Jobs in College Essays

Jobs in College Essays May 22 Ron Lieber has a great piece in The New York Times on how few college applicants 1.) write about work experience or 2.) have any work experience to write about. There was a piece in The New York Times yesterday by Ron Lieber entitled Essays About Work and Class That Caught a Colleges Eye that we figured wed draw to the attention of our readers. It is a very good piece that focuses on how so many applicants are either reluctant to write about their jobs and work experiences or they simply dont have work experiences to write about. Weve found that the latter case is especially true. Indeed weve been writing on the pages of this college admissions blog for years how having work  experience can indeed help ones case for admission. And yet so few students have such real-world experience when applying to college. As Lieber writes in his terrific piece, Of the 1,200 or so undergraduate admission essays that Chris Lanser reads each year at  Wesleyan University, maybe 10 are about work.  This is not much of a surprise. Many applicants have never worked. Those with plenty of money may be afraid of calling attention to their good fortune. And writing about social class is difficult, given how mixed up adolescents often are about identity.  Yet it is this very reluctance that makes tackling the topic a risk worth taking at schools where it is hard to stand out from the thousands of other applicants. Financial hardship and triumph, and wants and needs, are the stuff of great literature. Reflecting on them is one excellent way to differentiate yourself in a deeply personal way. There is a misconception out there that attending a fancy summer enrichment program at a highly selective university is how students should be spending their summer months. There is a misconception out there that the student who works at McDonalds to help out her parents with their mortgage payments and finances is hurting her chances for admission to highly selective colleges. Indeed in a segment with Huffington Post Live, Ivy Coach Founder Bev Taylor properly corrects the moderator when he suggests that schools like Harvard and Yale arent looking for middle-class kids. They are looking for middle-class kids. They are looking for kids with real work experience. They are looking for kids who will be the first in their families to attend college. Schools like Harvard so very much want these students. Its time to put this misconception that work experience hurts ones chances for admission to highly selective colleges to bed. Parents should save the $10,000 they would otherwise spend on sending their children to fancy summer enrichment programs. Instead, students can make a few thousand dollars. They can learn about hard work and the power of contributing to their familys finances. Its a valuable life lesson. And its a life lesson that admissions officers at highly selective colleges do indeed appreciate. Even though so many folks think they dont. For students considering writing about jobs in college essays, youve got our green-light. Now, its all going to come down to execution.