<p>I'm 16 and my first job ever was at US bank. </p>
<p>Sure – for those colleges that look at outside activities. Why wouldn’t they? </p>
<p>(Now you should know that about 85% of colleges DON’T look at ECs…)</p>
<p>@T26E4 Do you think they would be impressed that my first job was at US bank? </p>
<p>Any job is fine Murtillion. Bank or restaurant or mowing lawns, people understand there’s only so much responsibility a 16 yo is entrusted with. </p>
<p>Being that you’re only 16, I would imagine they would be cognizant of the fact that you didn’t get this job off your own merit alone and probably had connections that most applicants. who have to mow lawns and work at restaurants, will not have had. Will that diminish the impressiveness of your job in their eyes? Probably, but your being employed will still be viewed positively. </p>
<p>On the other hand, If you did really manage to get employed at a U.S. bank without a relative/close family friend working there, then that is impressive.</p>
<p>@T26E4 Where is the world did you get that?</p>
<p>@anniebeats: Virtually all pubic colleges, including 4 year and 2 year schools, do not look at EC’s – and there are more public institutions than private ones in the US and in the world. In addition, outside of the Common App colleges, many private colleges don’t look at EC’s either. Those colleges that do pay attention to EC’s are in the minority.</p>
<p>FWIW: T26E4 is an alumni interviewer for an HYP school, so he understands the college process more than most on CC and you can be assured that his numbers are accurate.</p>
<p>@gibby @T26E4 Well he isn’t an admissions counselor which probably explains why his number is so skewed.</p>
<p>OP, 8 percent of colleges and universities said that work/extracurricular activities are considerably important while 39.1 percent said it is moderately important, and 35 percent said it has limited importance. About 17.8 percent said it has no importance at all.</p>
<p>@roonayyy10 I had no family/friend connections to US bank.</p>
<p>@AnnieBeats,</p>
<p>@gibby & @T26E4 are both right, from what I have learned here on CC and from extensive reading over the past four years, public institutions don’t give much thought to ECs, they are all about numbers. I have learned that they put less emphasis on essays. Too many applicants to sift through and read. </p>
<p>@AnnieBeats, My percentage is a broad guess. If you have something that points to your figures, I’d be highly interested b/c your figures astound me.</p>
<p>@Anniebeats: Please see: <a href=“http://old.suny.edu/about_suny/fastfacts/”>http://old.suny.edu/about_suny/fastfacts/</a></p>
<p>The State University of New York (SUNY) currently has 422,582 undergraduates – that’s probably more undergraduate students than the top 20 or 30 private colleges combined (I haven’t done the math, but will let you take a stab at it). SUNY colleges do not ask students for an EC list, as they don’t consider EC’s when evaluating applicants. And that’s just one state. Combine that with 49 other states and I do not see how your stats can possibly be accurate. Maybe your stats are from the “Of the school’s surveyed” kind, but I think T26E4’s estimate of all US colleges (public and private) is a much more accurate estimate.</p>
<p>@Anniebeats: Reading over the New York Times this morning, there is an OP ED about student borrowers with a stat buried within that I thought you would be interested in knowing: <a href=“Opinion | Student Borrowers and the Economy - The New York Times”>Opinion | Student Borrowers and the Economy - The New York Times;
So, assuming that most state schools, like the SUNY’s, don’t ask about EC’s, that would mean about 70% of colleges DO NOT care about a student EC’s when evaluating applicant’s for admission. And that figure doesn’t include private colleges that do not ask or care about EC’s. So T26E4 estimate that 85% of colleges don’t care about EC’s would seem to be pretty close to reality.</p>
<p>@gibby How is it at all logical to make that assumption off of one school system?</p>
<p>Look OP, do what you want. Good luck getting into the colleges you want with the mentality that 85% of schools don’t care about ECs</p>
<p>^^ It’s actually a very logical assumption. While private colleges use key words like “holistic admissions,” state schools do not. Due to the large number of student applications, coupled with budgetary cutbacks from state legislators, college admissions offices at state schools are more data driven, using GPA and test scores as the criteria for admissions. </p>
<p>FWIW: As a parent with 2 kids now in college, I’ve sat through many presentations by guidance counselors and high school college offices at both my kid’s high school and at other high schools and all the professional staff say the same thing – EC’s do not matter for state schools. So, it’s not an assumption, it’s a fact. What state do you live in? Check your state school’s admissions criteria!</p>
<p>Most of the time, college admissions will NOT look at the jobs students have held. However, if your job is the central thing in your life, if you are not a traditional student, yes, it can be something examined carefully and taken into account. That has to be brought to the attention of admissions, however, most of the time. </p>
<p>Some years ago, my husband’s department included a young woman who had gone straight to work for the company without even completing high school and performed extremely well. She did get her GED and was doing sterling analyst work and had all of the skills, intelligence, insights to become a consultant, move up in the company. She had joined the company when it was small and privately owned, and then it was purchased by a major firm For her to move up in the company, and also to address a lot issues where her educational gaps were becomeing evident, she needed to get a college degree and really a MBA. For her to get accepted to those programs that best fit her, she needed a holistic examination of her resume and abilities, or it would take her a year or so, more, to get those things that are traditionally part of the app system The college in mind for her did not take those who simply got their GEDs, for example. She had actually taken CLEP for some college credit on her own, but again, that college did not recognize CLEP credit. She was non traditional enough, and outstanding enough, that the school did evaluate her holistically, and made exception to a number of things.</p>
<p>So, though colleges that do scrutinize ECs will look at jobs you’ve had before, they are usually only weighted as a small part of the admissions process, unless there is an outstanding reason to make them the primary factor. To get more weight put on something, than usual, in admissions, it’s usually important to make admissions aware of the mitigating circumstances so that such an application doesn’t get lost in the shuffle and evaluated with the batch. Though it is possible, that someone will notice it as unusual, and so pull it, it is wise to have it falgged and evaluated as something quite different. </p>
<p>@AnnieBeats: Perhaps you’ve misunderstood my tone. The figures you quoted in the 8th post are very interesting to me and I’d like to know your source. I honestly don’t want to post unsubstantiated info – I really want to disseminate useful stuff. I’m totally open to having my heretofore opinion changed. Plz send me a link or anything you have. Thnx</p>
<p>@Murtillon sorry for threadjacking. I hope you’ve gotten what you needed.</p>
<p>@T26E4 I’m not sure anymore. Could you clarify that if they do or not.</p>
<p>@Murtillon If a college you’re targeting DOES consider ECs, then YES, it’s fine to put down you worked for a bank at 16. But know that it’s no different than someone else saying they washed dishes at the family restaurant or someone else played on the tennis team. Your original question asked what might be the impact. My opinion is ZERO to little impact. But there’s no downside – but don’t think that eyes will widen when people read your activities. That’s all. At least I hope you enjoyed yourself there and made a little money.</p>
<p>Seems like you think this is a very impressive credential. I would go further than CPT and say if you want the adcoms to be impressed, you need to explain why they should be–in an optional essay for example. If it’s one of many on a list of ECs, it’s not going to count for more than any other EC as T26 says… </p>