During the application evaluation process, once grades and scores are considered, admission officers look for evidence of desirable qualities in an applicant.

Forbes reports.

Making Summer Count For College And Yourself

Yesterday I read about an 11-year old boy who started his own business bringing neighbors’ trash cans and recycling bins to the curb. He charged them $.25 and by the end of his first week had made $1.75. Another article documented a 10-year old, inspired by learning about recycling in school, who has started his own recycling business, donating 25% of his profits to the homeless. Not yet in high school, they are already demonstrating the qualities colleges look for in applicants: initiative, imagination, commitment, community involvement and concern for others.

This kind of behavior was once common as teens and pre-teens hustled to make some money or just keep busy during the summer. Along with Little League and Girl Scouts, working at the Dairy Queen or the local diner, mowing lawns or delivering prescriptions for the pharmacy, there was plenty to do that required energy, people skills, the ability to add and subtract, and ambition. What you earned was your own. For many people of a certain age, opening their first bank account still ranks as a major step toward being an adult even if you were only 13.