I don’t see the problem. Put down founding your charity as an “EC” and include the time you spent studying before it as a part of the time committed.
And yes your writing comes off as extremely contrived and pretentious to me.
No, 10,000 was just the number that popped into my head as a great number to surpass, which it sounds like you have done many times over so congrats on that note! I think the way you described it in the third paragraph of post #18 sounds like pretty good essay material and it is written in a casual tone which sounds much more personable than the eloquent, yet overly ostentatious language used in previous posts. In agreement with Skarlo, I would also like to stress that you maybe shouldn’t use reading the books themselves as your ec, but focus on how you spent 10 months starting up and improving your charity before it really took off. Adding that you read countless books to better your knowledge of the secret to success will definitely sound like a worthwhile way to spend your days.
Thank you too all! Finally some clarity!
Last night, I met with a Vanderbilt (I believe it was Vanderbilt, didn’t clarify - was worried it would send the wrong message) ex adcom member and she essentially restated what smithemi97 and skarlo said in regards to whether or not to list it. She said if I was applying when she was on the committee it would be alright if I listed the “study” as a ec because she had known who I was and could easily understand what it was. She also said to make sure my application has a story that relates all of my extras with my essay and any accolades. They said they want success at the national level.
She also said some other things I thought would be useful for you all. She said for colleges with prominent regional representatives (like Harvard) the interview is VERY important. She also said superscore SATs are considered, but not as appealing as one sitting scores! She said that it was more appealing to score a 2250 in one sitting than 3 sittings superscored at a 2300. She also said they can sometimes consider percentages (99%, 98%) in conjunction with the numerical score! She was a very nice lady who shed some good knowledge with me. Hope it helped!
Thank you.
I think your app needs more concrete info. about your charity and fewer details about the number of books you had to read in order to launch it.
Some teens in Iowa formed a group to prevent trafficking, held fundraiser and awareness events, were featured in [url=<a href=“http://iowafreepress.com/2015/06/25/teens-against-human-trafficking-to-host-july-fundraiser/%5Darticles%5B/url”>http://iowafreepress.com/2015/06/25/teens-against-human-trafficking-to-host-july-fundraiser/]articles[/url], and have a website people can go to for further information. I’m sure they had to do research and planning to get to where they are, but the results are what matter. If their college apps indicate that they created an organization, planned and executed fundraising/awareness events, and provide links to articles & websites, adcoms will understand the work that went into creating it. If I were you, I’d add similar details about your organization to your app.
I agree with the ex-adcom…You could use your journey as an essay…I think the Charity is the EC, but that The Study was part of that EC.
So your essay could talk about how you Saw a need, didn’t see anyone filling that need effectively, gathered information on how to fill that need (The Study), started charity to help with need, raised money for need…and?
Have you spent/donated/done anything with the money yet?
You want to show you took action, did it in a thoughtful way (the Study) but actually got some results.
So make sure you get some results!
Yes of course I donated the money, and planning on donating more. Only 2 employees in the organization take any sort of payment - both take the bare minimal for survival.
Austin, I think I have heard who you are talking about (not sure if they were from Iowa). I, very much to my disappointment, have NOT done much at all to prevent it here in the states. Other organizations do that job very well and take all the precautions I would take to help prevent it. Why compete with them? But anyways, my focus has certainly been international. I had to get many contacts in the countries I was working in. Ex politicians to Nobel prize nominees all have a pivotal role in where the money goes.
I’ve always felt that the essay is where I should include the “study”. I was just worried that on my application there will be a 10 month time period where I did not do anything outside of school. I was very actively 9th and 11th grade, but 10th I immersed myself in the literature. That was my worry.
but 10th grade you were working on your EC…the gaining background/research part of forming the charity. So frame your ECs as Charity ABC, Founder, 10th-12th grades.
It’s going to be difficult to convince adcoms you saw an unmet need when a quick Google search brings up pages of groups all over the world working toward the same goals. How is your group different? Why invest time and energy creating a new organization instead of promoting one that already has contacts and staff in place? You need to be able to show there was a need and how you attempted to meet it.
Totally agree with every statement in that Austin.
In short, organizations often times are very good in their intentions but fail to execute in the most efficient way. Every 30 seconds, a child goes missing. For example, maiti Nepal, probably the most prominent group in combating trafficking are very very slow in their use of funds. That can’t be happening when 30 seconds is the given time frame, And the majority of their funds go into developing half way homes as opposed to preventing the need for half way homes. In essence, they have accepted defeat by making these half way homes.
Other organizations of prominence have ties to political parties and candidates. Many, many, many others tend to use a high percent of their funds to pay their board members and directors. Many of them earn an easy six figure income.
My goal with my organization was to utilize funds quickly AND effectively, to not only help facilitate recovery to do all that is possible in prevention, and a few other things I’ll leave out for the sake of anonymity (I advertise them a lot).
Thank you for your help.