SLE/NASS/Air Force Summer Seminar and the Common App

[Severnriver]

Does anyone think it is a good idea to mention participation in the summer seminar programs on their common app for plan B civilian colleges? This is assuming one is pursuing an application to a service academy. I am getting mixed advice. Some saying I should include it since it's a unique experience, others saying civilian colleges will not appreciate that they are not first choice. Which brings me to my next point - that one cannot apply early binding action to a civilian college if applying to a service academy. If I mention a summer seminar experience, the civilian college will certainly know I would choose an academy over them. Any thoughts?

 

[AROTC-dad]

I'm inclined to say no.

It is like telling UCLA admissions that you attended and adored the Future Trojans seminar.

You probably have many other ECs to discuss instead.

 

[MidCakePa]

My DD mentioned it in the EC list section of the Coomon App, pretty far down, below more meaningful things that carried actual merit/effort/achievement. At that point, I’m sure it meant very little to civilian colleges (if they even knew its significance). Don’t overthink it. Colleges know kids apply to a lot of schools, and they don’t have time to apply game theory to an application. If you apply Early Decision, they fully expect to see you in the fall.