Admissions Blog

The 3 Dos and Dont’s to get Accepted into America’s Most Selective Colleges

Posted on August 16, 2020 by Max

There is so much misinformation out there regarding how to get into America’s most selective colleges, and sadly, a lot of it comes from high school counselors themselves.

Luckily, by reading on, you will get some of the best advice that many high school-based counselors are unable or unwilling to give their students.

Here are the 3 Dos and 3 Don’ts to help you get accepted into America’s most selective colleges:

1. Don’t be well-rounded. Do be well-lopsided.

Why well-rounded students get skipped

It almost doesn’t seem fair. You work hard throughout high school, joining clubs and sports teams, focusing on getting good grades, trying to be the most well-rounded student you can possibly be – and then comes time to start applying to colleges.

For years, you have dreamed of attending some of the more selective colleges in the nation: Duke, UC Berkeley, Michigan, perhaps some of the Ivies, like Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. You have put in the work, built the resume.

Applying to college can be an exciting yet stressful time in a high-schooler’s life. After all, this is what all the hard work was about. This is why you packed your schedule with extracurriculars. This is why you stayed up late studying for those exams.

But before you begin submitting those applications, there is something important you should know: college admissions officers are not looking for well-rounded students.

On the surface, that might not make much sense.

Let’s take a deeper dive into why well-rounded students get passed over and what admissions officers are really looking for in high school applicants.

Well-rounded student vs. well-rounded class

If you are a well-rounded student, don’t take this personally. But consider this a fair warning: college admissions officers are not looking for well-rounded students.

If you’re going down the path of well-roundedness and you have your eyes set on a top college, you need a change of course – before it’s too late.

Many students might find this confusing. After all, you’ve been told time and time again by teachers, parents, and counselors that you need to join a wide variety of clubs, try out for some sports teams, volunteer, get involved however possible.

“If I can show colleges that I can do a little bit of everything, then surely, I’ll set myself apart from the rest of the competition.”

Unfortunately, this sort of thinking couldn’t be further from the truth.

The reality is that admissions officers are not looking for well-rounded students. They are trying to put together a well-rounded class. The mistake that so many college applicants make is trying to be a jack of all trades, which inevitably leads to being a master of none.

With this in mind, you likely only have one question to ask: then what does it take to get accepted to highly selective colleges?

What admissions officers are looking for

The simple truth is that if you want to go to a top college, you can’t just blend in with the crowd—you have to stand out among the other applicants. That may seem like straightforward advice, but it’s far more difficult to put into practice.

Virtually everyone applying to the Ivy League has good grades. Many played sports. Many were involved with the same types of activities and organizations: choir, National Honor Society, and Student Council. On their own, none of these activities will make your application stand out to top colleges.

To college admissions officers, you must be able to prove that you are an applicant who deserves their attention, interest, and ultimately, consideration.

And with many top colleges only spending eight minutes or fewer on any given application, you need to spark their interest – fast.

Brainstorm what sets you apart, what differentiates you from the mounds of well-rounded students who also want one of the select few spots in the upcoming freshman class.

In one of his popular blog posts, Allen Cheng, a Harvard alumnus and co-founder of a college test prep company, notes that there are two things that elite college admissions officers are looking for from applicants; they seek those “who are going to accomplish world-changing things” and those “who are going to contribute positively to their communities while in college and help other students accomplish great things as well.”

Understandably, neither one of those traits are a walk in the park. But with your application, it is your job not to demonstrate how much of a well-rounded student you are, but rather to demonstrate how you are the right applicant to accomplish such remarkable things in the future.

At the end of the day, being a well-rounded student may lead to modest successes in high school, but when it comes to applying to the nation’s most sought-after colleges, be sure you are demonstrating what sets you apart. The members of the next generation who will change the world are almost certainly not well-rounded – they are masters of their trades.

2. Don’t dabble. Do focus.

Why the best college applicants are the most focused

Focus is key.

You’ve already learned that the first key to acceptance into schools like Harvard, MIT, and Stanford is abandoning the image of a well-rounded student, and instead highlighting what sets you apart, and what makes you the type of student who will go on to change the world someday.

We know that alumni of many top colleges are often well-known for their astonishing contributions to the world – Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, Olympic medalists…But long before that, while they’re still back in high school, working hard with their minds set on attending one of those schools, how do admissions officers pick them out? What is it that sets these future leaders apart in high school – and on their applications – that so clearly speaks to what their long-term success will look like?

The secret is that the best college applicants are also the most focused candidates. Let’s dive a little deeper into what it means to be hyper-focused and what sets those students apart from the rest of the crowd.

The best college applicants don’t dabble

Being a well-rounded student is usually just another way of saying that the student dabbles in a multitude of activities, often without mastering any of them.

Students who find they have strived their entire high school careers to get involved with as many activities as possible to “round out their resume” should heed this advice. The truth is that if you are preparing to send a competitive application to top colleges, you need to hone in on a select few skills or pursuits. That’s where you should be focusing from here on out.

All those other activities, the ones you are doing half-heartedly or just for a participation trophy – those are simply time-wasters. Take some time to identify those activities now and abandon them.

This is not to say that there was no value in dabbling at a younger age. After all, you need some time to develop your skill sets and identify where your talents lie. But as you progress through high school, and especially as you prepare for college, you should be narrowing your focus and eliminating the activities that simply serve as distractions.

The best college applicants are hyper-focused

Take a moment to think about the people who are the best at what they do in the world. Think about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and NBA superstar LeBron James. No one talks about Zuckerberg’s ability to play basketball, and no one discusses James’s web development skills. You know why? Because those things don’t matter. It’s not what makes them great. What matters are the skill sets each of them uniquely garners that make them truly great.

It’s a safe bet to say that these top-performers cultivated their skills through focused attention and work.

That’s the same type of hyper-focus high school students should use to become the most competitive college applicants.

Focus, as defined in a Psychology Today article, “involves the ability to pay attention to things that will help avoid distractions that will hurt your work efforts.”

It’s really as simple as that.

Discard the activities that are time-wasters and spend your time and energy on your true strengths. Some might call this your “spike,” “pointiness,” personal brand, or elevator pitch – whatever the term, it’s the overall theme that you’re trying to convey to admissions officers.

So what does it look like to harness the type of hyper-focus that will lead to admissions success? There are several tangible steps you can take.

One of the most significant leaps you can make is to eliminate unhelpful extracurriculars and instead focus on the ones that highlight your best skills. So many high schoolers are encouraged to take up as many extracurriculars as they can – sports, music, clubs, volunteer work. But, admissions officers are going to look at this list and judge you based on whether or not they require any special knowledge or skills to succeed, or whether or not you are a leader or just another run-of-the-mill teammate or club member.

If anyone could do it just by dedicating some time, it doesn’t stand out on applications.

Consider also auditing your free time outside of schoolwork and extracurriculars, and determine if you’re truly spending it wisely. We live fast-paced lives, and, of course, high school students have social lives to live. The advice here is not to completely disregard your social life or the small pleasures of everyday life.

Instead, it’s to be conscious of where you’re spending your time, and to refocus when you find yourselves straying from your long-term goals.

This type of hyper-focus is what differentiates average applicants from the “must-admits.”

3. Don’t give up. Do be gritty.

If you want to successfully compete for a seat at a top college, you need a certain mindset. After all, years of dedication, hard work and high performance culminate with these college applications.

The college application process, and all the work that leads up to it, is enough to burn out many students. But the most successful college applicants have one other thing in common: they are gritty.

Why gritty students have the best chance for admission

Angela Duckworth is a leading researcher who, literally, wrote the book on grit and its impact on success, called Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. She defines the trait as “passion and perseverance of very long-term goals.”

According to Duckworth’s research, the most successful students are not necessarily those with the highest IQ or exam scores. Rather, she notes in her book, “the highly successful had a kind of ferocious determination that played out in two ways. First, these exemplars were unusually resilient and hardworking. Second, they knew in a very, very deep way what it was they wanted. They not only had determination, but they also had direction.”

Duckworth is someone worth listening to when it comes to grit’s role in being accepted into elite colleges, herself having earned degrees from Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Oxford. Her research uses grit as the greatest predictor of long-term success, rather than talent.

Becoming a grittier person will not happen overnight. It’s a trait that you develop in the long run, with benefits that you reap lifelong.

This is to say, students who are gritty and can clearly demonstrate that grit on their applications have the best chance for admission to top colleges. There is a long list of talented applicants on the desks of Ivy League admissions officers. But those whose story is one of grittiness — a relentless pursuit of a select few strengths and overcoming of obstacles — those applicants consistently dominate the admissions game.

The Obscene Quest for Meaningless Status

Posted on June 2, 2020 by Craig

As students – and parents – obsess about their college lists each summer, it’s extremely important to put things in proper perspective.

In his 1938 Defense of Freedom and Peace speech, Winston Churchill stated, “I avail myself with relief of the opportunity of speaking to the people of the United States. I do not know how long such liberties will be allowed. The stations of uncensored expression are closing down; the lights are going out; but there is still time for those to whom freedom and parliamentary government mean something, to consult together. Let me, then, speak in truth and earnestness while time remains.”

Today, on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook – the modern “stations” of speech – the most vulgar displays of perversity and obscenity aimed at spreading depravity around the whole of Earth are foisted upon site visitors; yet, to find valuable truth on such platforms takes focus and some basic research skills. Thus, it’s noteworthy when one finds both smut and truth in the same place, no matter how disturbing it is to view. Come along with me as we face it together.

Recently, I found myself on Youtube after an exhaustive Internet search for information about the obsession with status fed to the masses through both well-meaning purveyors and nefarious actors alike who collaborate to publish and prop up the ubiquitous explanatory genre of written and oral communication. This explanatory genre to which I refer includes everything from the US News‘ “Top Colleges” rankings to your local news site’s articles “explaining” what “we” learned from the latest loss by the hometown football team to national news programs that tell you the big take-aways (i.e. what they think you should think) after the latest presidential debate. In all cases, some sage – probably far dimmer than you – purveyor of the explanatory genre is paid to explain to you the way the world is…or the way the world is to those whose opinions matter the most…or propaganda plain and simple.

After ingesting such information 24/7/365, even the smartest and savviest among us are likely to put down our defenses and start believing some, if not all, of what we are being fed by the powers that be in the ‘information’ business who now default to this most dangerous explanatory genre of written and oral communication.

Yet, if you take a step back from the latest college rankings issue, the latest article about the “4 Things we Learned from the Latest Ravens Loss,” or the latest episode of the evening news, you may begin to realize that something is very wrong with so many of the explanations out there. So much of the information out there exists to communicate STATUS. Either the status of X versus Y or your status versus others’ status. Implicit in the modern explanatory genre of written and oral communication is the undergirding theme that if you don’t think like the purveyors and publishers of the explanatory genre, you better get in line if you want to attain appropriate status.

In fact, beyond the hard illegal and legal drugs consumed by so many purveyors and publishers of the explanatory genre, there are few things as addictive as the quest for status. Thus, humans’ inability to turn away from content that purports to communicate information on how to attain more or greater status. Many mammals that roam the Earth are status seekers. A relative few of the human species abstain from seeking status. Such individuals are truly free.

The rest of us, however, are the protagonist, Fredo Bang, in the video below, (remember that my research mentioned above somehow eventually ended with me visiting YouTube, a double-edged sword if ever there was one in the quest for knowledge). Watch – as painful as it may be – the full video below before reading on.

Warning: the below video is likely to be highly offensive to some viewers. I do not endorse or condone anything stated or portrayed in the video below. If you have a problem with it, contact YouTube, which seems in recent months to be in the business of taking down from its platform videos its employees do not like.

After watching the above video, I have to ask: are you appalled by what you have become? Good. You may be curable. I am a big believer in shock therapy. Are you in denial about what you have become? If so, you probably still care about which colleges rank highest on the latest college rankings lists. You may also like to post photos of yourself on Facebook or Instagram – but only when you look your best. You carefully curate selfies of yourself frequently. And you are as ferally status seeking as Fredo Bang.

The funny thing about status, of course, is that as more people obtain something that is considered status-producing – something usually associated with “the elite” – that something brings less status than before because anything that can be had by so many can’t be so elite after all. Rational learned people realize that most humans roaming the Earth today are far from elite as measured by intellect, morality, stylish excellence, what have you.

Colleges in the United States can charge students of over $70,000/year only because enough people alive today associate status with degrees from such colleges (and the existence of federal subsidies inflating the market). But, have you recently checked how many supposedly elite colleges no longer require SAT or ACT test scores as part of the undergraduate admissions process? Did you know that some colleges are doing away with a written application essay that reveals a student’s ability to think and write as many adults once could in favor of a short video produced by an applicant on his or her cell phone? It’s no secret that Harvard systemically rejects Asian applicants in favor of non-Asian applicants who have lower grades, lack of high school course rigor, lower test scores, and fewer extracurricular achievements despite colleges sending out admissions officers to tell status-seeking students and parents around the globe that all of the characteristics embodied by the rejected Asian applicants are exactly what these colleges are looking for in future students. Yes, Cornell, Dartmouth, et al. would be far more likely to accept a full-pay single passport Argentinian student with moderately impressive test scores (or better yet during the 2020-2021 admissions cycle, none at all) and workman-like grades than an exceptional Asian American student with the best grades, scores, and leadership potential in his or her state.

There was a time when graduating from a “top ranked” college was thought by many to demonstrate to the world that the graduate had a certain degree of undiluted knowledge, a public sense of decorum, a common understanding of and faith in Western Civilization, leadership potential, writing skills, potential grit, and determination. Did these institutions ever reward solely merit based on academic-heft, intellect, or character? No, but that was the myth. Today it’s a complete lie. Today’s Ivy League colleges are chock-full of followers who inadvertently happened to or purposefully plotted to check all the “right” boxes as deemed by the those running these supposedly elite eight institutions.

Yet, knowing all of the above, you have to ask yourself, why is high status or any status at all associated with such tertiary education institutions, which prioritize the color of one’s skin or the background of one’s family over so many factors that demonstrate the true academic aptitude and impressive character/talents of applicants? Maybe because the merchants of status – those who dominate today’s explanatory genre of written and oral communications – tell you that such institutions bring status to individuals who attend, teach at, or conduct research for such institutions. Do you believe them? If you do, should you?

But, as mentioned earlier, remember that the merchants of such information are probably far dimmer than you despite all of their published explanations. You just have to unplug from the information machine that drives you in your quest for increasingly meaningless status. Hardly an easy task. But one that is well worth the effort. After all, nothing of any real and lasting value is easy to attain – even if you get into the Ivy League.

Making a Calm College Decision

Posted on March 22, 2020 by Patrick O'Connor

This is typically the week many high school seniors are a little tense about their college plans. The last few colleges are sending out decisions this week, and they tend to be the colleges where the admit rates are a little less than getting struck by lightning, so the hopes are high, while the odds remain low.

Now that the big week is finally here, here’s a quick list of things you should focus on to make a quality decision for life after high school:

What you do with the college experience matters more than where you go. Most counselors save this advice for the end of articles like this, but these are unusual times. Chances are, if you’ve applied to a highly selective school, you have what it takes to do well there—it’s just that the college runs out of room before they run out of great applicants. This means that the talents, habits, interests, and way you look at the world has prepared you to do great things wherever you go. The college you attend won’t automatically make you a success; that will still be up to you. So your future will still be in your hands, no matter what the colleges have to say this week.

It looks like another record breaking year. There are fewer students graduating from high school this year, but that isn’t keeping many colleges from seeing new highs in applications—and some that are seeing declines are still admitting less than 20 percent of their applicants. Combined with an increase in the number of students many colleges took through early action and early decision plans, that leaves precious few seats to give out this week.

Yes, No, or Maybe, read the entire letter. A student I am close to—OK, it’s my son—was so happy to read he was admitted to his first choice school he didn’t bother to read page 2 of the acceptance letter. I did, and it’s a good thing, since it included information on the merit scholarship that made his attendance their possible. Other yes letters have information about when deposits are due, and those are important as well.

Letters that waitlist you are even more important to read, since staying on the list may require you to do something—email, send back a card, update your application—by a specific date. Even the letters of denial could give you information about transfer options that may now come into play. So read the letter from start to finish, and have a parent do the same.

Read, and update, your financial aid information. There’s a good chance all your colleges are going to be sending financial aid packages this week. These are based on the financial aid information you gave them two months ago, when the world was a quiet place, before the stock market lost 30 percent of its value—and possibly before you or your parents lost their job.

The only way a college will know your financial picture has changed is if you tell them, and this is college—so it’s not time to be shy. Pick up the phone, call financial aid, tell them your new story, and be ready to send supporting documents. You’re this close to making the dream real. Keep working.

File financial aid for the first time. It’s certainly true most colleges have given all their aid away to students who applied for it in February, but many of those students turn down packages, or go to a different school. If you now need help paying for college, get the forms in yesterday—check the college’s website to find out all the forms they need, and where you should send them. Calling to ask is an even better idea.

Ask for an extension to the May 1 deposit. Many colleges understand that this spring isn’t exactly normal, which is why they are moving their deposit deadlines to June 1 or later. If your college isn’t doing that, you can still call and request an extension for personal reasons. They might say no, but the only way they say yes is because you ask—kind of like the only way they admitted you is because you applied. Make. The. Call.

Apply to more colleges. Except for the Top 50, every college in this country is still taking applications for fall admission—and, as mentioned before, some will still have financial aid to offer you. If you’re looking at changing your college plans due to all the changes in the world, lots of colleges are eager to hear from you for the first time…

Consider transferring …and thanks to some pretty strong transfer options, you could still end up graduating from your dream school, even if you can’t start there. The best way to plan a transfer is to call the college where you want to finish, and ask about transfer options. Building the plan from the end means you know where to start, and what classes are best to take to minimize the credits you’ll lose when you make the shift. Ask for transfer admissions when you call.

Talk to your counselor. One upside of all of this is that counselors now have more time than ever to talk college with you, since they don’t have to do lunch duty. I know, I know—they have 8,000 students on their caseload, and they might not know you well. They will once you tell them who you are, and what you need—and that window is now more wide open than ever before. Most schools have sent students direction on how to reach out to counselors. As is the case with most things in life, what you do with that information is now up to you.

College Counseling: The Year in Review

Posted on December 17, 2019 by Patrick O'Connor

There are many years in the college counseling world that come and go without a lot of fanfare, but this certainly wasn’t one of them. Thanks to America’s ever-growing fascination with the college application process, counseling received more than its share of the limelight in 2019. Here are the highlights:

The Scandal Known as Varsity Blues Leave it to a small group of parents with way more dollars than sense, and a con man feigning to be an independent college counselor, to create even more angst over selective college selection than ever before. Since this story involved Hollywood, money, and some of the three schools the New York Times considers representative of the world of college admissions, way too much time and energy was devoted to understanding what this kerfuffle meant to college admissions as a whole. The average high school senior takes the SAT once and goes to college within 150 miles of home. Varsity Blues meant nothing to them. The same should have been true for the rest of us; instead, this issue is now running neck and neck with Popeye’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich for the year’s Story That Wasn’t Award.

Change to NACAC Ethics Code It made fewer headlines, but the Justice Department’s investigation into NACAC’s Code of Ethics could prove to have far more implications to the college plans of seniors than Varsity Blues could hope to. With colleges now allowed to offer incentives for students to apply early, and with colleges able to continue to pursue students who have committed to another college, the May 1 deposit date is still in effect, but may prove to have significantly less effect.

College Testing and the University of California The value of the SAT and ACT popped up in the headlines all year, as even more colleges decided test scores no longer had to be part of their application process. At year’s end, the test optional movement got a big media splash, as the University of California announced it was reviewing its testing policy. Combined with a lawsuit filed against the UCs claiming the tests are discriminatory, it’s clear that business as usual in the college application process is on its way out. Will more changes ensue?

The Harvard Case and Race Affirmative action advocates celebrated a legal victory this fall when a court ruled Harvard’s admissions procedures do, and may, use race as a factor in reviewing college applications. The case drew national attention in part because it was initiated by a group claiming Harvard didn’t admit enough students of Asian descent. It’s likely to stay in the headlines when the decision is ultimately appealed to the US Supreme Court, a group that, as it currently stands, has been known to be highly skeptical of race-based programs—meaning this year’s lower court victory could be pyrrhic at best.

Improved Research on College Counseling Academic research has never gotten its due in the world of school counseling, and that’s certainly true in the more specific field of college counseling. That trend may be changing, as a report from Harvard lays the groundwork for a more data-based approach to measure the difference counselors make in their work. The findings include an indication that counselors tend to be more effective in college counseling if the counselor was raised in the same area where they work, and, as a rule, are more helpful providing information to the student about the college the counselor attended. The report suggests this may be due to undertraining in college admissions as part of counselor education programs– to which most of the counseling world replied, no kidding. Look for more to come here.

Billions More for More Counselors, But Who Cares It’s hard to remember the need for more counselors was one of the favorite topics of the media just two years ago. A sign of American’s true indifference—or short attention span—rests with a congressional bill that provides up to $5 billion for new school counselor positions, a bill that is currently languishing in committee. Is this bill a victim of an absence of school shootings, impeachment, or both? Given what it can do, is there really any reason this bill can’t be a focus of action in 2020? That’s really up to us.

Will Ivy League admissions deans blame the Russians next?

Posted on December 14, 2019 by Admissions.Blog

With Ivy League early decision and early action statistics for Fall 2019 slowly but surely coming into focus, a trend is becoming clear: overall demand for venerable “elite” colleges and universities is on the wane, and in the process, “elite” American colleges are becoming ever so slightly less selective than they very recently were.

In addition to Penn, which earlier this fall revealed that it experienced a plunge in Early Decision applications, Harvard is reporting a higher acceptance rate for this year’s early application cycle than last year’s early application cycle. Harvard’s Restrictive Early Action acceptance rate ticked up to 13.9% this fall after clocking in at 13.4 percent last year. Overall, Harvard saw a nearly eight percent drop in REA applications compared to last year. The aforementioned Penn saw its ED acceptance rate rise over one percentage point to 19.7%. Yale got roughly four percent fewer early applications this fall (which resulted in a slightly higher early acceptance rate) and Dartmouth received a whopping sixteen percent fewer ED applications this fall compared to last year (and this was after many years of year-on-year increases in apps).

Princeton is suddenly shy about reporting its Single-Choice Early Action acceptance rate (and even the total number of early applicants); though basic online research shows that Princeton accepted 791 students this fall compared to 743 last fall – at minimum an increase in raw numbers of accepted students if not an increase in acceptance rate (TBD). Yet, it’s always wise to watch what these colleges do report in their press releases versus what they don’t. The omissions tell the tale. Columbia still hasn’t reported out any stats for this year’s admissions cycle. Outside of the Ivy League, other colleges with traditionally Ivy-level acceptance rates are also uncharacteristically demure and uncommunicative this December on the topic of their ED and EA application numbers and acceptance rates.

Meanwhile, Cornell’s Early Decision acceptance rate rose to 23.8 this year from 22.6 last year and was one of two Ivies that received more ED applications this year than last year. The biggest outlier so far this cycle, Brown University, which has always had a looser association with academic quality and accepting students based on academic merit (as opposed to immutable characteristics) compared to other Ivies, saw its ED acceptance rate fall to a new low while also receiving eight percent more ED apps this year compared to last year. Did Brown applicants not experience the California wildfires?! LOL…not at the wildfires; at that ridiculous line of reasoning. Will Ivy League admissions deans contrive to blame Russian interference next?

While it has clearly become de rigueur in “smart” circles to blame Fall 2019’s drop in early application numbers on California wildfires or changing high school demographics, more likely explanations exist by exploring the pervasive ridiculousness of the current college admissions process at America’s most selective institutions and the increasing skepticism many have about the value of what passes for higher education these days relative to the costs. According to Gallup, 51% of U.S. adults now consider a college education to be “very important,” down from 70% in 2013. Don’t expect Ivy League admissions deans to meaningfully engage in conversation on this topic.

It certainly doesn’t bode well for demand for American higher education generally when even a college like Harvard, which doesn’t depend on the vile racket that is the student loan-debt slavery industry, can’t squeeze out a lower acceptance rate year on year. Marketing can only take these hedge funds that dabble in play school (and major in network-building) so far. Demand is simply dropping and demand is likely to continue to fall until these schools tap new markets by changing admissions requirements (lowering them) by some chicanery like removing their SAT-ACT requirements or eventually just turning the whole thing into a literal lottery through which students only have to submit their names, addresses, and demographics in order to have a shot at admission. How far these selective schools will go in their race to the bottom regarding objective student academic/intellectual qualifications remains to be seen.

Alternatively, “selective” colleges could reform their education or pricing models; yet, you can bet that these institutions will tinker or outright disassemble their current admissions models before they touch the holy grail of actual education reform within their walls in order to make their value propositions to students/families more attractive. Though, pricing reform is certainly doable for the richest of these institutions (the Harvards and Yales of the world could offer free tuition for all undergraduates to drive up demand – for at least a few admissions cycles).

All in all, some sort of major reform or change will come from the drop in demand for an Ivy education. What this reform or change will look like remains to be seen. One thing is certain: those who run the Ivies like to be in control…of at least the narrative; therefore, whatever changes are made will be undertaken in an effort to spin the public on these institutions’ continued relevance and trend-setting reputations in polite society. Stay tuned.

How to get into the Ivy League – Ethically

Posted on November 5, 2019 by Craig

So much of what you read, watch, or hear in the media is there to make you feel like it’s impossible to get into Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Yale without cheating your way in or using some unsavory connection to worm your way in.

Yet, a successful – and ethical – formula for getting into Ivy League colleges does exist and is pretty straightforward.

Below, I share the simple four-step formula for getting into Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, or Yale, which has helped 100% of my students who have followed it get into one or more Ivy.

Step 1: Take Rigorous High School Courses and Get As in Them

Notice how it didn’t say “be smart” or “pursue your academic passions.” Such entreaties sound lovely, but they’re beside the point. The foundation of your campaign to get into an Ivy League college depends on you willingness and ability to consistently take the most rigorous courses at your high school and then earn A grades in all such courses as well as whatever other courses you are also taking. If your school reports A grades via a range (such as A-, A, A+ or 90-100), work your hardest to get the highest As possible (A+ or 97+). If your school grades on a different scale than those mentioned so far, simply aim for the top of it.

Every high school is different, but in many cases, taking the most rigorous courses at your high school is synonymous with one of the below three scenarios (or some combination or permutation thereof):

A. Running the table with as many Advanced Placement courses as you can take each academic year and taking all of your other academic courses at the highest levels on offer

B. Taking the most challenging courses offered to students in your high school during your first two years in high school, then becoming a full-fledged International Baccalaureate® (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) student at the start of your junior year, and finally completing the full IBDP with both predictions and final cumulative scores aligned in the 40-45 range

C. Taking as many Honors, High Honors, Gifted, and/or Dual Enrollment courses as possible throughout your four years in high school

In no grade in high school should you take fewer than five academic courses (though I prefer six if you can swing it), and if you are being strategic about things, no matter the exact curriculum on offer at your school or official names of courses available at your school, at minimum, your four-year academic course load in high school should include the following:

Freshman Year:

Most Rigorous English Course Available to 9th Grade Students – 1 Credit
Most Rigorous Math Available to 9th Grade Students – 1 Credit
Most Rigorous History Available to 9th Grade Students – 1 Credit
Most Rigorous Science Available to 9th Grade Students – 1 Credit
Most Rigorous Foreign Language Available to 9th Grade Students – 1 Credit

Sophomore Year:

Most Rigorous English Course Available to 10th Grade Students – 1 Credit
Most Rigorous Math Available to 10th Grade Students – 1 Credit
Most Rigorous History Available to 10th Grade Students – 1 Credit
Most Rigorous Science Available to 10th Grade Students – 1 Credit
Most Rigorous Foreign Language Available to 10th Grade Students (Same Language as Last Year) – 1 Credit

Junior Year:

Most Rigorous English Course Available to 11th Grade Students – 1 Credit
Most Rigorous Math Available to 11th Grade Students – 1 Credit
Most Rigorous History Available to 11th Grade Students – 1 Credit
Most Rigorous Science Available to 11th Grade Students – 1 Credit
Most Rigorous Foreign Language Available to 11th Grade Students (Same Language as Last Year) – 1 Credit

*Or, if an IBDP student:

-Three HLs in areas you are most passionate about and that are likely to align with your potential college major(s)
-Three SLs in areas you are also deeply passionate about
-Of your six IB courses, only one (max) should be arts-related unless you plan to major in one or more art in college
-If your school offers Mathematics: analysis and approaches HL, you should take it and get an A (or Predicted 5+ minimum) in it

Senior Year:

Most Rigorous English Course Available to 12th Grade Students – 1 Credit
Most Rigorous Math Available to 12th Grade Students – 1 Credit
Most Rigorous History Available to 12th Grade Students – 1 Credit
Most Rigorous Science Available to 12th Grade Students – 1 Credit
Most Rigorous Foreign Language Available to 12th Grade Students (Same Language as Last Year) or Double Up on English, Math, History, or Science, but only with an Advanced/AP/IB/Honors+ Course – 1 Credit

Or, if an IBDP student, continuation of * detailed above.

Notice how I didn’t mention elective/arts courses. They are nice to take too, especially if you need to or want to pursue your passions through them and have the horsepower to do so, but to be completely honest, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Yale are focused on your academic courses, not PE, Health, Arts (except for AP or IB), Personal Finance, etc. courses.

Remember, the above academic course progression is only a minimum goal; you can always do more, and that would be great – just keep earning As if you take on more rigor/courses than the progression outlined above.

Step 2: Score Very Well on the SAT and/or ACT

To be blunt – aim for 1450 on the SAT or 33 on the ACT minimum. To pump up your standardized test profile also aim to take and submit scores of 750 or higher on at least two SAT Subject Tests. For most people this requires a great deal of studying and a history of actually being a serious student in school. Do students get into Ivy League colleges with lower scores than those stated above? Yes. You should assume that you are not going to be one of them.

– Time Out –

Before we move on to Step 3 and Step 4, I should note that many students around the world are able to beautifully accomplish the aforementioned Step 1 and Step 2; yet, the majority of such students will not get into Ivy League colleges even if they try. This is for the same reason that most professional baseball players have no problem hitting a double but very few will ever hit an inside-the-park home run: they are unable or unwilling to go past second base. Below you will learn how to go beyond second base and return to home plate without being called out.

FUN FACT: the majority of students, parents, talking-heads/influencers complaining about how hard it is to get into an Ivy League college are doing so because they don’t want to or don’t know how to put in the effort necessary to complete Step 3 and Step 4 below.

Step 3: Strategically Differentiate Your Life

Everyone wants to win the lotto these days (hit the jackpot without the effort). But, again, if we are being real, very few billionaires just fell into their money. They or their predecessors developed a plan and executed on it in order to make it big.

The same idea applies to getting into Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, or Yale. You need to sit down like a young adult, think critically, develop a plan, and execute on it if you are going to give yourself the best shot of getting into an Ivy League college.

What should the plan look like? It should not look like any other student’s plan, that’s for sure. That’s why sitting down like a young adult and attempting to think critically all alone is often not enough for many teens with Ivy League dreams. Most teenagers with big goals really do need to sit down with at least one older and wiser strategic thinker in order to game plan out a strategy that can be tactically and earnestly implemented.

Sadly, many students only turn to a mom, dad, sibling, friend, or teacher who means well but doesn’t know much about what Ivy League colleges are really attracted to in students. Other students go to their high school’s college counselor hoping he or she will be the “older and wiser strategic thinker” that they are so desperately looking for in order to give themselves the best shot of Ivy League college admission. Pretty soon most students figure out (if they do at all) that even if their college counselor is well-meaning and knowledgable (the student would actually be very lucky to find these characteristics in his or her college counselor), very few high school-based college counselors have the time, interest, and/or ability to provide the personalized and highly strategic college admissions coaching students with Ivy League goals need.

For example, so many students go to their high school counselors looking for advice on how to get into Ivy League colleges and their counselors summarily advise them to consider other colleges all together because, “fit matters more than rank, Johnny” or, if the students are lucky, maybe the counselors will advise the students to become extracurricular leaders! Woopdidoo!

Both scenarios make my blood pressure rise, though at least in the latter case the counselors are respecting students’ questions and goals. Yet, as attractive as student leaders are to Ivy League colleges, there is a very important characteristic that trumps leadership in the eyes of Ivy League college admissions officers:

The earlier in high school you can sit down with someone who actually knows what he or she is talking about and has the time and interest to get to know you and your goals well the more likely you will be able to strategically differentiate your life choices over the course of your high school career while also aligning your life choices to your unique value system. This in turn will allow you to stand out for all the right reasons to Ivy League admissions committees and ultimately reach your full college admissions potential.

Step 4: Communicate Like a Teenager from a Bygone Era

There has been a complete implosion of English instruction in K-12 education. As I have alluded to before: most students capable of getting straight As in high school English classes can’t write well or speak well. This is because most students capable of getting straight As in high school English classes have never learned how to think critically, which is a prerequisite for eloquent writing and speaking. Many students get As in English – even AP-level English – without actually being able to think, write, or speak that well.

Layer on top of that travesty the advent of smart phones and other forms of electronic communication, which have corrupted teenage minds and writing skills over the past twenty years, and you have a nightmare scenario for the future of humanity.

Yet, in this living nightmare there is an opportunity for those high school students who have actually – miraculously – been taught how to think, write, and speak clearly – like mere peasants, high school dropouts, and ragamuffins could in 1938. I mean this seriously. I was looking through an English test that my grandmother had to take in eighth grade in a Baltimore public school, and it was far harder than any English test I EVER took in high school or college. As a point of reference: in the last twenty years I’ve earned an MA in Education Administration and a BA in History (the latter from Penn no less…). Maybe I would have been better off being born in 1922 and simply graduating high school in 1940 (as long as I survived the war)? I digress.

If you are in high school and open to actually learning how to think clearly and write and speak articulately, the world is your oyster. Frankly, the Ivy League would be luck to have you – and their admissions officers know it. Thus, if you pull off high level thinking and communicating in your application to an Ivy League college, you are going to set yourself apart from the average Ivy League applicant.

Many students (and their parents) realize that they need help in the communication portion of their college applications. That’s why every year in late spring I start getting calls from rising high school seniors and their parents begging me to help edit college applications – specifically extracurricular resumes and college application essays.

Frankly, I find providing developmental editing, substantive editing, copy editing, proofreading, and constructive critiquing for rising seniors generally tedious and often painful because it’s pretty time-consuming and emotionally draining for me to fix over a several-week period what took twelve years to do to you, namely, destroy your ability to communicate effectively. That’s why I much prefer meeting with students early in high school in order to start the important process of teaching them how to think deeply and write and speak well. This is also a reason why I developed the How to Build and Extraordinary Extracurricular Resume short course; creating a good resume is pretty much a science, but it’s a repetitive one.

To meet your full potential on college application essays, only personalized coaching can get you there – especially if you have not benefited from the rare instances of proper English instruction that still remain in this anti-intellectual age. As such, I do still take on a limited number of clients each year for laser, comprehensive, and intensive college admissions coaching services (resumes, essays, interview prep, etc.) even though such work becomes harder each year because of the daily devolution of institutionalized K-12 education. I am also aiming to offer more online short courses for students on the go. For my current full menu of instantly available short courses please click here.

Long story short, the earlier you become a master communicator the more likely you will actually be able to share both your own voice and a voice worth listening to on your college applications and in college admissions interviews.

Conclusion

It’s really that simple. If you can tackle the four steps above with grace and gusto (and dare I suggest, gravitas), you are extremely likely to get into Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, or Yale. Yet, even more important than getting into any Ivy League college, if you can accomplish all of the above, you will have learned a lot and grown a lot as a person and remained ethical in so doing.

Princeton University

Never Say This During an Ivy League Admissions Interview

Posted on September 21, 2019 by Craig

If you have the opportunity to interview with a representative of an Ivy League school make sure you steer clear of saying…

When an Ivy is a Target

Posted on September 18, 2019 by Craig

An Ivy League college is pretty much always going to be a reach on a student’s college list. Yet, there is one scenario when an Ivy League college can actually be considered a target (somewhere between a reach and a safety).

Click here to learn about two scenarios when an Ivy League college could be considered a safety on a student’s college list.

Exclusive Costco One-Year Membership Package, $20 Costco Shop Card & more 9/18 – 10/2 (see site for details)

An Ivy as a Safety?

Posted on September 17, 2019 by Craig

It is exceedingly rare for an Ivy League college or university to be considered a safety on a student’s college list, but it does happen on rare occasions. Don’t hold your breath that you’ll find yourself in one of these two scenarios, but if you do, consider yourself lucky.

Scenario 1 when an Ivy League college COULD be a safety:

Scenario 2 when an Ivy League college COULD be a safety:

Click here to learn about a scenario when an Ivy League college could be considered a target (a college in the section of your list between the safety colleges and the reach colleges) on a student’s college list.

College Application Completion Playlist: Top 20+ Tracks to Get Inspiration to Get Into College

Posted on August 27, 2019 by Craig

Picture it. You are all alone in your bedroom at 11:47 p.m. on a Tuesday night.

By day you are an overloaded high school senior year who feels dominated by IB or AP course assignments, juggling the responsibilities that come with leading four time-sucking extracurricular activities, and cramming to get an 800 on your fourth SAT Subject Test.

Unlike your classmates who could best be described as one or more of the following —

Ivy League legacies
Recruitable athletes
Paying unscrupulous New York, LA, or Palm Beach consultants to write their applications for them
Paying dastardly ‘doctors’ to write faux concussion, migraine, or Crohn’s Disease sick notes for them in order to secure very real SAT or ACT extended time testing accommodations
Underrepresented minorities who, ironically, also happen to be children of doctors, lawyers, bankers, bureaucrats, or other assorted white collar professionals
Full-pay international students
Completely disinterested in college (and, as a result, probably far smarter than you give them credit for)

— you are going to have to actually earn your way into an Ivy on your own! So, you find yourself staring at your computer screen at nearly midnight and into the abyss that is the Common Application filled with various application supplements that you have yet to complete.

By night, you must shift into truly high gear. You need inspiration. You are tapped out from doing summersaults throughout high school but you can’t afford to get tired now when there are so few spots at America’s ‘top’ colleges for students who actually have to earn their way into them on their own – with their own wits and moxie. Your fate will depend on your wisdom and your will – and whether or not a lot of legacies et al. are applying to your first choice college this year.

You have to work for at least two more hours to draft essays if your final essay drafts will ever be of the quality that they need to be to get you in. You turn to YouTube for a song or a soundtrack to pump you up; yet, most of the tracks that pop up aren’t capable of taking you to the level that you need to be at in order to pump out what you need to pump out tonight – and every night – between now and November 1, the date when you aim to submit all of your college applications to your one Early Decision, five Early Action, two Priority, and two Rolling admission colleges.

You turn to Google to find inspiration and you type in, “College Application Completion Playlists” or “Motivational Songs” or “EDM Motivation” or some other search query that gets you to this blessed page where you find yourself right now.

Lucky you.

Without further ado, here they are – the top 20+ tracks to have playing in the background as you complete your college applications, especially the essays, if you are serious about doing all that you can do to get in by virtue of your work ethic alone:

21. T-Pain – Best Love Song ft. Chris Brown

You really do need to consider your college application supplemental essays as individualized ‘love songs’ to each college on your list. If you write a generic love note or song to a potential love interest, he or she is not going to take your seriously, and the same goes with colleges getting a generic supplement from you. This track underscores the point that you are in the love song writing business until you are finished each and every app that has supplemental writing.

20. Johnny Nash – I Can See Clearly Now

That feeling you get either when your writer’s block clears or you realize the sun is rising and school starts in two hours.

19. Alex Gaudino feat. Crystal Waters – Destination Calabria

Because, let’s face it, even if you put in 200% effort over the coming nights, the “destination [is] unknown” and you very well may end up at Michigan or Wisconsin.

18. Ida Corr vs Fedde Le Grand Let Me Think About It (Extended)

What the heck is your favorite word and why? Come on UVA! “Let me think about it.”

17. Better Off Alone

No. You won’t be better off alone. The very thought of a gap year “alone” scares/inspires you to complete a better application during the dead of night. Plus, you can’t afford a gap year to find yourself like Malia or your lax-playing buddies.

16. Gina G Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit

This one’s good because it reminds you that one day this will all be over. You can do it! “Just a little bit” more.

15. Viola Wills – If You Could Read My Mind

Why can’t the admissions officers “just read my mind” instead of forcing me to communicate well in 650 words or fewer? After all, you’ve likely endured an extremely poor education in English throughout your K-12 career due to too many English teachers being focused on serving up critical theory rather than traditional literary analysis, strong writing instruction, or any sort of celebration of the best works of Western Civilization. By the way, there are a lot of versions of this song, but we chose this one because Viola Wills put her soul into it – just like you will need to put your soul into your apps.

14. Lighthouse Family – High

“When you are close to tears remember, someday it will all be over, one day we’re going to get so high!” Enough said, but don’t do drugs, even if it’s legal.

13. Don’t Stop Believin’

Don’t stop believin’ that you will get in…unless you are honest and of Asian heritage, in which case, just stop believing because the Ivies value ‘diversity,’ which is code for ‘they have more Asians than they currently wish to accept.’ Your only hope is the Supreme Court.

12. The Jacksons – Can You Feel It [Audio HQ] HD

Can you feel the acceptance notifications coming your way?

11. Cass Elliot – Make Your Own Kind of Music (HQ)

Because, really, you do need to be true to who you are and utterly unique if you are going to have any chance of getting into Harvard, Princeton, or Yale without any of the characteristics mentioned in that bulleted list above.

10. One Day More! – Les Misérables – 10th Anniversary Concert

Only play this one on October 31 – or the day before you know you will be finished your dastardly applications once and for all.

9. Michael Ball, Alfie Boe – He Lives In You (From “The Lion King” / Lyric Video)

Indeed, you must, “have faith” and “he does live in you!” You need to draw on generations of your ancestors to find strength. After all, if they could get through famines, wars, living without an iPhone, you can complete a few college applications.

8. Avicii – Levels

You need a good feeling or two right about now.

7. Jason Derulo – “Want To Want Me” (Official Video)

“It’s too hard to sleep…” Please, Columbia and Brown, I just “want you to want me”…despite you preferring well-connected social justice activists and loaded legacies…or better yet, those who check both of those boxes. :-/

6. Deorro x Chris Brown – Five More Hours (Official Video)

Whether you are up against the deadline on November 1 with just five more hours to go or “you are just getting started,” this one works.

5. P!nk – So What (Official Music Video)

“So, what?” Even if I have to go to Emory, “I’m still a rockstar!”

4. Bob Seger – Hollywood Nights (Lyrics)

At least you can comfort yourself knowing that you are not Aunt Becky or a Desperate Housewife out in “Hollywood” bribing the powers that be at USC for the honor of living in Compton for four years.

3. Let It Be (Remastered 2009)

Try your best and all, but maybe it’s time to just “let it be” and settle for Barrett Honors College at ASU?

2. Eric Prydz – Call On Me (Official HD Video)

You can always “call on me,” Craig Meister, the CollegeMeister, the best and most refreshingly honest college admissions consultant on the planet. Cue this EDM classic.

1. Kygo & Whitney Houston – Higher Love (Official Video)

Okay, it’s a complete visual knockoff of Eric Prydz’s song above, but the vocals are pure – early Whitney Houston – and the accompaniment is rock solid and by Kygo. And it’s 2019, so it’s current combined with classic. Not to mention the lyrics are perfect for ascending to the ‘higher’ level that you to need to reach in order to at least get into Cornell or Dartmouth.

P.S.: As you wait for your admissions decisions, or as an alternate to some of the options above, how about playing a one-hour constant loop of “High Hopes” by Panic! At The Disco?

P.P.S.: Do realize that the above list is completely subjective and somewhat satirical – just like the crazy college admissions process at America’s most selective colleges; therefore, I apologize in advance if your favorite songs didn’t make the cut, if you don’t get in where you want, and/or if you are offended. Life’s unfair like that. Just remember that if you don’t get in, you need to sing this one last song out loud whenever your friends – and frienemies – get into their top choices:

You will survive!