"The Game" podcast

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:His manner of speaking (I think it's called upspeak) is super difficult to listen to, which is unfortunate because I think the contents are good.

Haha I agree. He speaks the truth but that way of speaking….

[Anonymous]

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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.

My kid was rejected from HyPSM in the early round but got into other multiple HYPSMs in RD. My advice — do not REA if you are unhooked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great new episode on application differentiation

It is really hard to listen to a podcast giving advice in the negative. I know he is trying to be clever, but it is not effective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

The YCBK host takes donations to run the podcast. Still sounds terrible though. Another blowhard with a microphone

[Anonymous]

All these podcasts are essentially feeding FOMO and scaring parents into making the admissions process sound as complicated as possible so that they get hired as counselors.

If you pick up any good book, you get all the advice you need.

[Anonymous]

Ok, did anyone hear his (the Game) latest podcast from this week?

I skimmed the transcript (it was 2.5+ hrs. long!! Whoa). He's so anti-sports in the activity lists - thinks it adds no value if you aren't a recruited athlete or it is not otherwise tied into your entire "story".

And he is really critical to parents who don't want to give up their summers to help their kids develop a strong narrative (just give up the time from family vacations or mountain retreats or whatever). Some of his other severe advice makes (professional) sense to me from a strategy perspective (standing out from a crowd, doing different things from what everyone else is doing, developing a super-specific niche, and becoming an expert if that's your thing).

No, I am never hiring him. Think there's plenty of free advice around, and I'm willing to learn it ALL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, did anyone hear his (the Game) latest podcast from this week?

I skimmed the transcript (it was 2.5+ hrs. long!! Whoa). He's so anti-sports in the activity lists - thinks it adds no value if you aren't a recruited athlete or it is not otherwise tied into your entire "story".

And he is really critical to parents who don't want to give up their summers to help their kids develop a strong narrative (just give up the time from family vacations or mountain retreats or whatever). Some of his other severe advice makes (professional) sense to me from a strategy perspective (standing out from a crowd, doing different things from what everyone else is doing, developing a super-specific niche, and becoming an expert if that's your thing).

No, I am never hiring him. Think there's plenty of free advice around, and I'm willing to learn it ALL.

I like his no-nonsense style, and I think he’s honest about a lot of stuff.

But we have to remember he’s talking only about elite tip-top universities.

What he says doesn’t apply elsewhere. For example I know Notre Dame does like athletes. So do many other selective universities.

High school sports aren’t a vehicle to get into college. It’s a way to make it through high school with community, connections, and purpose. As a side benefit, you build a healthy body and hopefully have a good coach who mentored and inspired you.

When he disparages sports, he doesn’t care or consider these benefits. His is strictly talking about top 15 colleges. I happen to think it’s nice to show an academic hook PLUS a sport. It won’t get you in, but it shows you’re a dynamic person instead of being one-note.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All these podcasts are essentially feeding FOMO and scaring parents into making the admissions process sound as complicated as possible so that they get hired as counselors.

If you pick up any good book, you get all the advice you need.

Take the free advice from the podcasts, but do not pay for their counseling services.

[Anonymous]

I dont think he's a guy who understands how to signal PQs in an application.

He's also clearly a counselor who wants kids to ED to a low reach. Lots of them do. Makes their numbers look better. ED to Chicago!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, did anyone hear his (the Game) latest podcast from this week?

I skimmed the transcript (it was 2.5+ hrs. long!! Whoa). He's so anti-sports in the activity lists - thinks it adds no value if you aren't a recruited athlete or it is not otherwise tied into your entire "story".

And he is really critical to parents who don't want to give up their summers to help their kids develop a strong narrative (just give up the time from family vacations or mountain retreats or whatever). Some of his other severe advice makes (professional) sense to me from a strategy perspective (standing out from a crowd, doing different things from what everyone else is doing, developing a super-specific niche, and becoming an expert if that's your thing).

No, I am never hiring him. Think there's plenty of free advice around, and I'm willing to learn it ALL.

I like his no-nonsense style, and I think he’s honest about a lot of stuff.

But we have to remember he’s talking only about elite tip-top universities.

What he says doesn’t apply elsewhere. For example I know Notre Dame does like athletes. So do many other selective universities.

High school sports aren’t a vehicle to get into college. It’s a way to make it through high school with community, connections, and purpose. As a side benefit, you build a healthy body and hopefully have a good coach who mentored and inspired you.

When he disparages sports, he doesn’t care or consider these benefits. His is strictly talking about top 15 colleges. I happen to think it’s nice to show an academic hook PLUS a sport. It won’t get you in, but it shows you’re a dynamic person instead of being one-note.

I agree with you 100%. In one episode, he expressed surprise (and disdain) about a school having a sports requirement every semester. This is very common in private schools. It made me wonder how experienced he really is with preparing applications from prep schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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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.

My kid was rejected from HyPSM in the early round but got into other multiple HYPSMs in RD. My advice — do not REA if you are unhooked.

Not sure what you are recommending here. Are you saying your kid should have just done RD instead, even if they have a clear preference? Or ED'd somewhere not as competitive as HYPSM and given up that hope?

[Anonymous]

Every podcast/ counselor type out there has their own angle to differentiate themselves from the masses of college counselors. They have to say something to instill fear in you to hire them. There is clearly no one way or they would all be saying the same thing, it's not like one has special knowledge that none of the others have. Their guess is good as mine. So, I listen and learn and then let my kid be themself and wherever that fits, it fits. No curating or pretending, just write down what you did. If it doesn't help, fine. But if a college turns you down because you played a sport yet didn't win a gold medal, then that's not the type of college worth going to. Our kids are not just productivity machine pawns in this economic system, to become another stat in the lonliness epidemic. They are humans who need to keep their bodies and minds healthy in addition to contributing to society.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every podcast/ counselor type out there has their own angle to differentiate themselves from the masses of college counselors. They have to say something to instill fear in you to hire them. There is clearly no one way or they would all be saying the same thing, it's not like one has special knowledge that none of the others have. Their guess is good as mine. So, I listen and learn and then let my kid be themself and wherever that fits, it fits. No curating or pretending, just write down what you did. If it doesn't help, fine. But if a college turns you down because you played a sport yet didn't win a gold medal, then that's not the type of college worth going to. Our kids are not just productivity machine pawns in this economic system, to become another stat in the lonliness epidemic. They are humans who need to keep their bodies and minds healthy in addition to contributing to society.

Agree, but they definitely know more than the average parent from their volume. Assuming they have really elite candidates applying to the most selective schools, they know what works at certain schools and what doesn’t work at other schools. That’s really the only reason to pay for one of these counselors.

I hired a counselor for my eldest child who is subpar in some ways, but was helpful in framing what was valuable to each school and what to highlight for each school - based on recent experience.

[Anonymous]

Where do you find a transcript?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:he sounds punchable

This