"Doing More" Can Hurt?

1:1 College Advising Introductory Call

There’s a mistake I see every year.

And it’s usually made by good students with good intentions and high college aspirations.

Once they understand that the application is only partly academic, the instinct is almost always the same:

“Okay. Then we need more.”

More activities.

More leadership titles.

More volunteering.

Another nonprofit. Another summer program. Another credential.

On paper, it sounds logical.

In reality, it often makes the application worse.

Here’s why.

Admissions officers don’t reward busyness. They reward meaning.

When a student does too much, everything starts to look the same.

Depth gets replaced by noise. Signal gets buried under activity.

John Wooden, legendary basketball coach at UCLA, said it perfectly:

Don't confuse activity with achievement.

I’ve seen students with 19 impressive extracurriculars look less compelling than kids with eight, simply because no one helped them decide what actually mattered.

This is where restraint comes in.

Knowing what not to do is often more important than knowing what to add.

That judgment rarely comes from inside the family. And it almost never comes from a checklist.

It comes from perspective.

Someone who can step outside the application and ask:

What’s the Thread of Continuity here?

What’s distracting?

What’s diluting the story instead of strengthening it?

This is the part of the process that most families never get.

And it’s why so many strong students end up with outcomes that feel confusing or disappointing.

If you’re feeling the urge to pile on more, that’s frequently a sign it’s time to pause, not accelerate.

-Andy

P.S. I will be closing out the spots for our P4 1:1 College Advisory Program in the next few days.  You can book an introductory call here if interested in seeing how we can help you/ your kiddo.