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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I asked what a parent brag sheet is. Sorry people are being mean to you, but could you tell me? Because I really don't know.

Many high schools ask parents and students to answer 5-10 questions and send that document back in. Things like “what is your kid’s greatest strength?” and “what is the first thing a college should know about your kid?”

I think you should give those questions some thought. Think about how the answers you give them, which they’ll probably just cut and paste into their recommendations, will fit with other things that you kid’s application would benefit from. If your kid is selling her application as “Smart kid who loves to tutor others in math,” then it isn’t helpful for the counselor to bang on about how your kid loves English classes and is part of the Model UN team.

It’s the old adage of tell them what you’re gonna tell them, tell them, and then tell the what you’ve told them. Admissions officers have 10 min tops to read an application, so lay it out for them. You want the to remember “oh that’s that interesting applicant who tutored some struggling students in math and turned around that one kid’s grade during the pandemic!” Or something like that.

PP you responded to. Thank you very much for this response, I think it makes a lot of sense. I am very happy for your child. Congratulations, this is an exciting time!

I think your approach makes a lot of sense, but I am curious. Did your child do well generally with top schools? I don't mean any disrespect, it's just that getting into one top school-- it could really be any random thing that got them in. Whereas, if they got into several top schools, it may indeed have a lot to do with the approach that was taken.

Yep, admitted to two Top 10 schools and then 2 other Top 20 schools. Part of the strategy was selecting schools that tend to value. Kid had high GPA and SAT, but we didn’t think that was enough alone. So we decided to present her as a kid who does 2 things well (one is pretty unusual, so it’d identify her if I said it—but these 2 things are def NOT national awards!). And then her essays and teacher recs and Common App activities all today variations on that theme. The schools are ones tha value quirky kids.

It’s really about getting in the mind of the incredibly slammed Admissions Officers and giving them a clear and concise story about your kid as an individual. You have to give them something to finish the sentence “Oh that’s that kid who …..”

I didn’t invent this of course, but a neighbor’s sister is an Adm Officer for an Ivy and was in town last summer. She chatted with us for 30 min and that completely changed our thinking. (Kid didn’t apply to that Ivy).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I asked what a parent brag sheet is. Sorry people are being mean to you, but could you tell me? Because I really don't know.

Many high schools ask parents and students to answer 5-10 questions and send that document back in. Things like “what is your kid’s greatest strength?” and “what is the first thing a college should know about your kid?”

I think you should give those questions some thought. Think about how the answers you give them, which they’ll probably just cut and paste into their recommendations, will fit with other things that you kid’s application would benefit from. If your kid is selling her application as “Smart kid who loves to tutor others in math,” then it isn’t helpful for the counselor to bang on about how your kid loves English classes and is part of the Model UN team.

It’s the old adage of tell them what you’re gonna tell them, tell them, and then tell the what you’ve told them. Admissions officers have 10 min tops to read an application, so lay it out for them. You want the to remember “oh that’s that interesting applicant who tutored some struggling students in math and turned around that one kid’s grade during the pandemic!” Or something like that.

PP you responded to. Thank you very much for this response, I think it makes a lot of sense. I am very happy for your child. Congratulations, this is an exciting time!

I think your approach makes a lot of sense, but I am curious. Did your child do well generally with top schools? I don't mean any disrespect, it's just that getting into one top school-- it could really be any random thing that got them in. Whereas, if they got into several top schools, it may indeed have a lot to do with the approach that was taken.

Yep, admitted to two Top 10 schools and then 2 other Top 20 schools. Part of the strategy was selecting schools that tend to value. Kid had high GPA and SAT, but we didn’t think that was enough alone. So we decided to present her as a kid who does 2 things well (one is pretty unusual, so it’d identify her if I said it—but these 2 things are def NOT national awards!). And then her essays and teacher recs and Common App activities all today variations on that theme. The schools are ones tha value quirky kids.

It’s really about getting in the mind of the incredibly slammed Admissions Officers and giving them a clear and concise story about your kid as an individual. You have to give them something to finish the sentence “Oh that’s that kid who …..”

I didn’t invent this of course, but a neighbor’s sister is an Adm Officer for an Ivy and was in town last summer. She chatted with us for 30 min and that completely changed our thinking. (Kid didn’t apply to that Ivy).

Thanks again! Appreciate your comments. to me, the hard (maybe impossible) part is figuring out which schools have the institutional priorities which match what the kid has to offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What you are describing is a hook. It is a lot of work to get 500,000 subscribers on YouTube. This is something he spends significant amounts of time doing. I would also argue that his grades and SATs are quite respectable.

low grades, low scores and this are even low social media numbers, especially for TikTok. I call BS somewhere unless there is an actaual hook we are not hearing about because this student was not admitted opterhwise.

Wow sorry for my extremely poor spelling, my tablet keyboard is having trouble.

500k subscribers on YouTube is a lot for a high school kid. That’s a lot of money. The same with 200k on TikTok. It shows leadership and entrepreneurship, and that’s what ivies are looking for. There are more kids with 1600 SAT and perfect GPA than there are kids with 500k subscribers on YouTube or TikTok.

[Anonymous]

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

Yeah lightening can hit the same spot twice. Unusual things happen.

[Anonymous]

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

Another humble brag thread? Give it a rest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I asked what a parent brag sheet is. Sorry people are being mean to you, but could you tell me? Because I really don't know.

Many high schools ask parents and students to answer 5-10 questions and send that document back in. Things like “what is your kid’s greatest strength?” and “what is the first thing a college should know about your kid?”

I think you should give those questions some thought. Think about how the answers you give them, which they’ll probably just cut and paste into their recommendations, will fit with other things that you kid’s application would benefit from. If your kid is selling her application as “Smart kid who loves to tutor others in math,” then it isn’t helpful for the counselor to bang on about how your kid loves English classes and is part of the Model UN team.

It’s the old adage of tell them what you’re gonna tell them, tell them, and then tell the what you’ve told them. Admissions officers have 10 min tops to read an application, so lay it out for them. You want the to remember “oh that’s that interesting applicant who tutored some struggling students in math and turned around that one kid’s grade during the pandemic!” Or something like that.

PP you responded to. Thank you very much for this response, I think it makes a lot of sense. I am very happy for your child. Congratulations, this is an exciting time!

I think your approach makes a lot of sense, but I am curious. Did your child do well generally with top schools? I don't mean any disrespect, it's just that getting into one top school-- it could really be any random thing that got them in. Whereas, if they got into several top schools, it may indeed have a lot to do with the approach that was taken.

Yep, admitted to two Top 10 schools and then 2 other Top 20 schools. Part of the strategy was selecting schools that tend to value. Kid had high GPA and SAT, but we didn’t think that was enough alone. So we decided to present her as a kid who does 2 things well (one is pretty unusual, so it’d identify her if I said it—but these 2 things are def NOT national awards!). And then her essays and teacher recs and Common App activities all today variations on that theme. The schools are ones tha value quirky kids.

It’s really about getting in the mind of the incredibly slammed Admissions Officers and giving them a clear and concise story about your kid as an individual. You have to give them something to finish the sentence “Oh that’s that kid who …..”

I didn’t invent this of course, but a neighbor’s sister is an Adm Officer for an Ivy and was in town last summer. She chatted with us for 30 min and that completely changed our thinking. (Kid didn’t apply to that Ivy).

Thanks again! Appreciate your comments. to me, the hard (maybe impossible) part is figuring out which schools have the institutional priorities which match what the kid has to offer.

Definitely hard! Some of it is unknowable, but other priorities have data. Data will tell you whether ED and EA applicants are preferred and by how much, whether boy humanities majors are needed, whether they have a new program funded by a rich donor that they need to fill. If these sorts of things overlap with your kid’s circle, that’s a good match. Sure some of it is luck, but you’d be amazed how much is within your sphere of influence once you start looking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

Huh?

A much higher percentage of the class at high income schools gets into T10’s than at FARMS schools.

Higher percentage of the class. Not higher stats. Equal resumes from Langley and Wakefield- Wakefield kid gets a boost. Colleges like to think they’ve lifted someone from poverty even if it’s not true. So the most privileged kids in a less privileged zip code benefit. It’s messed up but that’s the way it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Huh?

A much higher percentage of the class at high income schools gets into T10’s than at FARMS schools.

Higher percentage of the class. Not higher stats. Equal resumes from Langley and Wakefield- Wakefield kid gets a boost. Colleges like to think they’ve lifted someone from poverty even if it’s not true. So the most privileged kids in a less privileged zip code benefit. It’s messed up but that’s the way it is.

This doesn't make sense to me. My kid goes to a school whose demographic is somewhat economically disadvantaged and almost everyone is black or Latino. Colleges can see my level of education, job, race, income.... So why would my kid benefit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What you are describing is a hook. It is a lot of work to get 500,000 subscribers on YouTube. This is something he spends significant amounts of time doing. I would also argue that his grades and SATs are quite respectable.

low grades, low scores and this are even low social media numbers, especially for TikTok. I call BS somewhere unless there is an actaual hook we are not hearing about because this student was not admitted opterhwise.

Wow sorry for my extremely poor spelling, my tablet keyboard is having trouble.

500k subscribers on YouTube is a lot for a high school kid. That’s a lot of money. The same with 200k on TikTok. It shows leadership and entrepreneurship, and that’s what ivies are looking for. There are more kids with 1600 SAT and perfect GPA than there are kids with 500k subscribers on YouTube or TikTok.

But unless he’s an acting or marketing major, such sad commentary on the school’s values. So much dumb garbage on TikTok. Most parents don’t even want their kids on the app but a kid who gets followers is rewarded. Is he raising money for a good cause? Teaching something valuable? I hope so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What you are describing is a hook. It is a lot of work to get 500,000 subscribers on YouTube. This is something he spends significant amounts of time doing. I would also argue that his grades and SATs are quite respectable.

low grades, low scores and this are even low social media numbers, especially for TikTok. I call BS somewhere unless there is an actaual hook we are not hearing about because this student was not admitted opterhwise.

Wow sorry for my extremely poor spelling, my tablet keyboard is having trouble.

500k subscribers on YouTube is a lot for a high school kid. That’s a lot of money. The same with 200k on TikTok. It shows leadership and entrepreneurship, and that’s what ivies are looking for. There are more kids with 1600 SAT and perfect GPA than there are kids with 500k subscribers on YouTube or TikTok.

But unless he’s an acting or marketing major, such sad commentary on the school’s values. So much dumb garbage on TikTok. Most parents don’t even want their kids on the app but a kid who gets followers is rewarded. Is he raising money for a good cause? Teaching something valuable? I hope so.

Apparently Ivies think he brought good qualities to the table so they accepted him over someone with a perfect SAT and GPA.  Regarding your comment "such sad commentary on the school’s values", well this is a free country and you don't have to attend Ivies if it does not fit your values.

I am sure Ivy league schools  would be glad to welcome Kylie Jenner should she decide to attend college.  The school(s) will definitely take her over someone with perfect SAT and GPA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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

I agree it's getting old. Every kid and their cat has started a business, kept it going for two minutes, and used it to get into college. Either that, or they wrote a book that they then try to sell to classmates. Ugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What you are describing is a hook. It is a lot of work to get 500,000 subscribers on YouTube. This is something he spends significant amounts of time doing. I would also argue that his grades and SATs are quite respectable.

low grades, low scores and this are even low social media numbers, especially for TikTok. I call BS somewhere unless there is an actaual hook we are not hearing about because this student was not admitted opterhwise.

Wow sorry for my extremely poor spelling, my tablet keyboard is having trouble.

500k subscribers on YouTube is a lot for a high school kid. That’s a lot of money. The same with 200k on TikTok. It shows leadership and entrepreneurship, and that’s what ivies are looking for. There are more kids with 1600 SAT and perfect GPA than there are kids with 500k subscribers on YouTube or TikTok.

But unless he’s an acting or marketing major, such sad commentary on the school’s values. So much dumb garbage on TikTok. Most parents don’t even want their kids on the app but a kid who gets followers is rewarded. Is he raising money for a good cause? Teaching something valuable? I hope so.

Well they probably think about it like... a kid who can accomplish this, has the skills and abilities to accomplish other things that will have societal impact... And it probably won't be tiktok and social media in 15 years. It's not like the kids' stats are terrible.

And yeah, maybe they will make YouTubes about the school and raise the school's profile. That's probably part of it too. It's a business at the end of the day.

[Anonymous]

Steven Pinker wrote about the "murky bottleneck" of undergraduate admission to Harvard in 2014. He addresses the issue of why the YouTuber-type kids are picked over academically gifted applicants. I suspect this is true at other comparable schools (besides MIT). Unsurprisingly, he is not a fan of the process:

"At the admissions end, it’s common knowledge that Harvard selects at most 10 percent (some say 5 percent) of its students on the basis of academic merit. At an orientation session for new faculty, we were told that Harvard “wants to train the future leaders of the world, not the future academics of the world,” and that “We want to read about our student in Newsweek 20 years hence” (prompting the woman next to me to mutter, “Like the Unabomber”). The rest are selected “holistically,” based also on participation in athletics, the arts, charity, activism, travel, and, we inferred (Not in front of the children!), race, donations, and legacy status (since anything can be hidden behind the holistic fig leaf)."

Source: https://newrepublic.com/article/119321/harvard-ivy-league-should-judge-students-standardized-tests

[Anonymous]

What an attacking tone most have taken with this poster.

I can only assume that they are angry, because he claims to have figured something out that they could not.

Give jealousy a rest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What you are describing is a hook. It is a lot of work to get 500,000 subscribers on YouTube. This is something he spends significant amounts of time doing. I would also argue that his grades and SATs are quite respectable.

low grades, low scores and this are even low social media numbers, especially for TikTok. I call BS somewhere unless there is an actaual hook we are not hearing about because this student was not admitted opterhwise.

Wow sorry for my extremely poor spelling, my tablet keyboard is having trouble.

500k subscribers on YouTube is a lot for a high school kid. That’s a lot of money. The same with 200k on TikTok. It shows leadership and entrepreneurship, and that’s what ivies are looking for. There are more kids with 1600 SAT and perfect GPA than there are kids with 500k subscribers on YouTube or TikTok.

But unless he’s an acting or marketing major, such sad commentary on the school’s values. So much dumb garbage on TikTok. Most parents don’t even want their kids on the app but a kid who gets followers is rewarded. Is he raising money for a good cause? Teaching something valuable? I hope so.

Apparently Ivies think he brought good qualities to the table so they accepted him over someone with a perfect SAT and GPA.  Regarding your comment "such sad commentary on the school’s values", well this is a free country and you don't have to attend Ivies if it does not fit your values.

I am sure Ivy league schools  would be glad to welcome Kylie Jenner should she decide to attend college.  The school(s) will definitely take her over someone with perfect SAT and GPA.

You’re right and I don’t think I’m alone when I say I don’t think as much of the Ivies as I used to. Kylie was born into money, tripped into fame, bought herself a new face, used connections to become more famous then turned everything she did into a marketing machine with the help of all the best teams money can buy. Entirely unimpressive and nothing intellectual or world-changing.