The Fabled Passion-Project for Top Colleges
By: Belinda M. Gonzalez-Leon, Ed.D., MBA
Educational Consultant
Chairwoman for the Commission on the Status of Women, City of Doral
Years ago, a savvy college advisor coined the term, “passion project”. This referred to a community service-related project taken on by a high school student that would be the key factor to being accepted to an elite university. But students forget the important term “passion”. Meaning, the cause should be something that students happily use their free time for this labor of love. At times, the student project would lead to creating a non-profit. Some college advisors may even encourage this complicated step. However, over the years we have become saturated with non-profit passion projects and college admissions officers are OVER it.
Michael Short, an Attorney turned College Advisor and former Admissions officer for Stanford University, recently posted a video on social media asking students to please stop opening non-profit organizations. He assures students that college admissions officers are going to assume that the nonprofit was opened up solely for admissions purposes. Short suggests students analyze whether there is truly a need for this organization? Is anyone else already pursing this cause? Students have to pinpoint a very specific need in the community that no one else is meeting that only a nonprofit organization is capable of addressing.
A student who identifies an unmet need in their community needs to consider if there is really no one else addressing this issue. Why is the student the best or only person to meet this need? I had a student who started an organization collecting school supplies because he needed an outlet from being bullied in school. Another student of mine had difficulties reading and found that by tutoring, she could reinforce her reading skills. Creating an organization or providing a service just because it will help college admissions is hard to justify and easy to see. There needs to be a genuine WHY to the cause.
Students seem to think it is necessary to create a nonprofit to champion a cause. There are a lot of fees and regulations associated to a non-profit. A business person or an attorney can defend the reasons for creating the legal entity, but can a high school student? A student should be able to explain the benefits of his nonprofit along with how he did it- step by step. A student should be able to provide a timeline including challenges that were overcome and the people who helped along the way.
The student also needs to know the numbers if they know their cause. Exactly how much was donated? How many people volunteered? How many people were helped? How much money was collected? The student should easily be able to speak about the 30 computers donated, the 130 students tutored, or the 75 books collected. Pictures and testimonials are great, but an inventory of every action taken that had an impact is vital.
A specific factor Admissions officers look for in a project is continuity. Fighting for a stop light to be installed in a busy dangerous intersection has a definitive end to it. However, a non-profit to feed hungry children needs to continue for years. What happens to a non-profit when the founder goes off to college? Continuity is evidence of a well thought out plan truly created because of a burning desire to solve an issue.
Let me add that some of the best projects are those done by the Scouts. These projects are well-respected because they are years in the making with strict criteria to adhere to. Also, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge program projects because they also have specific requirements. Although Silver Knight projects are also noteworthy, they only help if the student has been deferred/waitlisted because the award is determined after colleges admissions decisions.
If your student wants to do a project during their high school career, whether it’s a passion or to help their college application, make sure it’s something that truly reflects their interests and goals. That it be something that captures their attention. Something that will allow their heart, soul, and intention to shine through to the right college. That’s what the college will see and what will want to accept them!