?</p>
<p>PGirl @83 above, my D also tutors in religious school. I have told her that she should not “hang her hat on that” so to speak. I think it shouldn’t make a difference, but somehow it does. Actually, I think tutoring hebrew is a lot harder than french or spanish, but WTH.</p>
<p>I may be wrong on this, but again, if the teaching is done outside the synagogue or if the students are not members of your synagogue, you’d get more points. Just my opinion.</p>
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<p>Lot’s of issues here.</p>
<p>Schools that don’t rank tend to be the more competitive ones. Schools where parents go in to yell at the principal because Johnny can’t take band because it’s unweighted and his GPA will drop. Most private schools that require tests to get in also don’t rank because the kids are so closely clumped.</p>
<p>This does not mean colleges don’t know where students rank. They do. The schools give enough info to figure it out pretty closely.</p>
<p>On the issue of grade inflation, yes, there’s a lot of it. In a typical CA public high school a 4.0 is often not top 10%! There’s also grade deflation. So colleges look at a student’s performance in the context of the schools. This works well at high schools they know well, but could be a concern for kids at schools they don’t know as well. This is why it’s important to ask the counselor to note anything important about your student that may not be obvious.</p>
<p>There are schools where a 3.5 is top 5%. These schools usually have average SAT scores around 2100 and send 25% plus to ivies and peers. So clearly, you do not need to be top 10% at these. Though those schools usually come with their own issues like lots of legacies/top URMs/recruited athletes, so it’s not at all the top 25% that is getting into the top colleges.</p>
<p>The bottom line is these schools are rejecting the vast majority of kids with superb qualifications on every level. There has to be something truely compelling for them to step out of the box and accept a student whose weakness is something they rank ‘most important.’ I think this is what the kids all need to really understand so as Dad ‘O’ 2 points out, the focus is on schools where all of their stats fit and these reaches are put in context.</p>
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<p>I totally agree. You need a short list of schools where the Naviance shows a good fit and at least one safety before spending time on selecting from the Top 20s. I assume no one whose kids fit in this thread will simply gun for the Top 20s exclusively.</p>
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<p>I’m surprised to hear that, but in a way it makes sense. Is it specifically about the religion? That doesn’t seem right. Or, is it about only helping folks within the organization?</p>
<p>So, if a Girl Scout successfully teaches a group of younger Scouts a comprehensive course in first aid, is that similar?
Or, if a student teaches a course in Italian music to the younger members of an Italian society group, is that similar?
Or, if a student gives free tennis lessons to the members of the local Y, is that similar?</p>
<p>These are all ECs that directly help only those folks within these organizations, similar to the religious EC being discussed. So, would the adcoms view these in the same way? If not, it would seem that if a student is “passionate” about an activity that happens to be religion-related there might be a bias against it that does not exist against secular activities. Hmm…</p>
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<p>In my opinion, yes. There is a bias. I came to this conclusion not from some reputable research works or surveys, but by osmosis of anecdotes and innuendos over the years.</p>
<p>^ Well, so much for that diversity thing theyre always touting.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s anti religious biases today but I also don’t think Jews from the NE provide diversity in the eyes of a top 20 school. They are overrun with such applicants. It’s as bad as being a prep school WASP! At a small school in the South? Sure.</p>
<p>Well, that’s disappointing to hear, certainly. It’s a big part of S’s life – not the religious part per se, but the teaching and mentoring part.</p>
<p>How about Jews from the midwest? LOL.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl - Would your S be able to organize the teaching material on Hebrews (notes/charts/hws) in such a way that can be reused for a local program, say at a library? May be put on a website? How about organizing a language learning trip to Israel? I’m sure he can think of ways to leverage it outside of the synagogue. Even if he doesn’t do any of these, he should still highlight it on his apps because it is a big part of his life and he is passionate about it. Don’t be disappointed, be creative!</p>
<p>Ah - I like where you are heading. Want to be a college counselor for me??</p>
<p>^ I’m flattered. Does this mean I have to leave this thread to avoid conflict of interest? :D</p>
<p>Maybe it’s my bias showing, but to me teaching kids Hebrew is different (i.e better) than teaching kids scripture even in a religious context. I haven’t heard anything one way or another about how religious activities are judged by admissions committees though one of my college boyfriends was an altar boy. (Can’t believe I still remember that!)</p>
<p>My son asked me today if I thought he should write a college application essay on a particular topic. His idea was hilarious, but it would have been largely fictional (obviously, not deceptively). I told him it was probably a bad idea, because while it might be highly entertaining to readers, in the end they wouldn’t really know anything about him other than that he can be funny, and they’re looking for introspection and a sense of what kind of person the applicant is.</p>
<p>I made the right call, right?</p>
<p>I find kids are never as funny as they think they are. :)</p>
<p>I suppose if he’s looking to get in a creative writing program, it could work.</p>