Do Colleges Care if I Have a Job?
As advisors, we see questions about students having jobs and how that impacts their college application chances.
Does it matter if I have a start-up or a part-time job?
The short answer is no. Students would not be “deducted” points just for having a job. On the other hand, if you’re a startup CEO, that’s not automatically more impressive than if you were working part-time at a supermarket. There are things to consider about your side gig that might impact your chance of transferring to a selective program.
We’ll explain in two fictional cases: the Student CEO and the Part-time Worker.
Case 1: the Student CEO
A student who is a CEO of a startup and wants to apply to an undergraduate business school should make a connection that this activity will benefit the school and prove that the school benefits you.
What not to do: Show off
“I started a start up and now it makes 100x more revenue after one year, with two employees.”
Many students we hear from are ambitious and want to become successful. A common mistake we see our students make is that they make themselves seem so impressive that they fail to show why they need a college degree. Here are things to note for the sentence.
You’re not the only “CEO” applying to the university. It’s not that being CEO is bad. However, we often have to remind our students that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of students who write themselves as a CEO of a startup or a nonprofit, and most are rejected (whether they’re CEO or not). The admissions advisors have seen every title you can think of, and see through the BS.
This is a college application, not Y Combinator. More revenue or growth of the company does not make you more impressive as a student. Colleges are not investing in your business. They’re carefully crafting the future classes to maintain their status as an elite institution with a top-tier classroom environment.
If it’s a company, show why you want to leave. Elite colleges want you to commit to the school. They almost expect you to change into a different person as you’ll be challenged by your classes and classmates. If you have two employees and a successful business, you should show why the school is worth leaving it behind.
Colleges aren’t looking for Elon Musk. If you’re already on your way to becoming the next big entrepreneur, the chances are, the colleges aren’t looking for you. Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and even Elon Musk (although it was after he got a bachelor’s degree) dropped out of their schools. Your dream schools are not looking for dropouts.
A better sentence to remove the red flags: Focus on the learning
“I work at a startup with two employees, where I learned about my passion for people and design”
This sentence is better because the student does not rely on being a “CEO” to sound impressive, and focuses more on the learning and self-reflection. However, this sentence alone will not get you into the dream school—we just removed the obvious red flags from the original sentence. We encourage student entrepreneurs to focus on how it makes them seem unique and desirable for their dream schools.
Case 2: the Part-time Worker
Students should leverage their jobs as one of the key anchors for their transfer applications depending on the work options they have.
If you’re a college student, you likely work part-time, or even full-time (40 hours a week).
What not to do: Make work the roadblock to your success
“I had to work two part-time jobs to care for my family, which made it difficult to have a good grade.”
First, we want to acknowledge that many students, especially in community college, are in financial situations where their pay contributes to the family’s finances. Instead, we will focus on how to tell the stories based on the questions the schools will have when looking at your application.
Give the background of jobs. If you have two jobs because one is a topic you’re interested in, and the other is just to earn money, that is a great combination to have that you should explain. If you have two jobs because one is a day shift and another is a night shift, talk about why you need to do that.
Tell what happens to your family if you get accepted. Most schools will not have scholarships that pay for you and your family. If you’re a necessary part of a family’s survival, it makes the colleges wonder why you’re applying to the school. The most common mistake we see is that the students make themselves more important to the family’s finances than they actually are, and colleges may not want to accept you if you’re the last glue of the family that’s keeping it together.
Low grades can’t be excused easily. If you’re applying to a top-ranked university, not only are you compared against those with a lot of time to have good grades, you will likely be compared against those with more jobs (and less time) with better grades. We recommend that you don’t talk about your grades in your application, unless you’re referring to grades in high school that you’ve since improved in college.
A better sentence: Say why you do what you do.
“I want to make sure that my siblings can keep the dreams they had while I aspire for mine, which meant that I worked at the school’s lab for as much as I can, and supplement it with my supermarket job.”
This sentence works better because it shows that the student has multiple jobs to immerse themselves in a field they’re interested in, and their pay goes to the siblings’ “Dreams” instead of bare necessities. Like the CEO example, the student will need to provide more to the story to make it more compelling, but it’s a much better starting point.
Things to consider about your job
As you’re reflecting on your part-time job, consider a few factors that you may be able to control.
Your job can help prove to colleges that you can take bigger challenges.
If your part-time job is rigorous and you still have a full-time class schedule and get good grades, that is great proof to show to colleges that you will be able to excel even in their tougher classes. Therefore, if your part-time job is hard, mentioning challenges of the work could be beneficial for your application.
Prove that you still care about school.
You may be a workaholic and want to earn as much as possible. However, in your transfer applications, you will likely be “compared” against those who do not have a job and have more time for homework and extracurricular activities. And in that pool, you have to show more potential as an excellent student at your dream college. That means if all you do is work, that makes it difficult for the admissions team to evaluate you.
If you can change jobs, look at your school first.
Schools often have flexible work schedules, higher pay, and topics that better align with your interests. If you can change jobs, we recommend that you look at those opportunities first, as they will make it easier not just for your application process, but also provide more time for classes and extracurricular activities given the distance and flexibility.
Balancing classes and work is hard, even if you don’t have dreams to transfer to a prestigious university. In addition to our lower-than-industry rates, we offer our services for free to a select few students based on need to support your journey for transfer success, no matter the financial situation. Contact us to schedule an initial consultation.