I saw exactly this situation in high school. I went to a prep school, so there was definitely explicit pressure to do things that look good for college. Two o

I saw exactly this situation in high school. I went to a prep school, so there was definitely explicit pressure to do things that look good for college. Two of my classmates put together the "Dollars for Darfur" program, which became a relatively big deal. They spoke in front of congress, appeared on some morning shows, etc. Sometimes it was honestly hard to have a conversation about the program that didn't involve some cynical "and this'll look really good on their college application" type of stuff. Which is true, it's an impressive project and I'm sure it boosted their changes, but it was always sad to me that people questioned their motives. Definitely a combination of jealousy and cynicism.