How quantifying student activities can go wrong

The ability to quantify activities and achievements – not just to write “I led the student newspaper”, but to say, “I facilitated more than 30 weekly meetings, edited 100+ articles, and managed three student section editors” –  is an incredibly important employability skill. 

However, there’s also a peril to it. 

Activities students may have been doing for sheer fun may now acquire a different edge when students start scrutinising them under a metrics-driven lens and with an extrinsically motivated agenda. The activities may now be motivated by a calculated ambition to look impressive for the application. 

Helping students to craft descriptions and set goals but also to retain their passion is a tricky path to tread. 

Red flags: when metrics consume meaning 

The reason I worry when I teach students about quantification is that I know how easily metrics can overshadow meaning. When a student starts doing an activity “for the application”, they can lose sight of why they started it. 

The following are red flags that counsellors may observe when metrics start obscuring meaning. 

When padding the résumé is the first thing that comes to mind

This is a motivational red flag. It occurs when a student’s primary reason for joining a club, starting a project or choosing a summer activity arises from strategic calculation rather than genuine interest. The question at the core has changed from “What do I want to do or learn?” to “What will look good on my application?” In psychological terms, it signals the shift from intrinsic to extrinsic motivation. 

When we put numbers before people or mission

This is a values red flag. The means (hitting a number) justify the ends, even if the ends are stressful, harmful or contrary to the spirit of the activity, the people involved or the original mission. 

For example, a student might pressure their debate team to prioritise winning percentages over collaborative learning and sportsmanship. This is ambition without the corresponding leadership, empathy or integrity.

When the joy is sucked out

This is an emotional red flag, which is often a direct consequence of the first two flags. An activity that was once a source of fun or passion can become just another item on the to-do list. 

Of course, a continued sense of passion and fun is impossible to maintain 100 per cent of the time, and a sense of duty and responsibility is necessary to continue the activity. However, when the activity is completely stripped of any of the initial joy or enthusiasm, it can lead to burnout. 

When you start lying about numbers

This is an ethical red flag. Whereas previous situations were in the realm of misguided motivation, this is about outright dishonesty. Examples are inflating figures (for example, “We raised $10,000” instead of $1,000), exaggerating responsibility (“I founded” instead of “I joined”) or fabricating accomplishments altogether.

When we start ignoring the unquantifiable 

There are so many aspects of a student’s growth in an activity that cannot be measured by numbers – values such as patience, resilience, curiosity and empathy. For instance, a student may not have a number for the patience they learned while tutoring kindergarteners or the resilience they built after losing a big game. 

Realising that these are as important as the metrics is essential to a student’s personal growth – but in the race for numbers, they may be ignored. Because it can underscore all situations that involve describing an activity and achievements, let’s call this a holistic red flag. 

How to avoid red flags and balance metrics and meaning

Describing activities and achievements with metrics is inherently not a bad thing. It’s a life skill essential for presenting yourself to the world to obtain a university place or to find a job. 

However, the danger as pointed out by the red flags is that metrics overshadow meaning. You as a counsellor will teach students about the metrics – and you can also buffer against the possible negative effects of it. 

What can you do? Here are some suggestions.

Teach the red flags alongside the skill 

When you’re teaching students how to convert these metrics, you can also teach them about the red flags. Talking about the risks of this may be as impactful as learning the skill itself. Also, if you lay it out as a shared language in a group setting, you can point it out in one-to-one conversations next time, as well. 

Recover the spark 

All activities started with a spark. Your job is to help elicit that spark in younger years – and to help recover it when it’s on the verge of being lost. 

Ask students about their initial motivation, encourage them and create a space in your one-to-one conversations and office where they can reclaim that joy instead of losing it to the application. Here’s a short article on how to choose student activities. 

Remind them what they’re writing

Remind students that they’re not writing a novel – that is, a fictional story where an author makes up events that did not take place. An application is more like nonfiction or investigative journalism, where the student is describing what actually happened in their life, in more detail than they have before.  

Remind them of their values

Sometimes students may be helped by the reminders of deeper values – specifically those lost in red-flag situations. Your job as an educator is not only to help them push out complete university applications, but also to be the adult in the room and teach them about values. 

Remind them of consequences – and conscience

When I discuss with students how to present their activities, I always get the question: “How do admissions officers know if I faked it?” I tell them that with the exception of applications that require stringent extracurricular documentation (such as Korea), the admissions officers won’t know. Their eyes almost always widen as they realise that no one is going to fact-check their applications. 

And then I always follow up with a series of statements that are as follows. 

• We all have a conscience.
• Admissions officers are trained to tell fake activities from real ones.
• Admissions officers have Google, too. Achievements that are big are likely to be documented on the internet.
• If they realise that what you put down is fabricated, that will lead to dire consequences.

But before we reach that level, let’s remind ourselves of the conscience we all are born with and are educated to cultivate in school. 

Normalise the small win

Don’t focus only on the big wins that can be documented by metrics. Ensure that you’re celebrating the small, non-quantifiable wins as well. Someone showed up and helped? Thank them.