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

[Anonymous]

How did you KNOW it (whatever it is) helped? Do you have actual confirmation? How much did you ‘strategically’ stretch the truth on his EC’s? Give an example.

[Anonymous]

Op should answer everything they hoped to be asked when they started this thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Just found out that my nephew is heading to one of the Ivies next week (not Brown, Cornell or Dartmouth or Columbia). According to him, he had neither a good grade (3.5 GPA with two AP classes) or SAT score (1400). He is, however, making a lot of money as a youtuber and tiktok influencer. He has about 500K subscribers on youtube and 200K of followers on tiktok. He didn't have any hooks or ECs in high school. I guess Ivies prefer him over someone with perfect SAT and GPAs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Just found out that my nephew is heading to one of the Ivies next week (not Brown, Cornell or Dartmouth or Columbia). According to him, he had neither a good grade (3.5 GPA with two AP classes) or SAT score (1400). [/b] He is, however, making a lot of money as a youtuber and tiktok influencer. He has about 500K subscribers on youtube and 200K of followers on tiktok. He didn't have any hooks or ECs in high school. I guess Ivies prefer him [b]over someone with perfect SAT and GPAs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Just found out that my nephew is heading to one of the Ivies next week (not Brown, Cornell or Dartmouth or Columbia). According to him, he had neither a good grade (3.5 GPA with two AP classes) or SAT score (1400). He is, however, making a lot of money as a youtuber and tiktok influencer. He has about 500K subscribers on youtube and 200K of followers on tiktok. He didn't have any hooks or ECs in high school. I guess Ivies prefer him over someone with perfect SAT and GPAs.

So he’s going to UPenn?

[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.

What is a parent brag sheet?

[Anonymous]

Kids who can package themselves well by making sure their application makes sense from their ECs to essays and corroborated with recommendations will do well.
School college counselors work with the kids to make sure this happens.

[Anonymous]

This is some vague booking for sure.

[Anonymous]

OP you present as an imbecile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids who can package themselves well by making sure their application makes sense from their ECs to essays and corroborated with recommendations will do well.
School college counselors work with the kids to make sure this happens.

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

You are being way too vague for this thread to be useful.
If you are not prepared to give any specifics, why even start this?

[Anonymous]

OP talks about a "strategy" and then gives vague responses. 'kay

[Anonymous]

I agree with the premise, OP, and this is what I've told my kid to do. In his case, his application makes total sense, there's an underlying story arc to it, he can explain the few weaknesses and put forward the few splinter things that make him unique and fit in his arc.

But he's still not applying to top 10 schools. The lottery to get in is minuscule and he'd rather spend his time writing thoughtful essays for colleges that are a surer bet. Plus he has a favorite college that is not in that list. Maybe if he has any energy left he can try Princeton, since he did visit and like it. But no one in this house thinks he has a shot, realistically. It would be for kicks.

Also, if you're an average kid with average stats and average activities, it gets really hard to craft the strategy mentioned above. You really have to think about the slightest thing that makes the candidate stand out a little, and create a story, without lying and without exaggerating. For a child that has seen practically nothing of life as adults see it, that's REALLY challenging. Which is why the college counseling business works so well, I imagine!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Just found out that my nephew is heading to one of the Ivies next week (not Brown, Cornell or Dartmouth or Columbia). According to him, he had neither a good grade (3.5 GPA with two AP classes) or SAT score (1400). He is, however, making a lot of money as a youtuber and tiktok influencer. He has about 500K subscribers on youtube and 200K of followers on tiktok. He didn't have any hooks or ECs in high school. I guess Ivies prefer him over someone with perfect SAT and GPAs.

So he’s going to UPenn?

Exactly - they love entrepreneurs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP you present as an imbecile.

I think OP is a troll just having a little fun with DCUM, and intentionally using opaque word-salad language.