<p>I HATE how people pad their resumes!! The only problem is that people who actually have passion come off as padders like me because we do a variety of activities. but in reality I love everything I do. I did do things though to make me more competivite like more AP classes and got closer to teachers to get better recommendations. But feigning interest in activites is so WRONG. I know this girl who’s co president with me in key club. Se never comes to the meetings and ditches all the projects we have. but she gets to write it on her college app and that’s the main reason she’s still in the club!!!</p>
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<p>The funny thing is that I heard that this is exactly what happens at Harvard. There are almost more new clubs founded on campus every year than entering freshman.</p>
<p>I admit that I took yearbook because I heard it looked good for college. But i had an open class for one semester and didn’t know what to take, so I figured why not. I don’t like it and I won’t take it next year. I dis it for one semester so it probably won’t make an impact but whatever I tried it. You also need seventy five service hours to graduate so everyone does those but I I’m trying to find something I enjoy so I can get more.</p>
<p>I personally have not done any of my activities for the sole purpose of college applications. I’ve participated in a majority of clubs and even tried sports at my school. I did it for both exploration of interests and my own development and maturation. </p>
<p>However, because I go to a competitive magnet school, many people join clubs for the sole purpose of college, even if they aren’t applying to the top tier or ivies. It sets a terrible precedent, in my honest opinion, because when these people takes leadership positions that truly committed people deserve, they aren’t as willing to respect the duties bestowed to them. So your student government and nhs chapters suffer because some student wants to have a “leadership hook”, but can’t manage.</p>
<p>i didnt do anything for the sole purpose college applications either, thought about it ( not lying) but did everything out of fun :)</p>
<p>this did happen to me and i’m glad i did. i joined MUN because i thought it would help build my college application. i DID really really like the idea of debate/discussion (you know, feeling all-important), but up till my first conference (we met several times a week for three months before the conference) I only bore with it simply because I thought it might help my college apps and I heard that first-time muners dont know the true “greatness” until the conference itself. But it made me realize just how much I would miss MUN if I quit afterwards. sooo I didn’t. I’ve probably attended the most conferences out of all people in my grade and I loved every single one of them (:</p>
<p>but I still hate people who join mun (this goes for any club) but complain about how much they hate it and how much its for college apps. it’s like, if you dont actually like it after trying it out, why are you still here.</p>
<p><it’s like,=“” if=“” you=“” dont=“” actually=“” like=“” it=“” after=“” trying=“” out,=“” why=“” are=“” still=“” here.=“”> See your previous sentence (j/k I know what you mean).</it’s></p>
<p>I’ve come to the point of not caring about others doing resume-padding AS LONG AS they don’t go around bragging or showing off.</p>
<p>Resume padders generally don’t achieve anything great. Being just a member isn’t going to get you anywhere. Dabbling doesn’t help at all.</p>
<p>K, so I’ve read some posts on NHS, and it seems that it varies widely from school to school. </p>
<p>For my school it’s completely bullcrap. They walk around in their NHS shirts like, “Look at me! I’m smart! I got 3.5+ weighted GPA! It’s so hard to get 3.5 too! I had to play 6 hours of Xbox everyday and do 1 hour of homework to get it!” LMAO…</p>
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NHS Presidency for two years.</p>
<p>well, its not strictly for colleges, but I probably wouldn’t have read 4 biology textbooks if it weren’t for usabo and my competitive spirit.</p>
<p>“The funny thing is that I heard that this is exactly what happens at Harvard. There are almost more new clubs founded on campus every year than entering freshman.”</p>
<p>Since graduate and professional schools make admissions decisions based on scores, gpa and research, Harvard undergrads don’t start clubs to resume pad.</p>
<p>They start clubs because they like to implement their own ideas. The school tends to have an overabundance of leaders with strong ideas who like to innovate, not maintain the status quo.</p>
<p>In some cases, Harvard students start organizations that are similar to organizations that they successfully started and ran in high school: organizations that were more than resume dressing.</p>
<p><we have=“” a=“” halfway=“” decent=“” ib=“” program=“” and=“” usually=“” send=“” one=“” or=“” two=“” kids=“” (out=“” of=“” 2500,=“” with=“” senior=“” class=“” 100-120)=“” to=“” ivies,=“” but=“” everyone=“” seems=“” think=“” that=“” they’re=“” going=“” be=“” the=“” ones=“” harvard.=“” resume=“” padding=“” is=“” intense,=“” starting=“” useless=“” community=“” service=“” clubs=“” overlap=“” every=“” other=“” club,=“” splitting=“” student=“” body=“” among=“” hundreds=“” activities=“” leaving=“” all=“” them=“” virtually=“” inactive.=“”></we></p>
<p>My IB program don’t have students doing that, and we send about 5 people to Ivies every year with some non-Ivy top 20 college acceptances. And there aren’t that many people who keep thinking they’ll go to Harvard. I was one of those who thought I’m going to Harvard, but realized that that’s what my dad wants and now I’m in no position to go to Harvard which I don’t care.</p>
<p>I did Key Club for the sake of resume padding, at first. Later on, I ended up falling in love with it, dedicating all of my time and opened other venues I like.</p>
<p>I didn’t specifically do anything just so I could put it on my resume, but once I realized the caliber of the school I wanted I realized I needed to do a lot more, and I wanted to do a lot more</p>
<p>We had a TON of application-padders flooding our school’s Model UN club, which became a bit of an irritation at conferences.</p>
<p>Freshman year I decided to join an out of school orchestra. I didn’t know if I really wanted to do it, but the fact that it would look good on my application made me decide to join. Three years later and I enjoy it immensley, and plan to participate in orchestra in college. Sometimes participating in an activity that you are unsure of because of the fact that it will look good on your application is the push you need to do something you enjoy.</p>
<p>I’m fairly apathetic about all my activities, so I guess I’m an application padder.
If it wasn’t for college, I would probably have a few esoteric clubs and be done with it.
It’s not like I don’t contribute to my clubs, though. I actually try to get to meetings, raise money, come up w/ ideas, and all that. It’s just that I don’t particularly enjoy it.</p>
<p>I must say that for all my interest in my ECs, there is still a voice in my head saying “College applications, college applications.” Is it the main factor? No but it still influences my decisions.</p>
<p>Some of my clubs I started out joining for the sake of apps but ended up loving it.</p>
<p>The way I know this is that I would never dream of dropping any of my clubs after college apps are over.</p>
<p>That being said, I definitely joined beta/nhs for the sake of college apps. (And because all of my friends were doing it + you get a graduation cord). I probably wont end up putting it down on my app anyway because I was barely involved, except I did the hours.</p>
<p>It’s not a bad thing to be motivated by college apps. I would never have gotten so interested in the environment if I hadn’t joined my school’s environmental club/taken AP Environmental. Sometimes (in my case) a passion results from trying something out, and finding out you really love it. </p>
<p>Anyway, if not for college apps, how many people do you think would be volunteering in a soup kitchen, etc? </p>
<p>PS - EVERYONE on this thread is a liar if you say you never did anything for college apps.</p>