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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Someone mentioned this in another thread.

What does an overpackaged application look like? Is it someone trying to tie everything together (to a major)?

Would love examples. I always thought you were supposed to try and tie everything together and create a thread, but maybe that looks over packaged?[/quote]

You will get a lot of different opinions about this, but we have heard from some school admissions offices for schools we toured that they feel like they get the same 10-15 profiles over and over - the business school applicant with a curated set of extracurriculars that neatly tie everything together, the engineering applicant, the English applicant, etc. So there is a feeling among some admissions officers that these applicants don’t feel like real people anymore and they prefer profiles that aren’t as carefully packaged, but seem more “real.”  What percentage of the AO”s have this view is anyone’s guess. But there is definite fatigue of everyone doing the same consultant influenced packaged profile. [/quote]

Would this mean that an applicant similarly overpackaged, but for a niche and more obscure major, would still do well?[/quote]

If the activities/interests are uncommon, I think you do well.

I’ve been reading through LinkedIn and R/collegeresults and see some loose trends.

- Kids with the uncommon activities and interests do well with top schools. Much more so than premed/ polisci/ business with similarly outstanding-seeming narratives. 
- The type of high school matters too this year. Private high schools seem to be doing quite well.
- Maybe it’s not about preplanning but being a bit contrarian; it’s just how authentic your story feels and that is what admissions officers are going off of. The more authentic it feels, the less packaged it seems to an AO, obviously. Authenticity to them = rare.

So, maybe they simply like the less common profiles (like we all covet less common items). And admissions can be based on something like that.
[/quote]

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