"The Game" podcast

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in NYC and popular advisors here cost about 6k. Can be a lot more, but people are happy with the services they get at this price point.

As someone pointed out before, people like this guy will really push your unconnected kid to apply ED to Vandy or UChicago etc. They want to be able to list a lot of "top 20" admits (and they include about 40 schools in their top 20.. I guess they're top 20s on some list!). They want to be able to say, 90% of our clients are admitted to one of their top 3 choice schools, but they'll omit the fact that they wouldn't let the client put a top 5 school on that list of dream schools.

Yup. I will say almost all college counselors push for ED. They want to be able to claim the same things. It’s an icky business. There are some gems, and if you found one consider yourself lucky.

Bc it rarely works out for unhooked T20 in RD…

it's for sure easier to get into some t20s during ED than RD, by a lot.

but SCEA is no help at HYP etc. MIT, Stanford, Wharton .. RD gives you the same odds.

odds of getting into these schools are long, of course. but they are dream schools for some. and to have a counselor tell you to ED to Vandy instead is doing themselves a service. kids need to realize, you throw your hat into the ring, it's long odds. and you may be taking a few schools off the table like Vandy or JHU or Chicago. But if you're a strong applicant and you'd be just as happy at GU or ND or Midd or even GWU and those look pretty solid, then who is this guy to tell you no, dont try. He might not want that GWU name on his list, but that's not your problem

I don’t know any kid who would REA to HYPSM who would be “just as happy at GW”.

I mean, no.

The question isn’t whether you’d be as happy at GW as HYPSM. The question is whether you’d be as happy at GW (or Maryland, or Rutgers) knowing that you shot your shot as you would be playing it safe and going ED to Wash U.

Sometimes unhooked P has a shot in REA.
Generally, though, If you are truly and objectively competitive for HYPSM:

your ED1 would be: Northwestern; Duke; Penn (not W); Brown; Dartmouth; Rice. Maybe Cornell for STEM. If rejected, then go for ED2. If deferred, shoot your shot with HYPSM.

Your ED2, after HYPSM rejection would be: UChicago; WashU; Emory; CMU; Rice; Vandy.

Very few DC's classmates who would be competitive at HYPSM did ED1 or ED2. Almost everyone did end up at T20. This is a sample size of about 20 kids. 9 ended up at HYPSM. Most have U Mich or UCLA as almost but not quite "safety" in addition to UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in NYC and popular advisors here cost about 6k. Can be a lot more, but people are happy with the services they get at this price point.

As someone pointed out before, people like this guy will really push your unconnected kid to apply ED to Vandy or UChicago etc. They want to be able to list a lot of "top 20" admits (and they include about 40 schools in their top 20.. I guess they're top 20s on some list!). They want to be able to say, 90% of our clients are admitted to one of their top 3 choice schools, but they'll omit the fact that they wouldn't let the client put a top 5 school on that list of dream schools.

Yup. I will say almost all college counselors push for ED. They want to be able to claim the same things. It’s an icky business. There are some gems, and if you found one consider yourself lucky.

Bc it rarely works out for unhooked T20 in RD…

it's for sure easier to get into some t20s during ED than RD, by a lot.

but SCEA is no help at HYP etc. MIT, Stanford, Wharton .. RD gives you the same odds.

odds of getting into these schools are long, of course. but they are dream schools for some. and to have a counselor tell you to ED to Vandy instead is doing themselves a service. kids need to realize, you throw your hat into the ring, it's long odds. and you may be taking a few schools off the table like Vandy or JHU or Chicago. But if you're a strong applicant and you'd be just as happy at GU or ND or Midd or even GWU and those look pretty solid, then who is this guy to tell you no, dont try. He might not want that GWU name on his list, but that's not your problem

I don’t know any kid who would REA to HYPSM who would be “just as happy at GW”.

I mean, no.

The question isn’t whether you’d be as happy at GW as HYPSM. The question is whether you’d be as happy at GW (or Maryland, or Rutgers) knowing that you shot your shot as you would be playing it safe and going ED to Wash U.

Sometimes unhooked P has a shot in REA.
Generally, though, If you are truly and objectively competitive for HYPSM:

your ED1 would be: Northwestern; Duke; Penn (not W); Brown; Dartmouth; Rice. Maybe Cornell for STEM. If rejected, then go for ED2. If deferred, shoot your shot with HYPSM.

Your ED2, after HYPSM rejection would be: UChicago; WashU; Emory; CMU; Rice; Vandy.

Very few DC's classmates who would be competitive at HYPSM did ED1 or ED2. Almost everyone did end up at T20. This is a sample size of about 20 kids. 9 ended up at HYPSM. Most have U Mich or UCLA as almost but not quite "safety" in addition to UVA.

Public or private?

[Anonymous]

OMG this guy just rambles and rambles and rambles. Anything that can be said in 5 min by a normal person he would take 20-30 mins.

I agree he has some good points, but OH MY GOD it's so painful to listen to him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG this guy just rambles and rambles and rambles. Anything that can be said in 5 min by a normal person he would take 20-30 mins.

I agree he has some good points, but OH MY GOD it's so painful to listen to him.

I’ve listened to his 4 hour marathon podcasts. I just fast forward and ten minutes later he’s still making the same point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in NYC and popular advisors here cost about 6k. Can be a lot more, but people are happy with the services they get at this price point.

As someone pointed out before, people like this guy will really push your unconnected kid to apply ED to Vandy or UChicago etc. They want to be able to list a lot of "top 20" admits (and they include about 40 schools in their top 20.. I guess they're top 20s on some list!). They want to be able to say, 90% of our clients are admitted to one of their top 3 choice schools, but they'll omit the fact that they wouldn't let the client put a top 5 school on that list of dream schools.

Yup. I will say almost all college counselors push for ED. They want to be able to claim the same things. It’s an icky business. There are some gems, and if you found one consider yourself lucky.

Bc it rarely works out for unhooked T20 in RD…

it's for sure easier to get into some t20s during ED than RD, by a lot.

but SCEA is no help at HYP etc. MIT, Stanford, Wharton .. RD gives you the same odds.

odds of getting into these schools are long, of course. but they are dream schools for some. and to have a counselor tell you to ED to Vandy instead is doing themselves a service. kids need to realize, you throw your hat into the ring, it's long odds. and you may be taking a few schools off the table like Vandy or JHU or Chicago. But if you're a strong applicant and you'd be just as happy at GU or ND or Midd or even GWU and those look pretty solid, then who is this guy to tell you no, dont try. He might not want that GWU name on his list, but that's not your problem

I don’t know any kid who would REA to HYPSM who would be “just as happy at GW”.

I mean, no.

The question isn’t whether you’d be as happy at GW as HYPSM. The question is whether you’d be as happy at GW (or Maryland, or Rutgers) knowing that you shot your shot as you would be playing it safe and going ED to Wash U.

Sometimes unhooked P has a shot in REA.
Generally, though, If you are truly and objectively competitive for HYPSM:

your ED1 would be: Northwestern; Duke; Penn (not W); Brown; Dartmouth; Rice. Maybe Cornell for STEM. If rejected, then go for ED2. If deferred, shoot your shot with HYPSM.

Your ED2, after HYPSM rejection would be: UChicago; WashU; Emory; CMU; Rice; Vandy.

Very few DC's classmates who would be competitive at HYPSM did ED1 or ED2. Almost everyone did end up at T20. This is a sample size of about 20 kids. 9 ended up at HYPSM. Most have U Mich or UCLA as almost but not quite "safety" in addition to UVA.

Public or private?

I bet it’s private

[Anonymous]

How do podcasters make money?

If people bail on your hours-long screed, do you still get paid because they started the episode?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do podcasters make money?

If people bail on your hours-long screed, do you still get paid because they started the episode?

I don’t think so. Half the time I don’t even listen to these podcasts. I just scanned the transcripts. But maybe because it’s downloaded through Apple podcasts they make money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do podcasters make money?

If people bail on your hours-long screed, do you still get paid because they started the episode?

he doesn't make money on the podcast. but it's an infomercial for his consulting company

[Anonymous]

I saw something on Reddit today that reminded me that this guy from the Game, with his disdain for sports, may make his applicants look too one-dimensional to AO. Or just not different enough?

----
Should I include a sport I have played non competitively for years in college applications

"The kids around here tend to put too much emphasis on "impressing" AOs with their ECs (which is very hard to do), and not nearly enough on "interesting" AOs with their ECs (which is a more attainable goal).

So the EC lists you see from kids around here often seem to blur together--all the same sorts of competitions for kids, "starting a non profit", and so on. That's not a good way to stand out to colleges.

But something like being a recreational badminton player could in fact add some interest.

A final thought to keep in mind is the fundamental point of all this is that US residential colleges are not just about classes and labs and such, they are also about various non-academic student activities which in the US "liberal arts tradition" are supposed to be a part of your broader education/development as a young adult.

This tradition in some sense goes all the way back to the Ancient Greek Academies, and sports has always been a part of that tradition. And to this day, sports are a big part of the US residential college experience.

But that doesn't just include varsity sports (for which you might need a lot of highly developed talent). It includes club sports, intramural sports, and recreational sports. And your participation in anything like that could be a valued part of your student experience, and further could be part of making other students' experiences better.

OK, so there are colleges in the US where they are playing badminton in some organized way. Sometimes there are club teams which are very competitive, but often--including in parallel--there are IM/rec organizations. And that is something you might well be interested in doing in college.

Which more or less automatically makes this a potentially useful activity to list, as it could help an AO imagine how you might fit into a thriving residential campus."

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/1kphvk7/should_i_include_a_sport_i_have_played_non/

[Anonymous]

His new podcast dropped on legacy at Ivies.
anyone listen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:His new podcast dropped on legacy at Ivies.
anyone listen?

He's taking questions from listeners....I feel like this is a DCUM mom!

“Hi Sam, I've been listening to your podcast and really appreciate the insight into the admissions process and necessary strategy to stand out in a sea of applications. I especially enjoyed the deep dives you did with the engineering kid turned sports management and the rejected pre-med case study. Wondering if you could do an episode on the humanities focused kid and what your advice regarding a hook would be for an English slash political science major who hopes to go pre-law and has an internship at a law firm not secured by mom and dad.

Is the goal to abandon any talk of pre-law and instead focus on a niche concentration in English or poli sci?

My daughter is a junior and I'm trying to help her form a hook with her extensive humanities based resume primarily in English and creative writing and secondarily in political science and law.”

From The Game: A Guide to Elite College Admissions: Is Legacy A Backdoor To The Ivy League?, May 21, 2025

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:His new podcast dropped on legacy at Ivies.
anyone listen?

No, he takes to long to make a point and too much upspeak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:His new podcast dropped on legacy at Ivies.
anyone listen?

Its 2+ hours long. Skimming transcript though. Its quite detailed and good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:His new podcast dropped on legacy at Ivies.
anyone listen?

Its 2+ hours long. Skimming transcript though. Its quite detailed and good.

Is it helpful if you're not a legacy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:His new podcast dropped on legacy at Ivies.
anyone listen?

Its 2+ hours long. Skimming transcript though. Its quite detailed and good.

Is it helpful if you're not a legacy?

Yes the first 90 min or so isn’t about that. Weird title - This is what it covers. I’m still on part 1 - really good imo.

In this episode, we answer three listener questions on the following topics:
how to best strategically position a pre-law student
how to take college courses that improve your candidacy
the role of legacy in admission to top colleges and early application strategy