Recommend your favorite college admissions content creators

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Anonymous wrote:none of them as they're all just peddling on parental anxiety and control.

we are passing on complexes to our kids. lots of mental health issues affecting them right now.

+1

They are all horrible.

NP. The reason I like the Game is he gives good actionable advice on his podcast for FREE.

Most content creators give you teasers so you sign up, or say controversial things to get clicks, or just talk about Higher Ed trends which, while interesting, is different than giving concrete advice.

But in general, I agree, the whole college prep/content/counseling industry is predatory.

The more “difficult” they make the application process seem, the more they convince parents to spend money on advice or buy their products. This goes for authors, podcasters, bloggers, independent college consultants.

They’re just trying to make a living and the rotating wheel of parents is their paycheck.

I have a love/hate relationship with The Game. I have to remind myself he is really targeting Ivy/T10 bc after listening to a few episodes (including one of the full applicant profile breakdown), I started to wonder how anyone actually gets into college. My kid has some great things going on for her (1500+ SAT, solid and focused ECs, leadership) but no "Regeneron level" awards, no independent research, and has not taken absolutely every AP at her school. For us regular folk, here are some of my biggest takeaways...

1. Students make it easier for admissions officers to get a sense of who they are when your profile tells a clear story (e.g., course selection, extra curriculars). Being intentional about this matters.

2. How you organize and present info in the common app matters. Use action verbs to describe what you did (e.g., avoid things like "participated with...")

3. Get the SAT out of the way early in Junior year if possible (EXCELLENT advice for those ready to tackle it bc I can already see how her Junior spring is going to be crazy)

4. Look at the common data sets for the schools of interest; this will help you to know the nitty gritty of admissions data (e.g., Brown might have more women identifying students applying so this makes the acceptance rates a bit more competitive for females).

Honestly, this is info that is probably consistent across podcasts. I have stopped listening to it as much because I don't find it helpful to hear, "I'm sorry, your kid has not cured cancer, they are f*cked." (Even if it's true.)

See I don’t think some of his stuff is that far out there. Maybe STEM? If so, I ignore or don’t listen.

What he did for the candidate who was interested in Asian literatures and languages at Yale and Stanford was a super helpful breakdown. The activities weren’t that crazy either. Yes super high stats, but expected.

What was most interesting was getting rid of some of the original activities (that didn’t support the new narrative) in the activity list and adding in other overlooked interests/activities, including identity, affinity, or personal cultural group involvement.

I think it's insane that the guy from the Game would recommend someone who played 4 years of varsity golf to leave it off of their application altogether. When their recommenders mention golf or when he mentions it in an essay, it will be super weird if he failed to include it because it did not go with his narrative. My kids play varsity sports and it is by far the most time consuming activity (~20 hours a week during season, including travel to away games, etc.)

Yeah, he thinks varsity sports are a waste of time unless you are a recruited athlete. While I disagree, I understand that his focus is on maximizing activities that support the application hook. The trade off for my kid not doing sports wouldn't be worth it because of the many benefits it brings her (e.g., joy, mental health boost, physical activity). It won't be a central part of her application but she will definitely include it on the common app.

From a college application perspective, they sort of are.

The 10-20 hours a week you spend on sports can be used more effectively in other ways.
But varsity sports are great for other things.
Learning teamwork, sportsmanship, how to earn your playtime, how to be a leader, how to make adjustments instead of excuses, how to deal with frustration, how to deal with losing, how to deal with winning, etc. The value of sports in building the college application isn't high but the value of sports in building the adult is priceless.

Starting some non-profit and getting your name on so research paper looks better on a common app but the value of a man is not measured by the common app.

This is the cliché move at TJ; DD said so many kids start nonprofits that it's even a joke among the students. I know some of them actually do things with that non-profit but many are only in it for the college hook. From what I've read/heard, most AOs can see through this pretty quickly if it is superficial. (Before anyone pops off, my kid is not starting a non-profit and I don't have beef with kids who do. Just sharing an observation.)

So if you are at TJ, do an activity no one else does….
Ideas galore in other posts.