A common misconception abounds when it comes to elite college admissions: expensive mission trips to exotic locales are sure to play well with admissions officers. In fact, the opposite is true. One may think that these trips convey the altruistic content of one’s spirit, but in reality they only reflect the abundance of one’s bank account! There are much more effective ways to give back to the less fortunate and develop a deeper relationship to one’s faith than any activity that comes with a major price tag.

How Expensive Mission Trips Work Against Elite College Applicants

Colloquial knowledge would tell you that the most competitive college applicants have filled their resumes with a variety of extracurricular, service-based, and educational opportunities that demonstrate their well-roundedness. We at Ivy Coach have made it our mission to dispel this misconception and tell the truth — that highly selective colleges admit experts and specialists over well-rounded applicants. Investing in exclusive resume builders is not a sure-fire way to gain admission. It does more harm than good!

Such activities, including lucrative internships, expensive retreats, educational development programs, and yes, even elaborate mission trips reek of privilege. Many families forget that socioeconomic diversity is one of the many metrics used by admissions officers to create a varied cohort of admitted students. Any activity that comes with a price tag, even those that are carried out for the greater good, give admissions officers a reason to deny an otherwise promising applicant. 

Rich students are overrepresented on elite college campuses due to many factors — the legacy admissions boost, private school educations, etc. — but the presence of fancy resume builders on an applicant’s activities list is not one of them. Remember, admissions officers are often not rich themselves. They can sniff out when a “service” activity is actually just an opportunity for foreign travel or opportunistic development.

The Ivy Coach Solution: Act Locally, Think Globally

Not everyone is lucky enough to travel the world while volunteering their time. One of the main reasons exotic mission trips do not play well with admissions officers is that, more often than not, an applicant could have made a greater impact by giving back to their local community. Sure, people may be in need across the globe, but the issues that plague families in one country are not so different from another. Global travel is not the only way to convey that you’re engaged with global issues. By doing mission work in your local community, donating your time to grassroots causes, and getting to know what issues are important in your neighborhood, you will come off as much more altruistic than if you simply hopped on a plane to an exotic location.

Through your writing, academic performance, and letters of recommendation, you can convey that you are a well-informed global student who is deeply concerned with the fate of humanity. After all, you’re probably set on attending a highly selective college or university because you’re passionate about improving something, whether it’s your craft, your cause, or your community, so rest assured that that will shine through even if you’ve never built a home for a family in a far away country.

A Singular Hook Should Come Before All Else

With that being said, all activities listed on an activities list, resume, or supplement should be included to bolster your singular hook. If you are framing yourself as the next great environmental law expert in your application to Yale, but your resume is full of jet-setting, admissions officers will not be convinced! If you claim to be an expert beekeeper in your application to Cornell, but all of your activities are related to your local homeless shelter, unfortunately admissions officers will not be convinced! It might sound cynical, but it’s the truth: activities should be oriented around a singular passion. Otherwise, you run the risk of watering down an application with the things that don’t really matter to your prospective university — including mission work!