Signs of an overcoached application

[Anonymous]

What are the telltale signs of an overcoached application? It’s a word used in another post, but I am not familiar with it.

[Anonymous]

Why? If your a college admission person you already know this. If you are a parent then you won't get to see other applications except your kid's.

[Anonymous]

If ECs only marginally have something to do with the intended major, that is an obvious sign of coaching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why? If your a college admission person you already know this. If you are a parent then you won't get to see other applications except your kid's.

She is a parent who wants to avoid her kids' applications looking overcoached. Duh.

[Anonymous]

- unnatural, overly polished, or hyper-strategic essays

- overly strategic and complicated extracurriculars

- lack of authenticity or vulnerability (or if it is there, it seems performative)

- lack of passion (it should basically just exude from the common app)

[Anonymous]

Prob those kids that write the activities section in the most cringe way. It was being promoted on here.

My kids did very straightforward (resume like blurbs). Accepted to Ivies/T10 RD.

I think too many kids/counselors are following the same script and writing the same type of essays.

My kids did not have a paid counselor. I helped with brainstorming and editing, everything was their voice/writing.

[Anonymous]

Adultified essays - it’s here.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/s/n375NiUrhC

[Anonymous]

Achievement ≠ passion. Years of being pushed to perform for college admission—you can’t really hide it.

[Anonymous]

Overly coached students will have:
Manufactured passion
Strategic essays
Carefully planned extracurriculars all tied around their niche interest
Extracurriculars will be loaded with numbers —xxx dollars, xxx hours. Everything will be impact impact impact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:- unnatural, overly polished, or hyper-strategic essays

- overly strategic and complicated extracurriculars

- lack of authenticity or vulnerability (or if it is there, it seems performative)

- lack of passion (it should basically just exude from the common app)

These are very common to undercoached kids as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If ECs only marginally have something to do with the intended major, that is an obvious sign of coaching.

Nonsense. It's perfectly normal for kids to have a wide range of interests. I'd say that on the contrary, the applications where everything dovetails too much are suspect - but that's just the applications that get selected! Which is why families in the know engineer their kids' applications to make everything fit smoothly. The families who don't know submit normal apps in which kids explore various interests in a natural fashion. They don't get an admissions boost.

It's the strategically packaged apps who get the boost.

Let's all be clear on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Overly coached students will have:
Manufactured passion
Strategic essays
Carefully planned extracurriculars all tied around their niche interest
Extracurriculars will be loaded with numbers —xxx dollars, xxx hours. Everything will be impact impact impact.

These are actually “safe” choices for some colleges because they all signal money. Sometimes college feels like a joke—they admit mediocre students for the revenue, stick them in supplemental programs, inflate grades, and then use them for marketing and profit (sports etc.). It has little to do with actually improving students’ futures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If ECs only marginally have something to do with the intended major, that is an obvious sign of coaching.

Nonsense. It's perfectly normal for kids to have a wide range of interests. I'd say that on the contrary, the applications where everything dovetails too much are suspect - but that's just the applications that get selected! Which is why families in the know engineer their kids' applications to make everything fit smoothly. The families who don't know submit normal apps in which kids explore various interests in a natural fashion. They don't get an admissions boost.

It's the strategically packaged apps who get the boost.

Let's all be clear on that.

The moment we stop pretending these things are so important—and stop packaging students for colleges—the sooner the next generation can focus on finding real, authentic success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If ECs only marginally have something to do with the intended major, that is an obvious sign of coaching.

No, the kids fill in all the boxes with everything they did, most of which has nothing to do with the major.

[Anonymous]

The absurdity never ends—pushing kids to learn calculus in middle school to look like geniuses, or forcing them into niche sports and obscure hobbies just to appear “passionate” or unique. And for what? Colleges often don’t improve your financial future or social mobility if you’re not going to contribute much to yourself or society. All that time and effort—basically wasted. So meaningless.