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I'm going to be writing this article
for high school students but college students can still take a lot
from it if they replace the discussion about a college application
with a resume. Some of the examples won't fit perfectly but the two
situations are very similar. Try to find the links yourself.
It's one of the most irritating
sentences I hear from high school students. It's certainly not the
students fault. They're constantly lied to about this issue. Every
time I hear a student say, “but that won't look good on my college
application,” I can't help but wonder where all the honest people
in there life are. It's painful for me to think about.
People are scared to tell you what I'm
about to tell you. Your teachers and guidance counselors will
constantly tell you the exact opposite of this. Most of the time
they're not intentionally lying to you. They've constantly been
subjected to the same marketing material as you have been forced to
see.
Forget About Your College
Application!
Yes. Quit worrying so much about your
college application. Why am I saying something this crazy?
Looking Good Is Easy
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If you want to look good on your
college application then it's easy. You do not have to invest all of
your free time into extra curricular activities. You don't have to
volunteer 10 hours a week. You don't have to kick butt in sports. You
don't have to learn everything from school. You just have to look
good.
Your college application is going to be
competing with thousands of other students. This may sound depressing
but you will probably not be able to stand out from it in any
competitive college. Guess what? Only a tiny percentage of college
applications get special treatment from how good they are. That
special treatment is not always only good special treatment.
A ridiculous percentage of students
downright lie on their college applications. College applications
that look too good sometimes even get confirmation calls from the
college to the listed organizations that you claim to be associated
with. (Did you really volunteer there 10 hours a week? They may check
that.)
Of course, many lies on a college
application never get caught. (No! Don't do it. That's not my point.
I'm getting to that.)
That being said, another ridiculous
percentage of students don't directly lie on their college
applications. They just fluff up their numbers a hair. Maybe they
even have connections with people that can vouch for actual lies.
These kind of lies can virtually never be proven. (If a friend at the
volunteer organization claims it's true then it might as well be
true. The colleges aren't hiring professional investigators. They're
just making calls.)
On paper, these people look fantastic.
I'm going to start by assuming you don't want to lie. If you don't
plan on lying on your college application, how do you plan on trying
to compete with people that will?
College applications are paper with
words on it. Do not make your decisions based on something this
stupid because you are forcing yourself into a game you're going to
lose.
Real Impact
Living your life for a college
application is not necessarily a good thing.
I remember some students from high
school that did this. They spent hours studying a night. They went to
their sport's practices and games. They worked out to improve for
their sport. They volunteered to look like they cared more about
other people. They kissed the butts of teachers when they had good
college connections.
It takes a whole lot of discipline to
do well at this. I'm not going to fault you if you're good at this.
While I question how helpful the goal is, it's definitely a skill
worth having. It's not that simple though. I can't help but wonder
how much of an impact these people could have if they actually
focused their energy on a few things they really cared about.
That being said, most people aren't
even good at this lifestyle. (I'm certainly not.)
Spreading yourself too thin is not a
good thing. It's better to spent a large portion of your time doing a
few specific things you care about. If you play a sport then you'll
learn more, do more, and impress more by focusing on that sport. If
you volunteer then you'll learn more, impact more, and impress more
by focusing on that volunteering.
Imagine the college interview
comparison between the people living for their college application
and the people focusing their energy.
Every competitive college hears
hundreds of students playing this balancing act. They say they care
about animals so they volunteer at a shelter but they also care about
sports and they also care about their grades and they also care about
math club and they also care about debate. Doesn't that sound the
slightest bit disingenuous to claim? After hearing it a few hundred
times, any interviewer would agree.
Compare that to someone saying, I
really care about this one or two things for these reasons.
Focus is the difference between
productivity and aesthetics. For example, volunteering 2 hours a week
does not offer a fifth of the value of volunteering 10 hours a week.
Why not? Because there is a learning curve to everything. Someone
that volunteers for 10 hours a week learns a ton more than someone
just showing up a couple hours. They're more skilled at it because
they're willing to invest the time. Of course, training a volunteer
costs the organization resources too. A person that doesn't volunteer
enough hours could actually end up costing more than they're
providing.
Is looking good on your college
application worth doing worse for the world?
Standing Out On A Different Platform
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Competing with other students against
their college application is a pointless pursuit when there are so
many better things to compete with.
If you want to get into a top college,
then you have tons of options.
Top academic colleges sometimes are
looking to get athletes. Sometimes, you'll get farther focusing on
sports.
If you can write an awesome and notable
essay then you're instantly competitive for good colleges. As long as
you're just qualified enough academically, a good essay can pull you
into an interview. (Then, of course, you need that winning smile.)
Top colleges love people that excel in
particular areas in general. It's better to be the best yo-yo
champion in the world with no other extracurricular activities than
an average athlete, volunteer, and debate club participant.
Maybe you could focus your energy on
getting close to an influential person who's connected with the
college you want to get into. This shouldn't come as too much of a
surprise but one influential person can easily push your application
over the edge.
Don't keep worrying about your college
application. There are much better ways that you can try and compete.
Do you want to know how to cut your
study time in half (and then in half again?) This blog is all about
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