We’re always preaching to our Collegewise families that there is no magic list of activities that look good to colleges. The student who seeks leadership positions or completes community service hours driven only by the desire to “look good to colleges” just isn’t as compelling of an applicant as those who threw themselves into—and made an impact doing—things they really enjoyed.
Collegewise counselor Nandita Gupta read 8,000 applications as an admissions officer at Stanford. During our recent webinar on highly selective college admissions, she shared this observation about why it’s so important to choose activities because you love doing them, not because you hope they will get you into college.
“If you don’t care about it, there’s no way an admissions officer will care about it. The students that we, as admissions officers, care the most about are the ones who care the most about what they’re doing.”
Whenever you start to wonder if you’re doing activities that will help you get into college, go back and read that quote. Ask yourself how much you care about what you’re doing. And if you don’t like the answer, find things you care more about. You’ll be a happier, and more successful, college applicant.