Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 06:54     Subject: Reflections from 2025 HYPSM admit(s)
I think this works for a kid who is interested in something highly specific (and of course you can encourage and foster that interest further). It wouldn’t work for my kid. He’s interested in too many different things. It’s a classic example of the hedgehog vs the fox. In my family most of us are foxes and to force a barb would work against inherent strengths of mind and character.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 06:06     Subject: Reflections from 2025 HYPSM admit(s)
My kid has so much moral righteousness that they don’t want any discussion of college in the house. They are a sophomore. And tippy top student with great ECs and awards. But they are convinced that they don’t need any help, so… that is how we roll. Agree not all kids do what their parents tell them, or even what is in their own best interest. But frankly, in 2 years they will be on their own for everything else anyway. We won’t always be there to plan their life for them.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 05:52     Subject: Reflections from 2025 HYPSM admit(s)
This strategy is not hard to map out. I was able to come up with 3-4 very niche ideas for how to expand/scale my DC’s interests over the 4 years of high school into something with measurable community impact and a big spike for college applications. DC refused to play along. Not all kids are as compliant as PP says. It isn’t hard to find or create really unique, interesting ECs in the DC area, but you really need a certain type of kid that is willing to play this game. Mine was not one of them.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 05:18     Subject: Reflections from 2025 HYPSM admit(s)
Op- did you say your DD is at Harvard? She should arrange to look at her admissions file. You may be surprised to see what they focus on.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 02:46     Subject: Reflections from 2025 HYPSM admit(s)
"In a way, we found success by targeting all of our daughter's ECs at that one particular topic."

Did your daughter co-create with you or just go along with your plan?
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 02:20     Subject: Reflections from 2025 HYPSM admit(s)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP: Was this a deliberate strategy to get into a top college? Or did your daughter pick the field/topic that interested her?


It's hard to say whether it was out of interest or strategy. I think that it is uniquely impossible for a high schooler to want to know what they will pursue in college/life. I say uniquely because there are lots of confounding variables and pressures for high schoolers: parental, school, college applications.

She knew she wanted to do something in STEM. And she knew she wanted academic flexibility in college (which is unfortunately really only offered at those liberal arts schools where you can freely switch majors and take whatever classes you want). So we were presented with the natural, but very ironic solution: specialize in something so deeply in high school that you can all but guarantee your admittance to a college that does not force you to specialize in anything.

That was kind of a roundabout way of answering your question. Sorry. I think it was a mix of both. It would be hard to use this strategy if there wasn't any interest at all in a subject. But the kiddo definitely doesn't need to feel deeply invested. I think just mild interest would honestly be fine.


Excellent point. Academic flexibility was a key reason my DD chose Northwestern. They encourage students to explore (and double major) beyond their admitted major.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 00:48     Subject: Reflections from 2025 HYPSM admit(s)
“Had a B” that means one B, my child has more than one but a very bright and deep learning student on a particular field. Able to self learn technical stuff by reading books and watching videos. Aiming for UMD
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 00:38     Subject: Reflections from 2025 HYPSM admit(s)
Anonymous wrote:How about deep interest in a subject and did a research in summer, but not getting all As? Where do such students land up?


Being candid, I don't really know. It's a good question. I think flagships and LACs might be good targets. And I don't think a B is the end of the world. My daughter had a B.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 00:37     Subject: Reflections from 2025 HYPSM admit(s)
Adding to above: that is to say, she applied to competitive majors at OOS schools and was not accepted (likely because of how niche her profile was). She was not interested in majoring in something niche at an OOS, because of limited optionality.

Thank you for helping me clarify
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 00:36     Subject: Reflections from 2025 HYPSM admit(s)
How about deep interest in a subject and did a research in summer, but not getting all As? Where do such students land up?
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 00:34     Subject: Reflections from 2025 HYPSM admit(s)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
This is also a very high-variance strategy. If rejected by all T10s (or whatever), you may be stuck studying political science at UMD or UConn. This strategy has been very successful in recent years, but that's of course anecdotal.

Curious to hear thoughts, questions, etc.

My thought is I hope the self-motivated kid "stuck" studying at UMD ends up passing your by in grad school or the workplace.

I think she meant stuck at a niche major, not stuck at UMD, which is an extraordinary school for CS.

Her strategy works for Top private schools where one can switch majors freely. The strategy wouldn't work at flagships where oversubscribed majors have separate admissions.


Yes: for instance, DD did not get accepted to her major at many OOS schools. If she did not get into a top private, she might be an undeclared major at a state school fighting to get into CS or Business.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 00:32     Subject: Reflections from 2025 HYPSM admit(s)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
This is also a very high-variance strategy. If rejected by all T10s (or whatever), you may be stuck studying political science at UMD or UConn. This strategy has been very successful in recent years, but that's of course anecdotal.

Curious to hear thoughts, questions, etc.

My thought is I hope the self-motivated kid "stuck" studying at UMD ends up passing your by in grad school or the workplace.

I think she meant stuck at a niche major, not stuck at UMD, which is an extraordinary school for CS.

Her strategy works for Top private schools where one can switch majors freely. The strategy wouldn't work at flagships where oversubscribed majors have separate admissions.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 00:32     Subject: Reflections from 2025 HYPSM admit(s)
Anonymous wrote:OP: Was this a deliberate strategy to get into a top college? Or did your daughter pick the field/topic that interested her?


It's hard to say whether it was out of interest or strategy. I think that it is uniquely impossible for a high schooler to want to know what they will pursue in college/life. I say uniquely because there are lots of confounding variables and pressures for high schoolers: parental, school, college applications.

She knew she wanted to do something in STEM. And she knew she wanted academic flexibility in college (which is unfortunately really only offered at those liberal arts schools where you can freely switch majors and take whatever classes you want). So we were presented with the natural, but very ironic solution: specialize in something so deeply in high school that you can all but guarantee your admittance to a college that does not force you to specialize in anything.

That was kind of a roundabout way of answering your question. Sorry. I think it was a mix of both. It would be hard to use this strategy if there wasn't any interest at all in a subject. But the kiddo definitely doesn't need to feel deeply invested. I think just mild interest would honestly be fine.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 00:14     Subject: Reflections from 2025 HYPSM admit(s)
OP: Was this a deliberate strategy to get into a top college? Or did your daughter pick the field/topic that interested her?
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2026 00:01     Subject: Reflections from 2025 HYPSM admit(s)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
This is also a very high-variance strategy. If rejected by all T10s (or whatever), you may be stuck studying political science at UMD or UConn. This strategy has been very successful in recent years, but that's of course anecdotal.

Curious to hear thoughts, questions, etc.

My thought is I hope the self-motivated kid "stuck" studying at UMD ends up passing your by in grad school or the workplace.


Good for them, if that happens. And it does happen. But let's not pretend that it takes the same amount of effort to get into grad school/the workplace from UMD vs HYPSM. Let's not pretend that institutional differences don't exist, or that endowments don't matter, or that student-professor ratios are drastically different.

I stand by my usage of the word stuck.