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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Meh.  Any college admissions officer would say that the kid who stands out at elite colleges is the one who took AP Chem while at the same time taking doing the independent music thing.  [/quote]

This actually isn't true. In most cases, the kid who stands out is the one with a unique story. Right now, a lot of kids have the same (overachieving, overtaxed) story.[/quote]

but hasn't this been true for 10 years now? this is what they call the spike. this is why kids start fake NFPs or write AI-generated self published books on amazon. makes them sound deep into a passion! and colleges were falling for the NFPs for a while - and the books now. [/quote]

Yes, but the point (I think) is, don't actually do all the other STEM AP stuff if you are deep into colonial women's history. Do the minimal amount of necessary and then do buckets and buckets of extra on the colonial history front? So yes its a spike, but showing initiative to double up on history electives could help and you don't need AP physics...Honors might be enough?

There's a guy on FB (private counselor) who has a whole thing that goes through why this is a better strategy and shows "passion" and drive. And helps not make you look like a bot.[/quote]

Don't know if this is actually true? Or at least not across the board. A former T10 AO (from another thread here) on Reddit said the below this week:

"She seems to think that prioritizing rigor is aligned mostly with major interests, at least in the videos I've seen.

[b]That's not right. [[u]b]We value rigor across the board, no matter major preferences. Our pools are so competitive that I've gotten accustomed, as have other AOs, to seeing the most rigorous curriculum in all subjects. A humanities kid still challenging themselves with calculus or above. A STEM kid taking AP Lit.[/b][/b]
[/u][i]
[i]There is no AO that gives a shit about passion projects.[/i] We don't even use that term in the admissions office.

…
Rigor is very important.  In our school, 4.0 uw no rigor goes to state flagship.  3.8 uw high rigor has a shot at T5.  3.7 uw high rigor has a shot at T10.

Rigor, GPA, Test score, in that order.  
[/quote]

Yes yes and yes! Agree! Our private school has former AOs from T15 and they were saying this when our first applied in 2021. This is not new at all! Both into different ivies unhooked and the few each year from their high school all had top rigor first and foremost, yet also had top scores and were held in high regard by teachers. ECs that are impactful round out the application and can help in the final decision but challenging oneself in all areas and not being a jerk is what gets you past the first couple of reads. [/quote]

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