# Has anyone heard of the National Young Leaders Conference?



## northwoodsgal (Jun 8, 2006)

I hope I don't sound too ignorant, but I've never heard of the National Young Leaders Conference before.  My son (a senior next year) received an invitation in the mail this week to attend the conference.  The invitation itself looks great - very formal and it even has a seal!  However, even though it looks like a good program, I'm wondering how much of an "honor" it really is to attend.  His high school guidance counselors are gone until August, so I don't have access to their opinion.

The itinerary covers topic like A Call to Leadership, "If I Were President" Executive Branch Simulation, Public Service Leadership, explore nation's monuments, Leadership in Action, Greeting from a Member of Congress, Tour of Capitol Hill, Model Congress Preparation, "Testing the Constitution", National Press Club Breakfast, etc.  This should give a good idea of what the program covers.

By the way, without transportation to Washington DC, the cost is $1,400 for 6 days.  It's a lot of money to our family.  It would probably clean out our son's summer job money and we would help with the rest (not that we're loaded either).

I feel there's some student activities that are costly but very worthwhile for kids.  I would name band trips, and foreign language trips as two of them.  I just don't know enough about the Young Leaders Conference to decide if it falls in to this same category.  

I should mention that our son's Scout troop, when he was in 6th grade, made a road trip to DC and saw the sites, met with their Senator, etc.  Also, he has been in involved with Youth in Government program here in Wisconsin.  In this program, the kids elect members of the government, creat bills, and spend a weekend in Madison with other WI local chapters debating the bills.  

Any thoughts, experiences, or suggestions on this topic would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance!


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## Dave M (Jun 8, 2006)

There's a ton of anecdotal info about the conference on the Internet. Start by Googling the name of the conference (in quotes). Then, one by one, add some negative words you can think of to your search, such as scam, fraud, overpriced, etc. 

You'll come up with a lot of useful info, generally suggesting that these invitations are not very selective and there are better ways to spend your money. Here's one such example. Individually, the links are not very powerful. However, on a collective basis, there seems to be a clear message, except for the expected very positive hype put out by the organization that sponsors the conference.


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## wackymother (Jun 8, 2006)

My DD got that invite, too. She is far (very far!) from being a National Young Leader, so I'm pretty sure they get their mailing list from the College Board--has your son taken PSATs or SATs? They must send the invite to everybody who scores over a certain number.

I've heard it's meaningless as far as college admissions go, anyway. I'm sure the kids have a great time, and they probably learn a little something, too, but if you want something really good, both in terms of the child learning a lot and the activity looking good on a college application, you need something like your state's governor's school or another prestigious program where your child is selected from many other applicants and you either don't pay anything or the cost is minimal. Good luck!


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## northwoodsgal (Jun 8, 2006)

My son has take his ACT exam several times, so I'm sure he's a good candidate for this type of mailing list.  The Youth in Government program list (if it's available) would be another great name gatherer.  I'll look at the web sites and THANK YOU for the input.  This is the kind of info I was looking for.


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## Gadabout (Jun 8, 2006)

I have always felt that these type of things were more of a business boondoggle than anything else--just like the offers to be listed in the "Who's Who" books people get invitations for in the mail. 

Here is something from their FAQs:

Who participates in NYLC? NYLC accepts high school sophomores, juniors and seniors who meet the highest criteria in academics and leadership. These remarkable scholars are nominated by high school educators, or CYLC alumni in conjunction with school officials. In addition, Achievement Nominations are granted based on information provided on voluntary pre-college surveys, such as the Student Search program sponsored by the College Board and the National Research Center for College & University Admissions Talent Identification Program. Survey participants have requested that the survey information be made available to colleges, universities and other approved educational organizations.

In other words, anyone can go. 

Here is their FAQ area:

http://www.cylc.org/NYLC/NYLC_faq_parents.cfm

Here's another quote from a forum asking about a similar program:

Yes, Lead America buys everything. They are corporate marketers and nothing else. "Nominated" is a fake way of saying they've targeted well-to-do above average students who will pay $thousands$ to fund their coffers. 

Here's a link to that discussion forum for more postings, many on NYLC also (scroll down):

http://www.youthleadership.com/talkleadership.htm


I think the Model United Nations is a much better event--although we did that in college as a bona fide class and it was more or less local (same state). But, unless there is some qualification of who's going to these things (other than they're breathing and their checks clear) there can be a LOT of goofing off and very little learning (even at the college level, so HS could be even worse).

As to the DC trips, it's not that hard to set up the tours through your Congressperson, or even to meet your Congressperson locally, for that matter. You could probably set up one of these trips inexpensively for the family if you travel enough to have frequent flyer miles, rack up free hotel nights, or even go on Priceline, travel off-season, etc. 

And while *your* child is not necessarily going to goof off, there are always other peoples' children who do, and getting in trouble because someone else you were with is doing something stupid will not make for pleasant memories.

Just some things to think about.


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## Gadabout (Jun 8, 2006)

I might add that the schools really push filling out those surveys--wouldn't be surprised at all if they didn't get some sort of kickback for them, either. I'm sure the credit card companies and other marketers get their hands on the info at some point as well, legally or not.  

A little late now, but if you have any younger children, make sure you advise them *not* to fill out any kind of survey until they bring it home for you to look it over first to read the fine print and make a copy of it.


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## awsherm (Jun 8, 2006)

My wife worked for NYLC. If you have any specific questions, please PM me and I'll pass them on to her.

Alex


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## wackymother (Jun 8, 2006)

Gadabout said:
			
		

> A little late now, but if you have any younger children, make sure you advise them *not* to fill out any kind of survey until they bring it home for you to look it over first to read the fine print and make a copy of it.



My DD didn't fill out any surveys. She took the PSATs. That's what triggered all the college-related mail we get. We can tell because she never uses her middle initial on anything else.


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## Gadabout (Jun 8, 2006)

wackymother said:
			
		

> My DD didn't fill out any surveys. She took the PSATs. That's what triggered all the college-related mail we get. We can tell because she never uses her middle initial on anything else.



But there should also have been some "opt-out" provision. Also, some things(focus groups, questionnaires, etc.) are actually disguised surveys, and the schools, which should be paying attention, aren't. 

Here's info on one such case:

http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2005/jan/jan13a_05.html

And, there's nothing that would keep these companies from getting middle initial (or other info) from schools in some other way (yearbook senior photos, for example or class rings)--one thing that might slow them down is to sign the form every year restricting what information the school may release on your child (but I wouldn't hold my breath on that, either).

Our schools, for example, had an area on the registration form for SSNs. For Kindergarten!! Sorry, no. When I pointed that out to the registrar, she agreed with me, but I bet a lot of people just blindly filled that part out just because it was there!


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## northwoodsgal (Jun 11, 2006)

Thank you to everyone for the great information.  We've decided not to spend the money for this.  I called our local state college admissions office to ask what they knew about the program.  The rep had never heard of it before.  She stated that while any leadership conference would be beneficial to a student, what the college really looks for is long term involvement in organizations and volunteering.  She didn't think it would affect his college application in any way.  

*Our schools, for example, had an area on the registration form for SSNs*.

The school may require it for medical reasons.  I'm now required to provide out kids' social security numbers at their doctors office.  I was told it was a mandatory policy.


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## Gadabout (Jun 11, 2006)

It is easy for the school to "say" they require it. They don't.  They would not deny your child entry to school, if only for the financial aid they receive.

Current laws require people be treated at hospitals regardless of their citizenship/financial status. Recent news stories have even said they don't ask in schools because of the same types of laws. 

I would switch doctor's offices if possible--you can ask them to make up a different ID number for you, and many are accomodating about that. Point out that if one of their employees committed ID theft with someone's SSN, they could also be sued over it, because they don't really need that particular number. 

Just something to think about. It's true it's getting harder to avoid giving an SSN, but one should never just give it out without a really good reason. Here is some really good info on when you should avoid it:

http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs10-ssn.htm

As to the other, about any kind of stuff looking good on resumes, it always depends  on how hard the college is to get into.  Local podunk (but still accredited) colleges are far more worried about checks clearing than how special their student body is.  But, what's worse (and what I'd worry more about) is, even if a local student is qualified, he may be bumped if a college would rather get 2-3x the money from an out-of-state student.


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## jerseygirl (Jun 11, 2006)

Northwoodsgal --

I'm one year ahead of you in the college admissions game ... just went through it.  I also wondered if it would be helpful for my d to attend that conference, but decided against it.  By the way, I think it's definitely PSAT related because my d took the test in both her sophomore and junior years, and received the invitation both years.

Collegeconfidential.com is to college admissions what TUG is to timeshares.  (Prestige/IVY/Full Pay vs. Merit School/Top 50/Half Price is their version of developer vs resale or weeks vs. points!)  There's a TON of great information, including multiple threads about the National Young Leaders Conference.  I highly recommend it (but be forewarned, it's as addicting as TUG!).

Good luck -- I survived and you will too!
- Jerseygirl


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## sxmscorpio (Jun 14, 2006)

Jerseygirl: thank you for the collegeconfidential site.  I see many days of reading and learning in my future!


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## Kittykatz (Jun 14, 2006)

Hi I too have been addicted to collegeconfidential.com, just be aware when reading anything other than the Parents Forum -- things get exaggerated because it's mostly kids that write them. I have one that just finished her freshman year and one that will be a junior in High School next year. My D (college student) also received the NYLC mailing when she was in school. I didn't find the value in it but some of her friends went and they really, really liked it. My son is involved in JSA and will be taking AP classes at Stanford over the summer, classes that are run by JSA. Although it's not something I encouraged because I think summers are for fun he wanted to do it. There is a woman Caroline, that has written a blog about the college admissions process. It offers oodles of information. There are other amazing posters in the parent section of that site, just like here. Any questions just send me a Private Message.


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## Patri (Jun 14, 2006)

My kids all got the invitation to that conference. They even include a stamped reply envelope. I tore off the stamp and used it to mail another letter.


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