A mom asked me this once, almost whispering, like it was something to apologize for.
"My son works twenty hours a week at a grocery store. He doesn't have time for clubs. Does that even count?"
I turned my laptop around and showed her the Common App — the application most colleges share — and its activities section. Then I pointed at the menu the colleges built into it.
There is a category called Work (paid). There is a category called Family responsibilities.
The colleges put those there. They are activities.
Here's how a reader sees a job.
Twenty hours a week at a register means a teenager who shows up. It means a manager who trusts a kid with money. Under holistic review — where the college reads the whole person, not just the grades — steady work is one of the strongest signals in the file. A reader will take four semesters at Publix over a one-week leadership camp every time. One of those can be bought. The other has to be earned.
Family counts too.
The teen who picks up a younger sibling every day, cooks dinner, translates at appointments — that goes in a slot, written plainly, what they did. How often. Who counted on them.
The only real mistake is leaving it off — or writing it so small it disappears. "Cashier" is small. "Trained 4 new employees, handled closing count, 20 hrs/week year-round" is the truth. Action, responsibility, result. That's the sentence.
This weekend:
If your teen works or carries the family, open the activities list together and give it a top slot. The biggest commitments go first — and almost nothing beats 20 hours a week.
Sample slot — Work (paid): Cashier and Trainer, Publix. "Trained 4 new employees; trusted with closing count; 20 hrs/week, year-round."
Want to talk this one through? In First in Class — my free community — moms are sharing what their teens' jobs actually taught them, state by state, zero judgment.
P.S. Ready for the full menu of activities? The College Activities Bible has 700+ verified programs organized by interest and grade, each tagged with cost, format, and deadline — $27.
P.P.S. Tuesday's issue reached the website but never reached your inbox — my mistake, one missed toggle. It's worth the click: more than 400 colleges charge no application fee at all, and skipping those fees is worth $600 to $900 this fall. Read it here