[While I don't know you, your experience shows my point. Perhaps with a broader range of life experiences prior to college your experience would have been different. That's what colleges are trying to gauge using those other factors (Leadership experience, volunteerism, extracurricular activities, etc.)
Nope. I had a extensive set of extracurricular and leadership items.
My resume was flawless.
Truly a work of art.
This is the point I've been trying to make. When you MUST do all these activities, and you MUST excel at them, you aren't doing them for healthy reasons, and you won't get the benefits that would get from doing things just because they interest you or are otherwise important for healthy reasons.
Healthy: I need to save money for college. I'll get a summer job. Hmm. If I pass these swimming classes, I can be a lifeguard and earn decent money and I'll get to be at the pool.
or Hmm. This internship in marine biology in the Bahamas looks way cool. I'm thinking of studying marine biology and this would be a good way to see if I really like the subject.
Unhealthy: I must do something this summer that will make my application essay competitive!! I am too good for one of those dull jobs that the other kids get, and besides, colleges don't care about those kinds of jobs!! Mom and dad will help me find something to do in a foreign country. I can write about that!
ETA: I don't really understand why
exotic has come to mean
better in college applications. To me, it really means
upper middle class or wealthier. I personally think that someone with a more pedestrian history of summer jobs would be more likely to succeed later, primarily because s/he learned how to go to work every day and do stuff that is not always interesting.
