Do colleges prefer activities you started yourself?

RReaders in Stanford's admissions office respect debate, Model UN and mock trial, and they also read those lines knowing what a school-provided activity cannot show. Picture two applicants with the same interest in law. One joined the school's mock trial team and competed for three years, a fine record by any measure. The other took a different path through the same interest, and in the office we learned from, hers was the file readers talked about.

Both were good applicants. The gap between them was not talent, hours or grades, and most families building an activities list never see it, because the usual advice is to join what the school offers and rise through it. The reason readers care so much about that gap explains which of the two students your child is becoming.