AMA My smart but unremarkable & unhooked kid is heading to a Top 10 college

[Anonymous]

No guarantees to anything but there are things I knew that helped.

[Anonymous]

If there was no "hook" what got him in? Exceptional test scores and GPA? Extracurriculars?

[Anonymous]

What are the things?

[Anonymous]

Define "Top 10 College".

[Anonymous]

Unless you name the school, this thread is useless.

[Anonymous]

Yawn. Still looking for affirmation from strangers, huh?

[Anonymous]

So you’re taking questions:

What school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Define "Top 10 College".

This too 10 list.

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are the things?

There are many facets of it but if I had to put a label on it, I’d call it “strategy.” Knowing your kid’s strengths and weaknesses and matching them to a school that values the strengths and that your kid likes. Approaching this as a game is a mind shift that pays dividends.

[Anonymous]

Hopkins?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If there was no "hook" what got him in? Exceptional test scores and GPA? Extracurriculars?

It was the packaging of his strengths and playing them up in a smart way. I had a light bulb go off in my head this last last year reading this board. It’s less about the ECs and more about the way DC describes the ECs on the Common App activities lait, parent brag sheets, and essays. It’s stepping back and looking at this as the game it is. Play to “win” however your kid defines that.

[Anonymous]

OP again. Treat every part of the application as a part of the whole. The “whole” being a coherent packaging of the kid’s strengths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless you name the school, this thread is useless.

This could not be more wrong. It applies to Top 10 schools and non-Top 10 schools alike. Do not approach this as school-specific. This is a strategic mindset.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the things?

There are many facets of it but if I had to put a label on it, I’d call it “strategy.” Knowing your kid’s strengths and weaknesses and matching them to a school that values the strengths and that your kid likes. Approaching this as a game is a mind shift that pays dividends.

Interesting... what were your kids strengths, and which schools did they apply to?
How were you able to identify which ones value those strengths?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If there was no "hook" what got him in? Exceptional test scores and GPA? Extracurriculars?

It was the packaging of his strengths and playing them up in a smart way. I had a light bulb go off in my head this last last year reading this board. It’s less about the ECs and more about the way DC describes the ECs on the Common App activities lait, parent brag sheets, and essays. It’s stepping back and looking at this as the game it is. Play to “win” however your kid defines that.

I don’t understand a thing you posted here. But I think your kid did the work, not you.