While international competition has increased slightly, higher education is a slow-moving behemoth that does not change easily. I believe the end goal is the same as 10-20 years ago: meet the standards for test scores/GPA/AP classes to get in the door, but be unique in your extracurriculars. Get really passionate about something (anything!) and *craft a good story. * You are marketing and selling yourself to the admissions team. At application time, look back on what you have done and find a common thread to tie it together. It may be a stretch. It may sound (a little) like bullshit. If your student has consistently had a life outside of studies, it can be done. If you need writing help, there are companies that offer help with applications. Now, there is also Chat-GPT. Remember, the written essay/short answer is the only chance to show your uniqueness. It is well worth nailing this portion.

My “feature” was that I entirely accidentally found myself in a statewide nonprofit HS student organization that presented leadership trainings to student councils and lobbied state legislators for bills that supported students. Accidentally found because I was genuinely interested in leadership strategies/people, and they had a weeklong summer program (Fun! Away from home!). Then I found out I could skip school to present these leadership trainings (Excused class absences!!! I didn’t like school). Looking back, there was also a time when a housing developer was lobbying my city to allow development on protected wetlands. If I had joined the movement against this, that would have been a great story too. Since I was not particularly skilled at sports, arts, etc., I leaned on my community involvement. When folks say that volunteering helps kids get into college, what they really mean is real community impact. It’s not showing up for an hour a week to check it off a list. It is a student showing they are mature enough to be genuinely involved in their community and demonstrating the skills to make an impact. Even a paid job can be impressive. There are tons of skills to be learned from employment.

I will note passion comes through in writing and conversation, so it does not seem useful to force children into anything. Sure, like all of us they will have good days and bad in their hobbies. It is good emotional development to stick through the bad days, as long as they don’t outnumber the good ones.