If you hire me to give you college admissions advice (or if you’re reading this blog!), know that I’m on your side. I want you (or your child!) to get into the best possible school.
In order to do that, we need to have real conversations. Including college admissions advice that you don’t want to hear.
These conversations look different for each family (remember, I customize my advice, so you aren’t getting generic, formulaic suggestions.)
The advice might startle you, or go against what your sister told you, or what you heard from your older friend who is a freshman at Yale.
However, if you’re ready to deal with reality, you have come to the right place.
Ready?
- Do the basics – like taking 4 years of all the core subjects, including language.
I can’t tell you how many students don’t want to do this. Especially if you’re applying to the most selective colleges, you are at a disadvantage if you drop a core subject. Just don’t.
- Look for your competitive edge.
If everyone from your high school is applying to the same 6 schools, you are vastly better off prioritizing VERSIONS of those schools where you are more unusual in the pool. For instance, I live in Hanover, NH, home to Dartmouth college. There is an excellent public high school here (Hanover High, go Bears), that tends to produce very high achieving students. Students who often have almost identical profiles, and almost identical school lists – including Dartmouth, but also Middlebury, Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, and Brown. Applicants from Hanover High who are looking for this type of program should consider diversifying their list to include comparable targets in other parts of the country, where they aren’t as overrepresented in the applicant pool. (Cornell, Pomona, Kenyon, Davidson, etc.)
- Look For Your Competitive Edge Part 2: Early Decision and Early Action.
The odds of getting into many of the most selective schools go up, dramatically, if you apply early. (Especially early decision.) They might not go up as much as you think at first glance, given that recruited athletes and other highly prized groups are often in this pool, but they still increase. Do NOT leave this potential bump on the table because you “can’t decide yet.” If ED works financially for your family, find a school that you can commit to, if admitted.
- Look For Your Competitive Edge Part 3: Consider Finances.
Speaking of finances, do you know the difference between “need blind” and “need aware” schools? Have you done the calculators to know if you qualify for financial aid?
Perhaps most importantly from a competitive edge standpoint, if you are a “full-pay” student who isn’t applying for financial aid, look for schools that value you. Your odds go up, dramatically, if you seek out colleges (even the most highly selective ones) that advantage students who can pay out of pocket.
- Choose the right major.
Another aspect of leveraging your competitive edge is understanding which majors you should express interest in. (In many cases, especially at liberal arts colleges and the most highly selective schools, you aren’t applying directly to a major – rather telling them what you think you want to study.) Some schools don’t pay much attention to which majors you talk about – but it’s make or break at other institutions.
For everyone, you need to identify areas of interest that you can credibly talk about, so that they know that you do, in fact, have intellectual curiosity and goals. However, if you are applying into certain coveted fields, like engineering, computer science, and business, it’s critical to be honest with yourself about whether or not you are competitive. The admit rate for these majors can be leagues lower than the general admit rate, and successful applicants tend to have specific experiences and statistics.
- Reddit = sucks. So do most of the AI tools out there.
Trust me, it’s much harder than it looks to sort through all of the information that’s available. Even if you find a reputable source, it’s also much harder than it looks to apply this information to yourself. (Do you know to look for stats on in-state v. out of state admit rates at popular state schools, or to assess whether or not your classes are considered rigorous?) Even if you feel confident in your analysis, crowd sourcing intel is so risky – do you really want to gamble?
- A 4.0 isn’t what it used to be.
For instance, the middle 50% of admitted applicants to Northeastern had a GPA between 4.2 and 4.5. The MIDDLE 50%. Grade inflation is a real thing, and parents, especially, are often shocked when I explain the landscape. Grade inflation is part of why test scores are increasingly relevant – a fact that is often more college admissions advice that you don’t want to hear.
Basically, my college admissions advice that you don’t want to hear often boils down to opening your mind to different schools, taking a nuanced look at the data, stepping up for challenging experiences, and reframing your assessment of your candidacy.
Although this can seem painful at first, it’s worth it. Self-awareness, and knowledge of what really matters (and how decisions are really made) can transform your candidacy. It can even help you get into even more selective schools than the ones that you were originally targeting.
