04/02/2022
Unfortunately getting into Ivies and top tier colleges is still an enigma beyond the top grades and top scores. Predicting the possibility of admission into these institutions has gotten a lot more difficult over the last two years with the changes in the requirements of the tests. However even before all of this it was difficult to determine who they were going to take. In the words of the Harvard admissions counselor, “we could literally fill our entire freshman class every year solely with valedictorians but that’s not what we’re looking for.” Some thing that he pointed out is that a lot of students especially from Long Island spend their summers in other countries doing volunteer work that their parents paid a lot of money for. His exact words were “there must be a lot of ditches dug in Guatemala.”They are never impressed with work or projects or trips that cost a tremendous amount of money. They want to know what you’re doing to improve your own community. They want to know what your passions are, and why you would be a unique prospect for them. What do you bring to the table, how are you rounding out their next class of freshman. I always tell my students and clients that the essays do not have to be about outstanding situations but rather create a three or four dimensional picture of who you are. Everything you are sending into admissions is essentially one dimensional and similar to hundreds if not thousands of other applications. The best essays I’ve worked on with my students have been fairly innocuous topics, however they exemplified their passion and personality. I’m talking about students who are currently in Ivy League schools. Many of the schools are now requiring the tests again out of New York State. So the application and admissions process has become a little more confusing. In addition, students are applying to a lot more schools over the last couple of years, to counteract what they see happening in admissions and top students perhaps not getting in to talk to your schools. So now these schools have a tremendous amount of applications and are not hiring a proper amount of people to read the essays and go over applications for more than 4-6 minutes. So although they say that they place a lot more stake on recommendations and essays, it would be almost humanly impossible to look at these applications from a more holistic view. That’s why I always tell my students and my own kids to do their best, find their passion, that way when they get to the process they have interesting things to tell about themselves and to talk about. But the most important thing to keep in mind is that there are exceptional colleges out there for everyone, and we shouldn’t only focus on the popular ones that 80% of the community are applying to. Look at the hidden ivies, look at “colleges that change lives.” Look into large state universities that have honors programs and wonderful internship opportunities. Diversify your outlook and your child will have a better chance of getting into schools that work for them.
