Anonymous wrote:My nephew didnt have the high stats thrown around here. He had a 1440 SAT, 3.7 GPA. Interesting/different EC and amazing essays. He is a hell of a writer. I have not yet met a person who has read his common app essay who didnt cry. Showing smarts with vulnerability just pushed his application to the top. He is finishing up his first year at Princeton.

It’s that vulnerability that makes you cry or catch your throat. I have read one of those common app essays this cycle. That applicant is getting in everywhere.

My nephew didnt have the high stats thrown around here. He had a 1440 SAT, 3.7 GPA. Interesting/different EC and amazing essays. He is a hell of a writer. I have not yet met a person who has read his common app essay who didnt cry. Showing smarts with vulnerability just pushed his application to the top. He is finishing up his first year at Princeton.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the magic dust is people skills and good (written and oral) communication. Some people are just naturally born with it, and then hone their skills further. Others, like my autistic son, will never be good at that, no matter how hard they try.

Agree and this is far better than pretending to have an obscure interest to game it. Certainly they are eyes wide open on that tactic at this point. Part of the reason Yale has mentioned selecting people for interviews, to validate it all.

I don’t know anyone in our circle faking an interest.
Maybe they really are interested in Victorian life and English literature? But also in psychology…..but know that they have evidence for both and perhaps more for Victorian English literature so a persona is born. And they’ll study in in some capacity in college.

And you can bet this reader is a great writer. See this type of fact pattern a lot.

Anonymous wrote:I think the magic dust is people skills and good (written and oral) communication. Some people are just naturally born with it, and then hone their skills further. Others, like my autistic son, will never be good at that, no matter how hard they try.

Agree and this is far better than pretending to have an obscure interest to game it. Certainly they are eyes wide open on that tactic at this point. Part of the reason Yale has mentioned selecting people for interviews, to validate it all.

We had an interesting one.
DS applied to 3 Ivies RD last year and no school on ED, only EA.
He was accepted to 1 of the Ivies, 2 SLACs and LSE.

Come Jan 15, I get a call from one of our great friends from college (same Ivy) whom we had lost contact 5 years ago. He tells us his wife is in admissions at this same Ivy and she came across our kid’s name. We reconnected, etc and come Ivy day, he gets his acceptance.

I think the magic dust is people skills and good (written and oral) communication. Some people are just naturally born with it, and then hone their skills further. Others, like my autistic son, will never be good at that, no matter how hard they try.

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I've noticed this. However a lot is major choice among kids from private high schools. Colleges know that everyone over a 3.8 coming from high school ABC is going to be well prepared and can do the work. So they pick the one who will study what they need them to study.
Then you add in some charisma and an extracurricular or two that backs up the obscure major and they get in everywhere.

Fun fact: We know 2 families at our private who did this with the same obscure major/EC (deliberately chosen) and they had to coordinate their DC's applications so they wouldn't apply to the same school (PS it worked, both got T20 ED).

My kids' apps have landed very well. He didn't do any ivies, but just below them. He is STEM but a natural writer. I firmly believe it is his essays that took him from being a kid with great stats to a kid that got accepted.

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I've noticed this. However a lot is major choice among kids from private high schools. Colleges know that everyone over a 3.8 coming from high school ABC is going to be well prepared and can do the work. So they pick the one who will study what they need them to study.
Then you add in some charisma and an extracurricular or two that backs up the obscure major and they get in everywhere.

So true. And it’s why the stats don’t matter at all from a private if there’s “more”…..

Yeah, I've noticed this. However a lot is major choice among kids from private high schools. Colleges know that everyone over a 3.8 coming from high school ABC is going to be well prepared and can do the work. So they pick the one who will study what they need them to study.
Then you add in some charisma and an extracurricular or two that backs up the obscure major and they get in everywhere.

this is why our private says once you get into HYP scea, kindly bow out.

Agree. I see it at our school too with 2 particular kids.

For one, the story is a niche academic interest tied to an award-winning EC but I think there’s something more. I think it’s the essay writing? The backstory? Showing emotion? Vulnerability? Unclear. That kid is in at many of the schools listed above plus a few privates from last night. Majors are untraditional that’s for sure.

Others with higher stats but without the sparkle are looking instead at Wisconsin OOS; UMD etc.

Yes, some do, they just have an “it” quality. I tend to think it’s apps that are so authentic and genuine and consistent in voice across the application you can’t help but feel like you know them. Kind of like the person that can make anyone feel like they are the only thing that matters when you speak to them.

Yes. Some kids just have that "it girl" or boy quality. It's fascinating to see this play out over the years. I'm a psychologist. I've watched a young woman I've known since she was 5 years old be a star in every setting she ever entered without even trying very hard. She was and still is a natural athlete, smart, gorgeous (natural blonde of course) beautiful manners, went to the absolute top private school for girls in NYC. Well-liked. Ivy League grad. It's as if angel dust fell on her mother's womb. Then, life does happen to us all. Today, she feels some freedom in telling us she was always uncertain about her gender identity. Tried to foreclose on it by marrying young, then divorced. Now a moderately successful actress. So, you just never know how it's going to work out for those golden kids. I love her and wish her all the best the world has to offer, but no one has a magic carpet ride forever.

2025 parent here. What I am noticing among DC's friends is kids getting into everything or nothing. There are a handful of superstars in the grade, pretty widely known (small school). And even among that cohort, it's pretty clear that some kids are just hitting the mark with AOs. One girl we know has (so far) gotten into UM, UVA, Vandy, Emory, USC, and Hopkins. I predict she'll get into 3+ Ivies. And then similarly qualified kids have been rejected everywhere.
Who knows what the magic is - particularly strong recs, a "story" that hangs together...who knows?