Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion How to get noticed by college admissions officers?

I think birder/artist is a GREAT passion for college admission. It is unusual and a little intellectual. One of my kids was into insects, and she definitely leveraged it on her college apps (she got into U of Chicago, Swarthmore, and Harvey Mudd -- so it worked for her).

It is, though, always good to have some ways to document/show her passion beyond just the time spend watching/drawing/painting birds. Some ideas:

- Join the local Audobon society, and try to be somewhat active (join bird counts, even try to hold an office in it)
- Enter bird art into contests. There are some specific stamp contests for bird art (although that may not be her specialty). But sometimes art teachers at the high school know of local competitions. Or she could enter in the county fair in 4-H or the open categories (has the bonus of possibly getting to show at the state fair).
- Quantifying is good -- one of my kids monitored a bluebird trail for years, and helped hatch over 250 bluebirds into our neighborhood, which she put on her activities section of her college apps.
- Can she get involved with helping others with bird watching or art somehow? Kids or elderly people...
- Volunteer somehow with birds. We live in a bigger city, so there would be opportunities at the raptor center here. Or if there is a professor of ornithology at a nearby college, can she volunteer to help with research?

If your H is involved and "well connected", that is a bonus to helping her find opportunities to get involved in the birding community. I can also see how a trip to see an unusual bird someplace might make a good essay topic (if she can help show her passion and make it about herself as much as it is about the bird).

My kid didn't just "do bugs". She was also in Quiz Bowl and fencing, and had some accomplishments there at the state level (top 5 type accomplishments). With great test scores, and pretty good (but not perfect) grades. But your D could absolutely follow her passion and build a great college app at the same time!