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

[Anonymous]

This is useless until you give us specifics. Which you won’t.

[Anonymous]

Vague blah blah blah

[Anonymous]

What high school? Because top of his class at a high FARMS high school IS a hook.

[Anonymous]

Any thread which starts with "AMA" implies that OP will respond to any and all questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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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

The story is getting old. I hope not all high school students will start a youtube or tiktok channel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is useless until you give us specifics. Which you won’t.

You’re missing the point. Your kid supplies the specifics. What I learned is that strategy matters. There are so many facets to it. Maybe you could ask a specific question, like the PP who asked about ECs. This is also not about getting your kid into a Top 10 school. It’s about taking your kids’ strengths and lining those up well with a school that values those strengths and that your kid wants. And then package the strengths expertly across all parts of the application.

[Anonymous]

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

Nope. You misread. The advice is that YOU treat it as a strategy, like a game. You’re being defensive. If you’re not interested just move along. If you’re interested, ask a question about a part of the application.

[Anonymous]

Top 10 school? So, one of HYPSM, Columbia, Chicago, Penn, Northwestern, or Duke? Name the school, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

Nope. You misread. The advice is that YOU treat it as a strategy, like a game. You’re being defensive. If you’re not interested just move along. If you’re interested, ask a question about a part of the application.

Please specifically detail how you presented your child’s strengths in each area. That’s what you said - now detail it.

[Anonymous]

This sounds like common sense? Isn’t everyone taking their strengths and packaging them across their application? What on earth??

I think OP’s kid has a hook, but OP is too dumb to know what it is (or doesn’t want to admit it).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like common sense? Isn’t everyone taking their strengths and packaging them across their application? What on earth??

I think OP’s kid has a hook, but OP is too dumb to know what it is (or doesn’t want to admit it).

Def too dumb to know what ama means.

[Anonymous]

I think everyone does what you did, OP. I applied to college in 1996 and I tried to present my strengths in a strategic way. I don’t think you have unlocked a secret here.

There is something missing from this story.

[Anonymous]

Dumbest thread ever. Please share more painfully obvious strategies.

[Anonymous]

No parent who would care enough to hang out in this forum would call their kid "unremarkable"

[Anonymous]

What are your kid’s stats and demographics?