The College Application

We’ve seen some of the biggest misconceptions about college admissions. And one of the biggest factors that gets neglected in this entire process is the college applications. In fact, we get asked questions about college admissions all the time.

• Should my child play the piano or the oboe?
• I just scored 750 on my SAT math exam, should I retake it to get an 800?
• Should I perform 100 hours of community service, or 500 hours of community service?
• What are my chances to Stanford with a 4.0 GPA and 1600 SAT score?
• Should I take AP US History or double up on an AP science my junior year?

While these are all fair questions to ask and we guide our students through every step of the way in our process, we can tell you that even if you get a 4.0 GPA, 1600 SAT score, perform 500 hours of community service, and play the oboe, you won’t get into Stanford or any other Ivy League if you don’t know how to present yourself in the college application, in particular writing thought provoking, compelling personal statements.

This is the biggest misconception about college admissions – that with the top scores, grades, national awards, and groundbreaking extracurricular activities that you will ultimately get admitted into the university you’ve worked so hard for.

And if you’re one of the people who do believe that’s what it takes to get in, then you’re in for a rude awakening. Because getting in isn’t just about having a patent under your name or finding some groundbreaking innovation as a high school student. It’s about sharing a powerful narrative that reflects the personal qualities and the values and lessons that shape your perspective through the college application essays.

Even if you have the top scores, grades, national awards, and groundbreaking extracurriculars, you can still get rejected from every Ivy League school if you don’t package everything into strong, compelling college application that makes admissions officers want to admit you. We’ve seen this time and time again.

However, we’re not saying that your raw academic and extracurricular stats don’t matter, either – because they do. But after a certain point and threshold, your chances of getting into a top university highly depends on how well you write the personal statement and package the rest of your college application – not simply on your raw academic and extracurricular achievements.

Every family and student we’ve spoken to who approached the college admissions process for the first time is surprised by the amount of sweat and tears that is goes into the application season.

And those who aren’t prepared early on for this stressful time from securing letters of recommendation from teachers to sending in a research paper or art portfolio to preparing for interviews and writing the dozens of supplemental essays required by every school are quickly left in the dust and tossed into a state of panic. In fact, many students who have been rejected by their dream schools always wonder what their outcome would have been had they taken this time more seriously and approached this most crucial part of the college admissions process determines their fate.

What adds to this level of misconception are all the stories that parents, families, and students hear through the grapevine from their inner social circles. Soon enough, as you can imagine, rumors spread like wildfire and everyone has their own conception of what it really takes to get into a top university.

I heard Eric was accepted to Princeton because he was a semifinalist in the US National Chemistry Olympiad and Siemens Competition. Mark was accepted to Stanford because he won a gold medal in Tae Kwon Do. Dave got into Harvard because both his parents went there.

Don’t get us wrong, getting those awards help.If you’ve placed in the Intel Science and Engineering Fair or became state champion in the national debate competition, those awards will help get your application noticed.

But that doesn’t mean you’ll get in.

In fact, far from it – we’ve had high achieving prospective clients who reach out to us for help on their transfer application who literally got rejected to all the top schools they applied because they failed to build a compelling application to convince the admissions officers that this is a student worth admitting.

We certainly feel for those students as it’s unfortunate given how hard they’ve worked. Think about it. You just spent four years of your life working your tail off and you got dinged everywhere. We can certainly blame the ultra low acceptance rates as a culprit, but the question is did your application or personal statement even give you a chance at getting admitted in the first place?

How strong of a college application did you really put together?

If you put together a strong college application and it still didn’t work, certainly you can rest in peace that you tried your best and gave it your all. But if you didn’t, then you just shot yourself in the leg.

We’ve edited and read thousands of essays, in every shape or form. Most of the time we can tell right away when a personal statement has gone awry – that there is a very evident flaw in the essay that significantly diminishes an applicant’s chances of admission. Or other times, the essay was just really mediocre and didn’t really put the student’s strongest foot forward.

While we certainly can’t guarantee everyone into a top university, we can tell you that my students are extremely pleased with the essays that they write. Not only are they satisfied with their personal statements and their college applications, but they are content that they performed to the best of their ability and did everything in their power to get admitted to these highly selective schools.

After our students go through our program, there is no regret – we’ve put their best foot forward.

Just browse through College Confidential, a popular college admissions forum, or Reddit, and you’ll see students posting their stats – many with strong academic and extracurricular profiles, but still getting knocked down in the process.

Sure, it’s competitive.

Acceptance rates are at all time lows and it will continue to be more competitive every year given the significant increase in applicants and the limited number of spots. The biggest misconception when it comes to college admissions is that you can get in with simply a strong academic and extracurricular profile alone.

What we don’t hear often enough are what are the steps and approaches that one took in their application. What did Eric, Mark or Dave write about in their personal statement? How did they construct a compelling story that demonstrated to the admissions officers their personal qualities that ultimately got them that acceptance letter?

And while these are definitely more private and personal information that admitted students often don’t share, these are ultimately the factors that got the student in and separated them from the thousands of other applicants out there.

And we can guarantee you that’s something parents and students who have gotten into these top universities won’t tell you. Because what’s the point – why would they? They simply aren’t incentivized to and prefer to boast about how great their child is rather than sharing about what a great application they put together.

Trust us. Don’t make that mistake and neglect the college applications.

By crafting together compelling personal statements, you’ll have a strong shot at one of these top universities and perhaps win the hearts of the admission committee.