1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 Oh my goodness, I'm so sad that I've discovered these Reddit threads. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:08,300 What are the advices that people are giving each other? 3 00:00:08,300 --> 00:00:09,300 They're all conflicting. 4 00:00:09,300 --> 00:00:26,200 I'm so confused. 5 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:29,320 And welcome back to another episode of The Pop Out. 6 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:34,040 Today we're talking about extracurricular activities and what kind of extracurricular 7 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:38,520 activity you should do. 8 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:42,640 I didn't realize, because I never really bothered to look around, but I didn't realize that 9 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:46,480 there were so many people who had opinions on what to do and what not to do, and giving 10 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:49,160 all this advice. 11 00:00:49,160 --> 00:00:55,000 We need to clear some of this stuff up, because I think there's nuance here, and I think 12 00:00:55,000 --> 00:01:00,360 people are not being careful about the kind of advice they're giving, which is unfortunate. 13 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:06,400 So let's talk a little bit about extracurricular activities, but I'm going to do it a little 14 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:11,640 bit differently than just going straight into what you should be doing. 15 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:17,880 I think from what I've been seeing, I'm guessing that the problem is that people are not focusing 16 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:19,620 on the right thing. 17 00:01:19,620 --> 00:01:25,620 They're focusing on the nitty-gritty of should you follow your interests and passions? 18 00:01:25,620 --> 00:01:27,840 Should you do passion projects? 19 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:30,680 Should you be proactive? 20 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:34,280 How important are leadership positions and so on? 21 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:35,600 I think people are focused on the wrong thing. 22 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:38,740 I think we need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. 23 00:01:38,740 --> 00:01:43,320 And to do that, I want to begin by saying a few things about what colleges are generally 24 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:44,320 looking for. 25 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:52,160 Again, with anything I say here, what combination of these things colleges want, how much a 26 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:56,600 particular college values one of these factors, it depends. 27 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:58,120 It depends on the college. 28 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:04,600 It depends on what they decide is the thing that they are going to pay most attention 29 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:05,640 to. 30 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:10,260 But generally, most colleges, at least the most competitive ones, are looking for some 31 00:02:10,260 --> 00:02:13,320 combination of the following. 32 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:18,440 One, they're looking for students who have a good sense of who they are. 33 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:24,000 What I mean by this is they're looking for students who know what drives them, know what 34 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:28,880 interests them, what purpose their life has. 35 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:31,780 What makes their life purposeful? 36 00:02:31,780 --> 00:02:38,760 What is it that they're ultimately going for in accomplishing a good life? 37 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:43,920 They also have a good sense of what they're actually good at, as well as areas of weaknesses, 38 00:02:43,920 --> 00:02:47,120 things where they might need assistance from others. 39 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:53,280 Basically, they just want a student who has a good idea of the kind of person that they 40 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:57,960 are, an honest assessment of themselves, one that is not sugarcoating things, one that 41 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:01,440 is not over-exaggerating their strengths, none of this stuff. 42 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:03,160 But they have a good sense of who they are. 43 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:05,860 They have a good sense of what they're about. 44 00:03:05,860 --> 00:03:12,120 But that requires a deeper kind of reflection, this ability to kind of reflect on their own 45 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:16,000 life and where they would like their life to go. 46 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:17,000 What else is a college looking for? 47 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:21,200 Number two, I would say they're also looking for somebody who does not merely think or 48 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:22,320 feel. 49 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:29,240 They're not just in their head or in their feelings about whatever they care about, but 50 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:30,600 they actually act on it. 51 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:33,200 They do something about it. 52 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:38,960 You're doing something tangible, physically, putting it to action. 53 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:45,480 It's not enough to just simply care about the endangered species in your local neighborhood. 54 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,320 The question is, are you doing something about it? 55 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:52,320 Because if you're just sitting back and watching others do stuff, or you're just talking about 56 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:57,200 it, but you're not being about it, you're not acting on it, that's going to raise a 57 00:03:57,200 --> 00:03:58,200 lot of red flags. 58 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:02,480 What colleges are looking for is somebody who not just talks a big talk, but actually 59 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:04,080 walks the walk. 60 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:09,720 This is truly what you're about, and the way to prove it is by doing stuff. 61 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:14,880 Third, colleges are looking for someone who acts purposefully. 62 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:21,440 What I mean by that is asking yourself, is this the right thing to do? 63 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:23,280 Is it the right way to do it? 64 00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:26,280 Is this the way to actually make an impact? 65 00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:27,280 How do I know? 66 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:33,360 Am I reflecting on the way I'm doing what I'm doing, or what goals I'm trying to accomplish? 67 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:40,800 Am I reflecting on how to improve in accomplishing the goals I'm trying to accomplish? 68 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:47,160 Are you the kind of person who is doing this sort of, not just doing stuff mindlessly, 69 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:52,080 but doing it much more thoughtfully, doing it with a sense of purpose, a sense of awareness 70 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:57,360 of what you're doing and why you're doing it, and how it is that you're going about 71 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:01,360 doing the things that you're doing, whatever the activity might be. 72 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:06,440 Fourth, I think colleges are also looking for someone who learns from their experience. 73 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:09,040 Can you demonstrate this kind of growth? 74 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:10,600 Am I learning the right lessons? 75 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:17,300 For instance, if there was a conflict with a fellow volunteer, how did I resolve it? 76 00:05:17,300 --> 00:05:19,080 What did I do terribly? 77 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:20,080 What can I know? 78 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:22,040 What did I learn about myself? 79 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:25,600 What did I learn that I need to work on moving forward? 80 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,800 Is there something that I would do differently going forward? 81 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:32,920 How can I use this experience and apply it to other areas of my life? 82 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:38,440 If you experience something in one club, the question is, am I taking that lesson and actually 83 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:45,480 applying it to my life, or am I just, again, just experiencing things mindlessly without 84 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:50,720 really giving much thought as to what my experience has been and what I have gained from it and 85 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,320 have grown from it? 86 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:57,640 Additionally, colleges are looking for, this is number five, colleges are looking for someone 87 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:03,140 who cares for others and are not just about themselves, because let's be honest, who wants 88 00:06:03,140 --> 00:06:04,840 to be with a selfish prick? 89 00:06:04,840 --> 00:06:09,780 Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that you have some big global picture and you want 90 00:06:09,780 --> 00:06:12,280 to create world peace or anything like that. 91 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:15,080 It just means that you are not just about yourself. 92 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:22,760 You're not a self-interested and a self-absorbed, petty kind of person. 93 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:28,260 You actually have some degree of care and concern for the people around you. 94 00:06:28,260 --> 00:06:31,700 It could be more immediate circles, like your local community. 95 00:06:31,700 --> 00:06:33,040 It could be family. 96 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:34,560 It could be friends. 97 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:39,080 It could be the world at large. 98 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:46,320 But you just want to show in some ways that you're not somebody who is only thinking about 99 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:51,520 themselves and whether or not you yourself succeed in whatever way that you consider 100 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:53,780 to be success. 101 00:06:53,780 --> 00:06:58,240 Number six, so colleges also look for someone who can see the bigger picture. 102 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:02,680 Oftentimes students tend to be absorbed in their own little world. 103 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:05,840 This is not to be unexpected. 104 00:07:05,840 --> 00:07:11,720 A lot of students only have a limited set of experiences and often it's limited to their 105 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:14,440 family, their community. 106 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:19,980 Some who are lucky enough to have the money and the time may have been able to experience 107 00:07:19,980 --> 00:07:27,440 a lot more going to different places around the world and seeing how things operate differently. 108 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:33,960 But by bigger picture, it doesn't have to be, again, globally. 109 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:40,600 But the idea is that you are thinking beyond your immediate circle, immediate thing that 110 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:43,080 you're exposed to. 111 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:50,300 In other words, you're showing the ability to, how do you say this, engage with the larger 112 00:07:50,300 --> 00:07:58,960 world and see yourself as part of a larger world, not just simply as your world is the 113 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:01,560 only thing that matters. 114 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:08,400 And finally, colleges, as you might think anywhere else, like a job or anywhere else 115 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:13,760 where people need to rely on you or want to invest in you to make sure you get to where 116 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:17,960 you claim you want to go, the question then becomes, are you committed? 117 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:21,800 So finally, colleges are going to be looking for somebody who is dedicated. 118 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:26,880 The questions here to ask are questions like, am I giving this activity all that I can give 119 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:28,600 or am I half-assing it? 120 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:34,880 Am I committed through the whole process or do I give up at some point? 121 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:39,460 Do I just throw the towel in when it becomes difficult? 122 00:08:39,460 --> 00:08:45,800 Or am I somebody who others can rely on, others can lean on and know that I am a mainstay, 123 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:49,280 I'm not just wishy-washy. 124 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:53,960 I don't say that I'm going to do one thing, but never end up doing it. 125 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:58,160 So are you a reliable, are you a committed person? 126 00:08:58,160 --> 00:08:59,160 Okay. 127 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:00,160 So these are the... 128 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:03,440 So I'm pointing this out because this is kind of like the bigger picture that we need to 129 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:04,720 understand, right? 130 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:08,360 Again, the application on the whole is trying to demonstrate all these things. 131 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:12,200 And extracurriculars are just one aspect of it. 132 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:17,040 Extracurriculars are just, again, pieces to a bigger picture to kind of paint the kind 133 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:19,480 of person that you are, right? 134 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:24,920 So if you're thinking about what kind of extracurriculars activities I should do, and if you're seeing 135 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:30,120 this bigger picture of the kind of person that they're looking for, then the way to 136 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:37,840 approach extracurricular activities would be to figure out how can I not only demonstrate 137 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:40,840 that I'm this kind of person, but do so genuinely. 138 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:43,520 I mean, we talked about this, right? 139 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:46,880 On these personal statements, one of the things I am able to detect right away is when there's 140 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:49,680 kind of like a false sense of self, right? 141 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:53,640 When somebody has a mask on and is trying to pretend to be somebody that they're not, 142 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:54,640 right? 143 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:57,560 At some point, you're going to have to face the reality that if you're not this kind of 144 00:09:57,560 --> 00:10:00,480 person, then it might be the thing to start with. 145 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:03,680 It might be the first place to start and figure out what to work on. 146 00:10:03,680 --> 00:10:07,960 Because if you're not, for instance, committed, if you're not reliable, you're wishy washy, 147 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:08,960 that's going to be an issue. 148 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:10,280 I mean, that's not going to be an issue just for college. 149 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:14,640 That's going to be an issue for the rest of your life, in relationships, at jobs, right? 150 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:19,960 If people can't rely on you, if you are constantly skipping out on stuff, that's going to be 151 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:20,960 an issue. 152 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:23,560 If you're somebody who is only thinking about themselves, that's going to be a problem, 153 00:10:23,560 --> 00:10:26,240 not just for college, but long after, right? 154 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:29,280 If you're somebody who doesn't learn from your experience, you're not going to be growing, 155 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:33,840 you're not going to be maturing, that's going to be a problem again for the rest of your 156 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:34,840 life, right? 157 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:40,500 These are not issues that are just simply for college application, in other words, right? 158 00:10:40,500 --> 00:10:45,640 These are all just general character traits that you might think anybody in society might 159 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:50,480 really want from somebody they have to engage with, whether it's in the workplace, whether 160 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:52,320 it's in a relationship, right? 161 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:56,800 It's just good to have these qualities, period, right? 162 00:10:56,800 --> 00:11:00,160 This is, I think, these kind of things that I just listed out as things that a college 163 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:01,580 is looking for. 164 00:11:01,580 --> 00:11:05,920 This is basically like looking for somebody who is moving in the direction of being a 165 00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:12,920 mature person, like somebody that is mature, somebody who is good, at least in some loose 166 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:13,920 sense, right? 167 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:18,120 Somebody that you would enjoy spending time with, somebody you would want to develop a 168 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:21,560 relationship with, somebody that you can trust, right? 169 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:25,200 These are the kinds of things that colleges are often looking for. 170 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:29,920 Colleges are not necessarily looking for anything special in that sense, right? 171 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:36,080 I think a lot of the advices I've seen online have been advice on, you should do X, Y, 172 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:42,200 and Z to show that you have such these leadership skills and you're amazing and doing this or 173 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:45,240 that, or you're better than everyone else, or something or another, like some sort of 174 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:48,040 competition, demonstrate that you can handle competition and all this, right? 175 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:50,240 It's like, look, no, no, no, no, no. 176 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:51,520 They want to see a real person. 177 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:53,180 They want to see a real person. 178 00:11:53,180 --> 00:11:57,920 And they want to see a real person that it's clear that this is what you're really about, 179 00:11:57,920 --> 00:11:58,920 right? 180 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:02,760 And the extracurriculars are merely there to reflect a real person there. 181 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:06,160 So you could try to tailor your extracurriculars all you want. 182 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:11,100 I'm going to tell you right now, right, that it's not going to look very good if you try 183 00:12:11,100 --> 00:12:15,040 to tailor it in a specific way, because at the end of the day, what you're doing as you're 184 00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:19,560 tailoring your extracurriculars, you're looking like the kind of person who keeps their mask 185 00:12:19,560 --> 00:12:20,820 on, right? 186 00:12:20,820 --> 00:12:21,820 That's what you're doing. 187 00:12:21,820 --> 00:12:26,720 That's what tailoring a set of extracurricular activities would look like, okay? 188 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:30,960 It would be you being calculating and trying to figure out how to present yourself. 189 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:33,760 And if you're calculating and how to present yourself, you're not being genuine. 190 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:35,560 You're not being authentic, okay? 191 00:12:35,560 --> 00:12:39,780 So look, I'm going to give you a different approach to thinking about what kind of activities 192 00:12:39,780 --> 00:12:41,080 you should do. 193 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:49,480 I personally recommend, so if you are already in like 10th, 11th grade in high school, like, 194 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:55,640 oh, this might be a little bit late, but get started at some point is better than nothing, 195 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:56,640 right? 196 00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:01,280 But ideally, you would be doing this sort of reflection that I'm going to suggest. 197 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:06,160 You should be asking yourself these questions at a fairly early age, right? 198 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:11,020 Ideally, if you haven't been prompted by people around you, I would encourage you to get started 199 00:13:11,020 --> 00:13:16,680 or encourage others to get started as early as like sixth, seventh grade. 200 00:13:16,680 --> 00:13:21,040 I think as early as then, you could actually do a lot of this reflecting and then continue 201 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:22,040 that process. 202 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:25,120 And it'll probably, your answers to this stuff will probably change, and this is why people 203 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:28,280 change activities and so on, which is completely understandable, okay? 204 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:33,200 So what kind of reflections am I suggesting that you do, okay? 205 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:38,480 Before you figure out what specific activity you want to do, you're going to have to first 206 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:40,440 start with yourself. 207 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:44,620 You need to first start with who you are, what you're about, okay? 208 00:13:44,620 --> 00:13:49,680 So the first question you need to ask yourself is, what actually matters to me? 209 00:13:49,680 --> 00:13:55,000 And this is actually a very difficult question, but if you sit with yourself long enough and 210 00:13:55,000 --> 00:14:00,720 reflect on your life experience, then the answers should slowly start surfacing to the 211 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:02,000 top, right? 212 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:05,560 What matters to me is a very broad question. 213 00:14:05,560 --> 00:14:10,720 If it helps, you could think of it as what moves me, right? 214 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:17,260 Whether emotionally or what moves me motivates me to act, what gets me excited, what brings 215 00:14:17,260 --> 00:14:23,880 me joy, what would I do if I just had all the time in the world, I could do whatever 216 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:26,880 I want to, okay? 217 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:31,360 Now here we already run into problem one, okay? 218 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:33,600 What do I mean by that? 219 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:39,800 What if what matters to you is playing video games and watching YouTube videos all day, 220 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:40,800 right? 221 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:43,960 Or TV, like Netflix all day. 222 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:46,880 If that's what matters to you, right? 223 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:48,660 That's what matters to you. 224 00:14:48,660 --> 00:14:53,320 I think the work shouldn't be, let's try to cover it up and not let colleges know. 225 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:58,640 The question you should ask yourself is, why does this matter so much to me? 226 00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:04,040 Why does it matter so much to me that I get three hours of video game time a day, right? 227 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:06,080 It could be for a good reason. 228 00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:07,600 I'm not going to lie, right? 229 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:13,160 It could be that in like gaming scenarios, you are engaging with people from around the 230 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:18,200 world and you find the conversations while you're playing these games just interesting. 231 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:20,280 You've developed friendships over it, right? 232 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:23,860 There's something meaningful for you and that's great. 233 00:15:23,860 --> 00:15:26,280 Other times it could be an escape from reality. 234 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:28,720 It could be like, oh, my man, my life sucks. 235 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:30,600 I'm just having a horrible day. 236 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:34,140 And the way to zone that out is by playing video games, okay? 237 00:15:34,140 --> 00:15:38,480 The why here matters more than the what, right? 238 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:42,520 What matters to you doesn't matter as much as why it matters to you. 239 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:45,080 And that's really what you need to get at. 240 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:46,600 Why does it matter to you? 241 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:52,240 Because it's going to help you address what is really at the heart of why it is that you're 242 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:55,060 drawn to the things that you're drawn to. 243 00:15:55,060 --> 00:15:58,400 That's the question you're going to have to be able to answer, all right? 244 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:02,240 So look, if you play video games all day, that's fine. 245 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:03,880 Well, I mean, I wouldn't say it's fine. 246 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:05,880 I mean, you need to worry about academics and other things. 247 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:11,320 But if you're playing a lot of video games, the question you should ask is not like, oh, 248 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:12,800 man, I play a lot of video games. 249 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:15,580 It should be, why do I play a lot of video games? 250 00:16:15,580 --> 00:16:16,580 What is it doing for me? 251 00:16:16,580 --> 00:16:18,740 Why does it matter to me? 252 00:16:18,740 --> 00:16:23,200 The why it matters to me could help open up doors for figuring out other things that actually 253 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:24,200 matter to you. 254 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:30,120 Because what I'm guessing is that whatever is underlying the reason for doing what you're 255 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:37,760 doing already, what excites you, what gets you going, whatever that is, it's transferable 256 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:38,920 to other activities. 257 00:16:38,920 --> 00:16:41,880 It doesn't have to necessarily be video games. 258 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:43,200 That's just how people are wired. 259 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:47,720 It's like there's something about an activity that is meaningful, and it might be the activity 260 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:50,680 that is really, really, really exciting. 261 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:57,000 But why it is so exciting for you, the deeper question should help you see that it could 262 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:00,640 be other activities as well. 263 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:02,560 But the first step is to figure out what that is. 264 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:05,480 So I would begin from a place of no judgment. 265 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:09,560 It should just be an exploratory exercise of trying to figure out, look, this is what 266 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:10,560 matters to me. 267 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:11,600 This is what moves me. 268 00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:14,400 This is where my passions and interests lie. 269 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:15,440 And this is why. 270 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:18,280 The why here is going to be important for you to figure out. 271 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:22,480 Why does this matter to me? 272 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:26,880 Once you figured out that, once you figured out, look, what are these things that really 273 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:28,760 drive me? 274 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:36,080 The second question to ask then is, how do I then fit into this larger world? 275 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:43,360 Given my interests, given what it is that drives me, what I'm about, it could be helping 276 00:17:43,360 --> 00:17:44,440 other people. 277 00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:49,000 It could be new technological innovations. 278 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:54,880 It could be working in teams, group activities of some kind. 279 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:56,880 It just matter a lot to you. 280 00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:03,960 It could be doing something fun physically with your body, like dancing or sports or 281 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:05,560 something. 282 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:10,740 Whatever it is that matters to you and whatever the reason for it mattering to you, the next 283 00:18:10,740 --> 00:18:15,840 question you need to ask is, how does that, how does my being this way, how does that 284 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:19,760 fit into the larger world around me? 285 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:21,400 What is my role? 286 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:25,800 What is my place in this larger world? 287 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:30,200 The reason I like to start off with these two questions is the following. 288 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:35,520 If it's something that really matters to you, you will be motivated to be better at it. 289 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:40,320 You will get better at... I honestly believe that in most things in life, there might be 290 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:46,320 certain things that you just happen to be, to catch on to easily. 291 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:50,520 I think with most things in life, what we've learned about people is that they're able 292 00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:52,100 to learn. 293 00:18:52,100 --> 00:18:56,720 What motivates people to learn is that they need that spark. 294 00:18:56,720 --> 00:19:03,720 It needs to overlap with something that actually gives them life, gives them that energy from 295 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:06,680 within, to activate them. 296 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:10,320 If you find what matters to you, you will invest the time and energy to get better at 297 00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:11,320 it. 298 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:13,200 Here's the thing. 299 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:17,520 Just because you like something and you get really good at it, doesn't mean it's actually 300 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:21,960 contributing to anything in both yourself and in the world. 301 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:25,800 You need to then ask yourself, what does that have to do with my part in the larger world 302 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:26,800 around me? 303 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:30,600 It doesn't have to be, again, a global community. 304 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:32,160 It could be a very local one. 305 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:33,540 It could be within the family. 306 00:19:33,540 --> 00:19:36,320 It could be within a group of friends. 307 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:37,940 The point is this. 308 00:19:37,940 --> 00:19:42,680 You got to start asking yourself, how do I fit into this world given that this is what 309 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:44,840 I'm really about? 310 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:49,840 If this is what matters to me, what does that say about the role I should play in the larger 311 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:50,840 world? 312 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:57,440 Again, here I don't want you to focus too hard on, or at all honestly, on what colleges 313 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:00,800 are looking for and whether it's a leadership position or anything. 314 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:07,040 I want you to just think, look, where is my place in the larger world? 315 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:12,120 Then once you do that, you have a sense of, oh, this is the kind of place that I... This 316 00:20:12,120 --> 00:20:15,480 is the kind of role that makes sense for me. 317 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:22,480 Then the next question becomes, look, what specific activities fit in with what matters 318 00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:27,160 to me and also how I fit into this larger world? 319 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:30,000 What kind of activities would make sense? 320 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:35,000 Notice up to this point, I haven't been pointing out any objectively better activities or not. 321 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:41,740 I've only been pointing to good fits for you, whatever that is for you. 322 00:20:41,740 --> 00:20:43,880 What is an actual good fit for you? 323 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:47,320 This is, I think, where a lot of students kind of get tripped up because there's so 324 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:52,540 much emphasis on needing to be a leader, needing to win awards and yada, yada, yada, that I 325 00:20:52,540 --> 00:20:58,360 think a lot of students start to think, look, I need to have an activity that I really like, 326 00:20:58,360 --> 00:20:59,360 I'm passionate about. 327 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:00,360 Okay, I got it. 328 00:21:00,360 --> 00:21:01,360 I'm going to work hard at it. 329 00:21:01,360 --> 00:21:02,360 I'm going to get good at it. 330 00:21:02,360 --> 00:21:06,760 Then I'm going to be a leader in it by becoming the president of a club. 331 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:07,960 This is not what I'm telling you. 332 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:10,160 Actually, I'm telling you something very, very different. 333 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:14,680 I'm telling you, you got to ask yourself, what's a good fit for you? 334 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:20,460 What's the specific set of activities, roles within the larger community that makes sense 335 00:21:20,460 --> 00:21:26,840 for you and that might not be a leader in any traditional sense? 336 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:27,840 Let me give you some examples. 337 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:32,040 I've worked with students who are extremely team oriented. 338 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:33,840 They do not need to receive credit. 339 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:36,820 They do not need to be the figurehead or spearhead anything. 340 00:21:36,820 --> 00:21:43,200 They do not need to be the one to necessarily start something, but they are very good and 341 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:50,700 they very much enjoy being able to bring people together to accomplish goals. 342 00:21:50,700 --> 00:21:55,120 They are the glue to a society, to a community. 343 00:21:55,120 --> 00:21:56,120 They're the glue. 344 00:21:56,120 --> 00:22:00,340 They're the one, they're like the focal point that is able to get other people around them. 345 00:22:00,340 --> 00:22:04,480 They're not the ones who are delegating work at all. 346 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:10,400 Their role in their community is to bring people together so that they are working together 347 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:13,600 for a common goal. 348 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:17,940 They're not necessarily the ones who have started a project. 349 00:22:17,940 --> 00:22:26,280 They're just the ones that do a critical job in making sure that project comes to completion. 350 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:27,640 That's what they're good at. 351 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:28,880 That's what they love doing. 352 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:35,560 They love being able to work behind the scenes and then seeing things come together so that 353 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:39,280 they're able to finish their collective goal. 354 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:49,600 Others might be the kind of person who needs to work alone. 355 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:52,320 They're not the kind of person who works well in teams. 356 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:54,120 They like to be left alone. 357 00:22:54,120 --> 00:22:58,440 They love exercising creativity and have a hard time if they have to collaborate with 358 00:22:58,440 --> 00:22:59,440 other people. 359 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:01,280 It could be really difficult. 360 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:05,760 They understand this about themselves and they understand the need to collaborate sometimes. 361 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:09,360 They will sometimes do collaborating, but majority of the time they'll spend on their 362 00:23:09,360 --> 00:23:15,920 own exercising their own creativity and understand that that's the kind of activity that works 363 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:18,160 best for them. 364 00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:22,840 They're not very good at working collectively as a team. 365 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:25,040 Some people are just better at delegating. 366 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:30,720 Maybe they're a big picture kind of person and they enjoy delegating. 367 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:36,200 Right here, when people are starting to talk about leadership and having roles and things 368 00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:42,160 like that, that you have a title associated with it, the title will come, but the right 369 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:48,480 title will only come if you actually take a moment to think about what actually fits 370 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:56,280 your sort of given skill set and your passions and how that fits in with the particular activity 371 00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:58,160 that you're considering. 372 00:23:58,160 --> 00:23:59,160 Okay? 373 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:04,240 So, it's something to really kind of take a moment to reflect on and take note of. 374 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:12,280 Next, I think, look, whatever the activity is, you want to always bring it back to this 375 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:18,040 bigger question of how do I fit into this larger world? 376 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:23,200 And it also means that you need to kind of bring it back to how it fits in with your 377 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:25,920 specific larger world. 378 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:30,280 What I mean by that is, before I said, look, how do you fit into this larger world as in 379 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:35,420 part of your community or in your family or in the world? 380 00:24:35,420 --> 00:24:38,840 But there's a separate question of, look, you're doing all these activities, you're 381 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:40,680 good at it and you enjoy it. 382 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:44,960 This is the kind of person you are, you've demonstrated it in the kind of activities 383 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:46,960 you do. 384 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:52,080 But again, if colleges are looking for people who are thoughtful in what they're doing, 385 00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:55,080 you're not just doing these activities mindlessly. 386 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:59,520 You're not just joining stuff because somebody told you you would be good at it or you're 387 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:03,720 just not following the crowd and just doing whatever. 388 00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:07,880 What you should be doing is you should be doing these activities with a kind of thoughtfulness 389 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:10,680 about the bigger picture for you. 390 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:11,680 What do I mean by that? 391 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:16,880 I'm talking about your school, educational goals, your career goals, your personal goals, 392 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:18,640 your school goals. 393 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:22,920 Does the activity have something to do with the kind of person that you want to be? 394 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:26,440 Does it have something to do with what kind of career you want to eventually build? 395 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:31,360 Does it have to do with any skillset that you're wanting to employ later on in life? 396 00:25:31,360 --> 00:25:34,880 Some people are family people and they're like, look, all this stuff about career and 397 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:39,440 school and all that, this is all well and good and I want to make an impact on my community, 398 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:43,440 but I'm so big on family that that's where I always want to start. 399 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:48,360 So a lot of these activities, I'm thinking with the bigger picture of how can I be the 400 00:25:48,360 --> 00:25:54,360 best kind of parent going forward or like a best kind of family person and caring for 401 00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:55,360 loved ones. 402 00:25:55,360 --> 00:26:00,160 This is the kind of skillset I want to develop, somebody who is reliable in these ways and 403 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:04,200 who has knowledge of certain areas so that they could be a blessing to the people around 404 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:06,840 them, closest to them. 405 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:10,520 Whatever that is, you should have a sense of why you're doing all the things that you're 406 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:11,520 doing. 407 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:15,760 That you're not just doing it just to do it because you enjoy it. 408 00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:18,920 You're not doing it because you realize that it's a good fit for you. 409 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:23,000 You're not just doing it because you could see that it does something, you're playing 410 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:27,800 a part in this larger world, but you're doing it for yourself as well. 411 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:30,400 You're doing it for yourself. 412 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:35,560 This is not to be confused with being selfish and thinking about yourself only or self-interested 413 00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:37,400 and being only thinking about yourself. 414 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:44,960 This means that when you do the things that you do, you're just not doing it without some 415 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:48,640 clear directions, like for yourself. 416 00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:57,320 You're giving yourself a clear path for the kind of direction you want to go. 417 00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:00,560 Next thing, again, these all kind of blend in together because look, if you're being 418 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:05,520 that kind of a thoughtful person that's thinking about the bigger picture of what kind of person 419 00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:08,880 you're trying to be or what kind of career you're trying to build for yourself or what 420 00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:13,320 kind of skill sets you're trying to build given the kind of person that you are, it 421 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:18,880 should follow naturally that you are reflecting on whether or not you're actually making an 422 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:19,880 impact. 423 00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:20,880 Why does this matter? 424 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:25,440 Look, if you are doing a bunch of stuff for the sake of others, but you're not actually 425 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:29,400 helping them, that's a problem. 426 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:34,560 This is like, honestly, maybe a little too personal, but sometimes my mom is like this. 427 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:38,280 She'll come over to my place and then she'll try to help out. 428 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:41,760 She's trying to clean in all this and she's doing it in all these ways that I'm like, 429 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:45,620 oh my goodness, you're actually making things worse and I have to go ahead and clean this 430 00:27:45,620 --> 00:27:46,620 stuff again. 431 00:27:46,620 --> 00:27:49,720 In fact, it's going to be harder to clean now that you just did it in all the worst 432 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:50,720 ways. 433 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,000 Look, this is what I'm talking about. 434 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:59,520 You want to make sure that whatever it is you're doing actually has an impact because 435 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:02,840 at the end of the day, why are you doing it if you're not actually trying to make any 436 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:04,880 sort of difference? 437 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:09,320 If you're wanting to care for the people around you, who cares how hard you try and that you 438 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:14,400 love doing it if you're doing it in all the ways that doesn't actually help them? 439 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:17,800 What does it matter if you're wanting to start a business, you have a real deep passion for 440 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:24,000 it, you're very good at what you do, but at the same time, all your businesses just end 441 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,360 up in bankruptcy? 442 00:28:26,360 --> 00:28:30,640 What does it matter if you want to do all this sort of research and you really have 443 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:32,600 a passion for it, you're committed to it? 444 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:37,280 But then at the end of the day, you can't show any results for all the work that you 445 00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:40,040 did. 446 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:45,080 This is not to say that you have to, for instance, you have to be successful at everything you 447 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:46,080 do. 448 00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:47,080 That's not what I'm saying. 449 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:52,560 What I'm saying is, are you the kind of person that is reflecting on the process, that is 450 00:28:52,560 --> 00:29:00,640 reviewing, is self-critical, is taking the time to ask yourself, is what I'm doing effective? 451 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:03,880 If it's not, can I do it differently? 452 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:09,080 Or even if there is a way that is effective, you're accomplishing your goals, you might 453 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:12,780 be asking yourself, look, but is there a better way? 454 00:29:12,780 --> 00:29:14,680 What is there a better way? 455 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:19,840 If those questions spark you to change up some of the things that you do from within 456 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:25,700 an organization or to choose to work outside of an organization and do your own thing, 457 00:29:25,700 --> 00:29:28,080 so be it. 458 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:31,080 But you're not, again, you're not doing it mindlessly. 459 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:32,940 You're doing it with great thought. 460 00:29:32,940 --> 00:29:37,680 You're doing it with great sort of clarity in what it is you're trying to achieve and 461 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:42,100 why it is that you think that this different direction is the way to go. 462 00:29:42,100 --> 00:29:46,420 It's not some impulsive, thoughtless thing you're doing. 463 00:29:46,420 --> 00:29:49,680 And finally, again, if you're looking for somebody who's reliable, somebody you know 464 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:55,480 who will commit and follow through, then with all of these activities, then the question 465 00:29:55,480 --> 00:30:00,480 becomes like, hey, am I really dedicating myself to this activity? 466 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:05,420 And what I mean by that is not necessarily am I doing all the checklist stuff I need 467 00:30:05,420 --> 00:30:07,720 to do to say that I am doing this activity. 468 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:09,080 No, that's not what I'm saying. 469 00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:14,120 What I'm saying is how is it that you're divvying up your time and energy? 470 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:16,660 Are you really committed to this thing? 471 00:30:16,660 --> 00:30:21,280 Because if I am looking at your list of activities and I see that you're doing like 90 million 472 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:26,440 activities that you claim you're all passionate about, you're just not going to have time 473 00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:30,920 to commit a lot of time and energy to every single one of them, which tells me you're 474 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:34,120 not really committed to anyone. 475 00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:35,120 It's like in a relationship. 476 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:39,760 This is why if you're dating like five different people at the same time and you're saying 477 00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:44,800 I'm really committed to you, aside from the fact that you're dating five different people, 478 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:49,520 it's just not enough time and energy to really dedicate yourself to any one person. 479 00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:53,880 And so every single one of them gets the short end of the stick. 480 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:57,000 If you're saying you're really committed to this thing, then you would show it in your 481 00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:01,740 action by dedicating yourself to that thing, to that activity. 482 00:31:01,740 --> 00:31:06,440 So if you're stretched too thin, that's a problem. 483 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:07,960 That's a problem. 484 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:13,640 And look, now that we see all these bigger picture questions, then there should be some 485 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:17,520 sort of clarity that comes to you about what kind of activities you really should be committing 486 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:19,800 to and how much. 487 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:22,880 So this is where the advice start to make a lot of sense. 488 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:27,520 So for instance, I've seen good advice that says, look, are you doing too many activities? 489 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:32,960 Are you like, what does your application show that you're spending like 80 hours a week 490 00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:33,960 on activities? 491 00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:38,240 Like, look, if you're spending that many hours on activities while also trying to keep up 492 00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:43,880 with your schoolwork, you're either sacrificing sleep or you're sacrificing real commitment 493 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:45,600 to any one of these activities. 494 00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:48,160 That's a red flag. 495 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:52,280 If you're doing a bunch of stuff that doesn't fit in with a bigger picture of the kind of 496 00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:54,040 person that you are. 497 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:59,880 One person could have lots of different interests for sure, but if they're all over the place, 498 00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:07,440 it's just like, I'm doing one activity that has nothing to do with what I'm pursuing educationally, 499 00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:11,960 but I also am doing something else that doesn't fit in with any of my career goals. 500 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:17,600 If there's like a bunch of pieces that just don't fit together, then it makes sense why 501 00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:19,000 the questions might arise. 502 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:24,560 Like, look, is this really presenting a cohesive picture of the kind of person that you are? 503 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:27,800 Because it sounds like you're just doing a bunch of stuff. 504 00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:32,480 If you were being more thoughtful in your approach to the activities you chose to do, 505 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:39,160 then it would signal a clear picture of what you're really about, how you see yourself 506 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:43,280 in the larger world, where you fit into the larger world, and what sort of activities 507 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:49,240 make sense for you to participate in as part of a larger world. 508 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:53,000 This is also the reason that you might also get a lot of this kind of advice that says, 509 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:58,560 look, if you're like president of a bunch of clubs at school and you do some volunteer 510 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:02,480 activities, and you play a sport or two, it feels very generic. 511 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:05,140 The application feels very generic. 512 00:33:05,140 --> 00:33:12,060 In some ways, it would feel generic, in part because, again, you're doing a bunch of activities 513 00:33:12,060 --> 00:33:16,040 and you're doing all the things that, quote unquote, you're supposed to do. 514 00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:21,240 But again, it's starting to look like you're doing what you're supposed to do, as opposed 515 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:25,760 to doing the things that actually matter to you. 516 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:28,600 Now I'm not saying that all these activities wouldn't matter to you. 517 00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:32,760 It could be that you actually genuinely care about these activities and there's a cohesive 518 00:33:32,760 --> 00:33:37,400 story that you can tell, and maybe you could tell that in your personal statement. 519 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:43,400 But again, the advice that is being given, I think, in some ways misses the point. 520 00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:49,520 The advice focuses on the do's and don'ts and doesn't really talk enough about why these 521 00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:52,920 are going to be red flags or things that are going to raise questions for the admissions 522 00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:53,920 committee. 523 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:58,080 Because what they're looking for is, honestly, a real human being. 524 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:04,880 A real human being is usually going to be super interested in a smaller subset of things, 525 00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:07,360 and they're going to be super dedicated to those things. 526 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:09,800 But they're not the only things that a person cares about. 527 00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:11,520 People care about all kinds of different things. 528 00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:14,600 People have all kinds of things that might interest them. 529 00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:18,560 So the application should demonstrate something along those lines. 530 00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:23,360 It should demonstrate that you are really, really dedicated to a few really important 531 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:27,520 things that really, really matter to you, but that you have other areas of interest 532 00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:31,920 and that if you have extra time and you're not sacrificing your dedication to the other 533 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:38,200 things that matter to you, then you pursue the things that you're passionate about. 534 00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:41,720 And I'm guessing that even there, there's probably a story to tell about why you like 535 00:34:41,720 --> 00:34:45,360 to do the things that you like to do. 536 00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:50,200 So look, what I'm pointing out is the following. 537 00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:55,360 People who are telling you on the one end, just follow your interests, I think that's 538 00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:57,000 on the surface as bad advice. 539 00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:00,640 And the reason it's bad advice is, look, just doing what you're interested in just means, 540 00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:03,400 just sounds like you just do whatever you want to do. 541 00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:05,600 And that sounds like a terrible idea. 542 00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:06,920 Okay, why? 543 00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:10,040 Because I think it's important to ask yourself, remember in the beginning I was giving you 544 00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:15,200 these kinds of reflective set of questions of qualities that colleges might be looking 545 00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:16,200 for. 546 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,320 I think you need to reflect on those questions for yourself, right? 547 00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:24,360 And just doing whatever you want to mindlessly is not engaging in that kind of reflection 548 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:28,760 of the kind of person that you are and the kind of person that you want to be. 549 00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:34,000 What's important is that you do things that make sense for you, right? 550 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:37,440 And part of that is going to be fitting in with your interests. 551 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:43,680 But it needs to be that your interests is reflective of something deeper about you, 552 00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:44,680 right? 553 00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:47,800 Something deeper about the kind of person that you are, right? 554 00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:50,240 There's often here a story that's told, right? 555 00:35:50,240 --> 00:35:52,560 An experience that really motivates you. 556 00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:55,080 It's usually the case for human beings. 557 00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:57,840 We don't just have interests that just come out of nowhere. 558 00:35:57,840 --> 00:35:59,080 It comes from somewhere. 559 00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:01,800 So look, I'm not saying don't pursue your interests. 560 00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:06,240 I'm saying pursue your interests, but do so thoughtfully. 561 00:36:06,240 --> 00:36:07,760 Do so purposefully. 562 00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:13,320 Do so with the mindset of thinking about the kind of person that you are and how you can 563 00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:17,120 continue to grow as the kind of person that you are, right? 564 00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:20,040 Don't be somebody other than who you are, right? 565 00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:25,800 And so look, don't just follow your interests mindlessly, but at the same time, don't go 566 00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:29,480 down the other end and say like, oh yeah, so then I have to craft my, I have to make 567 00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:31,000 sure that I check all these boxes. 568 00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:34,600 I got these leadership positions and so on and so forth, right? 569 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:38,360 Look, you don't need to try to craft anything. 570 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:43,740 If you are genuinely about something, I mean, this is really the tall tale sign, right? 571 00:36:43,740 --> 00:36:50,360 If you were genuinely about it, it'll show and the accolades will follow, right? 572 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:51,360 What do I mean by this? 573 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:53,400 Like, look, let me give you an example. 574 00:36:53,400 --> 00:37:00,080 If you're super passionate about building robots, then build robots to your heart content 575 00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:05,420 and do so in a thoughtful way where you are constantly challenging yourself and improving 576 00:37:05,420 --> 00:37:09,420 and being a better version of a robot builder. 577 00:37:09,420 --> 00:37:14,240 And what you'll find is that you'll naturally see that there are opportunities to engage 578 00:37:14,240 --> 00:37:19,760 with other robot builders in competition or in other activities. 579 00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:24,040 And those accolades are going to follow because you're going to really be dedicated to the 580 00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:27,880 things that you really care about, okay? 581 00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:34,040 If you are constantly trying to be somebody to fit a college application, you're already 582 00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:40,680 on the path to continuing to put on a mask of yourself everywhere you go. 583 00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:43,600 And at some point, that mask is going to come off. 584 00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:47,980 Might as well have it come off early because you're going to be liberated to be the best 585 00:37:47,980 --> 00:37:52,440 version of you instead of constantly trying to be what other people are telling you you 586 00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:55,700 should be, okay? 587 00:37:55,700 --> 00:37:59,320 The other thing I do want to stress is this, okay? 588 00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:02,160 Especially when it comes to extracurricular activities, one of the things that students 589 00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:05,520 tend to do is they start playing the comparison game, okay? 590 00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:06,520 This is toxic. 591 00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:10,080 I need everyone to stop doing this, all right? 592 00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:17,200 If you are focused on yourself, you will get to the places you need to get to as long as 593 00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:19,280 people around you are opening up these opportunities. 594 00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:21,960 And an application is really an opportunity. 595 00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:27,180 So look, if you focus on yourself, you don't have anything to worry about. 596 00:38:27,180 --> 00:38:31,000 Do not try to compare yourself to other people's accolades and how good your application looks 597 00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:33,880 compared to theirs, okay? 598 00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:38,880 The application committee does not go around comparing and contrasting students' extracurricular 599 00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:40,400 activities in this way. 600 00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:43,000 Again, I can't stress this enough. 601 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:47,960 What you need to present is a cohesive picture of a real person. 602 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:52,760 And a real person will shine if you are being genuine. 603 00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:58,240 And so you need to find a way to learn to be your truest, most authentic self. 604 00:38:58,240 --> 00:38:59,940 That's the place to start. 605 00:38:59,940 --> 00:39:02,640 So whatever the activity is, it doesn't even matter. 606 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:05,360 It could be Pokemon Go for all I care. 607 00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:07,200 Pokemon Go, by the way, has a whole... 608 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:12,200 I didn't realize this, but a friend told me Pokemon Go has a whole society created of 609 00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:17,600 Pokemon Go players that would congregate and be in chat groups and so on. 610 00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:20,480 Look, if you're organizing these things and you're... 611 00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:21,880 That's a leadership... 612 00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:24,480 As demonstrating leadership in a way, right? 613 00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:26,640 So look, what I'm pointing out is this. 614 00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:32,120 Whatever your interests are, I think people get too bogged down by the what that they're 615 00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:36,360 doing and they're not giving enough thought to the why they're doing it. 616 00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:41,960 The why they're doing it should be the thing that actually hits a genuine chord with other 617 00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:43,880 human beings. 618 00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:48,760 Whether it's wanting to connect with other people, whether it's wanting to leave the 619 00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:55,400 world a better place, where it's a care and concern for animals and trees and ecosystem, 620 00:39:55,400 --> 00:40:03,000 whether it's self-improvement, development, or it could just be some exciting thing, like 621 00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:07,320 technology really excites you or entrepreneurship gets you really excited because you like the 622 00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:10,860 challenge of starting up something new. 623 00:40:10,860 --> 00:40:19,600 Whatever it is, if you really are about it, it will and should show in your applications. 624 00:40:19,600 --> 00:40:26,480 So stop faking it, stop trying to rig or sorry, I should say trying to game the system in 625 00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:30,400 any way and just be who you actually are. 626 00:40:30,400 --> 00:40:31,640 That's all I ask of you. 627 00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:34,320 Be who you actually are. 628 00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:38,560 And hopefully that gives you the right sort of questions to reflect on instead of focusing 629 00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:43,500 so much on the what that a lot of these devices are centered on. 630 00:40:43,500 --> 00:40:48,160 Good luck to you and I hope that you find a wonderful community around you of like-minded 631 00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:53,600 people, of people who are passionate about the same things and really enjoy accomplishing 632 00:40:53,600 --> 00:41:20,600 wonderful things together.